How to Adult
by Joeygirl1994
Summary: Follow a recently engaged Victoire and Teddy –along with their families and friends– as they try to navigate through some of the biggest issues and trials that life throws at them, as characters of all stages, learn how to adult in the wider wizarding world. There are new jobs, new relationships, new relationship problems, new problems in general, and some auror missions of course.
1. Stress and Distress

**A/N:** Hello everyone! This story is the third installment of my Next-Gen series. The first was **_Try and Tri Again_** , the second was _**Life After Hogwarts**_ , and this is the third one, if you haven't read the other two first, you probably should.

This story takes place about two and a half months after _**Life After Hogwarts** _ ends, and it's dated so that you can keep up.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own _Harry Potter_.

* * *

 **Stress and Distress**

 **Thursday, August 25** **th** **2022**

 **1:35 AM**

The last place Teddy Lupin wanted to be in the middle of the night –or more accurately the early morning– the night before (or morning of?) the day he and Victoire were to start their weeklong vacation was a seedy wizarding club in Bristol. Yet there he was standing just inside the doorway of said club, which he was quickly coming to the conclusion deserved worse than just the label of seedy that he had given it from a cursory glance of the outer building. The things he did for family.

He had to squint his eyes so that he could try to see through the dark room; it wasn't very large, but the thick smoke from cigarettes, and who knows what else, was making it difficult to see more than a few metres in front of him. He slowly walked further into the club, his head on a swivel as he tried to find the only reason why he was there in the first place. The music in the building was very loud, Teddy could feel it reverberating through him with every step he took; and even though he was an auror, and not a member of more basic magical law enforcement, his skin was starting to itch as he noted all of the illegal things the people around him were doing.

Even though Teddy's visibility was not what he would have wanted, he knew that if he could find his way to the bar it would probably give him the best vantage point. Once at the bar he turned around and leaned his back against it, making a slight face as he imagined the kind of dirt and bacteria that was probably on the surface of the bar, and started examining the patrons of the club in earnest. He had just watched a woman very blatantly trying to grind against another girl who looked so far past sloshed that he was surprised that she was still standing, when he heard a voice from behind him speak.

"What can I get ya luv?"

He turned around to face the bar and glanced at the young woman who had spoken. She looked barely legally old enough to drink let alone work behind a bar. She was rather pretty, however the make-up around her eyes was much too heavy, even for a nightclub; and the tank top she was wearing was at least two sizes too small.

"I'm fine for now thanks," Teddy replied politely.

The woman placed her elbows on the bar and leaned in towards him, obviously doing so, so that she could put on display the skin that was not being covered by her tight tank top, and looked up at him from underneath her noticeably fake eyelashes, "Are ya sure there's nothin' I can tempt ya with?"

"I'm sure," He told her evenly, wishing for the first time that there was some sort of social symbol in place that he could wear to show that he was engaged, and therefore not interested in any offers that some women may try to propose. He had given Victoire her engagement ring, but there should be a custom that he could receive something himself that could help ward off the single vultures.

The woman eyed him less flirtatiously and this time with more scrutiny, "Were ya lookin' for someone?"

Teddy had gone back to looking around the room, but for some reason he decided to answer, "Yes."

"Lookin' for ya bird then?"

"No," He replied, a little more tersely this time as he thought of how he'd rather be home in bed with his, hopefully still sleeping, fiancée.

"Lookin for ya bloke?"

Teddy pinched the bridge of his nose, "I'm looking for _a_ bloke."

"Ain't we all?" The woman replied with a breathy laugh.

He was more than done with the conversation, "Excuse me." He did not just leave because he wanted to end the discussion with her, but because he had perceived a flash of bright red hair out of the corner of his eye that he dearly hoped belonged to the person he was there to get.

Fortunately for Teddy, he did not need to cross the dance floor to get to the section of the booths and tables that he needed to inspect. Instead, all he had to do was slide behind a large group of men who were clearly sloshed and taking turns trying to prise a bottle cap off a bottle with their eye sockets. Because of the dark and hazy atmosphere of the club, Teddy had to walk right up to the table of the booth until he could get a perfect line of view on his target.

There were three people sitting on the bench of the curved booth, and the table in front of them was littered with at least twenty empty or half drank glasses and bottles of alcohol. The people in the booth, two males who bookending one female, paid Teddy absolutely no attention, which just further pointed towards how much of an absurdly intoxicated state they were doubtlessly in. An intoxicated state that was about to get much worse, Teddy noted, as he saw the dark haired man on the far side handing some sort of rolled up joint to the woman in the middle. When he saw the woman take a hit and offer it to the redhead on the other side of her, Teddy figured that that was his cue to make himself known.

"A-hem." The sound of his throat clearing was louder than what would be considered normal, but he figured that it was necessary to be heard over the loud music.

It did end up doing the trick, as all three occupants of the booth suddenly snapped their heads up and tried to focus their _unfocused_ drug and alcohol induced gazes onto him. The dark haired man and the woman squinted at him in confusion, but the redhead was still able to recognize him.

"Teddy?"

He sighed and tried to put on an emotionless expression so that he could be firm with him, even though the sight of his bloodshot eyes caused his heart to pang.

"Baxter, I think it's time to go."

Redheaded Baxter Weasley frowned blurrily as he glanced up at Teddy, "Wha areya doin here?"

Teddy swallowed thickly as he heard the slurring in his voice; he had definitely had more than just his half of the drinks that were on the table, "You called me." In a sense.

"I did?" Baxter asked, his voice going up several octaves at the end and turning into a shout.

Teddy knew from experience that when he was like this, just speaking to him wasn't going to be enough. He walked towards Baxter, grabbed his upper arm, and then hauled him out of the booth. Either Baxter had decided to go with him, or he was just too intoxicated to realize that Teddy was manhandling him.

"Hey, where are ya goin?" The woman asked with a hiccough.

"I'm taking him home," Teddy said as he turned his back on the booth.

"Hey!" The dark haired man yelled as he unsteadily got to his feet, "Maybe he don't wanna go with you!"

Teddy had one hand still grasping Baxter's forearm, so he used his free hand to dig into his pocket and pull out his badge. He held it up for the other two to see. Technically, even though whatever they were smoking was illegal, as an auror it wasn't really in his jurisdiction. However, the other two were clearly way too intoxicated to be able to read his badge, so their wide-eyed and retreating reactions proved that they assumed it was legitimate.

With no more resistance, Teddy easily pulled Baxter with him through the dingy club and out the front door. He rounded on Baxter once they were out in the fresh night air.

"Tell me you didn't take a hit of whatever that was before I got here," He asked him decisively. He didn't recognize the two people he had found Baxter with, so he was pretty sure that Baxter didn't even know who they were. If there was _one_ thing Teddy knew about recreational drugs, it was that it was stupid to accept some from people you had known for barely ten minutes.

"I didnit have any of that one," Baxter said in a voice as shaky as his balance.

Teddy's heart clenched at the same time as he gritted his teeth, "But you had something else?"

"Marijanna. Morijewona, Merijer-"

"Marijuana?" Teddy inquired, putting a stop to Baxter's very garbled attempts.

Baxter threw out a hand and pointed his finger indistinctly, "Tha one."

Teddy squeezed his eyes shut, took a deep breath, and tried to remind himself that muggle cannabis was probably better than whatever magical herbs or plants were in the other joint Baxter had almost tried. He grabbed Baxter by both shoulders, "I'm going to apparate us both now, alright?"

Baxter nodded hurriedly, his head bobbing faster and faster until Teddy was worried that the motion would cause him to get nauseas. Teddy held on tight to the younger man and apparated them away. They landed in the hall outside Baxter's flat and Teddy asked Baxter if he could undo the security wards.

Before Baxter was able to garble out a response that Teddy predicted would be in the negative, the front door flew wide open. On the other side of it was an anxious looking Louis Weasley who, despite the pyjamas and messy hair he was decked in, looked fairly wide-awake for before dawn on a workday.

Louis's shoulders lowered as if a weight had been lifted off of them at the sight of Baxter, but the skin around his eyes tightened when he took in his cousin's disordered and drunken sate, "Where was he this time?"

"Some place in Bristol," Teddy replied tersely as he dragged a suddenly quiet Baxter inside the flat he shared with Louis.

Louis reached forward and literally took an almost unconscious looking Baxter off of Teddy's hands, "I can't believe he called you instead of me."

"He didn't call me," Teddy said as he watched Louis shuffle an inert Baxter towards the direction of his cousin's bedroom, "I accidentally got drunk dialled."

Louis frowned dejectedly and continued towards Baxter's room. Teddy knew better than to offer his help. They'd been in this situation more times than he would have liked in the last few weeks and he knew that Louis wanted to take charge of Baxter as much he could in each case.

"What did he have this time?" A tired female voice asked worriedly.

Teddy turned his head and belatedly realized that Cecilia Wood was in the room too. She was standing on the side of the living room closest to Louis's bedroom, and she looked just as tired as Teddy felt. In fact, in his fatigue Teddy's first thought at seeing Cecilia was to wonder what her father, Oliver Wood, would be most angry about; the fact that she had apparently snuck out of the house to spend the night at her boyfriend's flat, or the fact that she was currently wearing a Chudley Cannons t-shirt –especially since it obviously wasn't hers.

"Alcohol and marijuana as far as I know," He told her.

Cecilia shook her head disapprovingly, and wandered over to the kitchenette part of the open living room to fill a glass with water, "I hope this phase is a short one."

"It will be," Louis said confidently as he came out of Baxter's bedroom.

Cecilia looked down at the glass of water she had filled, and Teddy glanced at his trainers, neither of them were as optimistic as Louis was about the situation. Louis didn't seem to be worried about their nonresponse. He walked over to the kitchenette, took the glass of water out of Cecilia's hand, and then pressed a kiss to her forehead, "Go back to sleep, I'll take care of Baxter. You have to be at work in the morning."

Cecilia gave him a look and folded her arms over her chest determinedly, "So do you."

Louis had more than just work actually, he had started training to become an agent for magical law enforcement at the beginning of August and that morning, along with all of the past and preceding weeks, were not days that he could miss.

"Guys, I can stay here and-"

They both cut Teddy off before he could finish the offer.

"There's no need."

At least they seemed to be able to agree on that. Teddy, who didn't see a reason to stay any longer, said a bit of an awkward goodbye and left the flat. He disapparated directly from the boys' flat to his own, and tried to get through the flat and towards the bedroom as quietly as he could. He shed his clothing, some random jeans and a polo t-shirt that he had thrown on after getting Baxter's call, and climbed back into bed with just his boxers on, not even bothering to throw on some pyjamas.

He tried to climb back into his side of the bed as gently and quietly as possible, and he had just thought that he had achieved his aim when the person on the other side of the bed slowly rolled over to face him.

"Where did you end up going?" She asked groggily, her voice rough from sleep.

Teddy gazed at Victoire wearily; he had really hoped that they could have made it through the night without her waking up and noticing that he was gone. Obviously it didn't work.

"Bristol."

Her eyes started to water and it made his heart ache at the knowledge that she was in so much pain, "Is he going to be okay?"

"I'm confident in Louis and Cecilia's ability to take care of him," He replied in an impassive tone.

A tear leaked out from the corner of her eye, slid down her cheek, and landed on the pillow underneath her head. She didn't respond verbally. He reached out and pulled her close to him then, her head resting on his shoulder. He moved a hand and ran his fingers through her loose hair, "It'll be okay."

* * *

 **Thursday, August 25** **th** **2022**

 **9:02 AM**

"Do you want spinach?" Teddy asked Victoire over his shoulder, his hand was hovering over the omelets that were sizzling in the frying pan, the dark green leaves already in his outstretched palm. He didn't hear an immediate response, and twisted around to get a view of her, "Vic?"

She was staring off into space, directly at the toaster, and had missed his question about the vegetable because she was deep in thought.

"Huh?"

"Spinach, rich in vitamin K and iron, do you want it in your omelet?" Teddy questioned again, his shrewd gaze watching her closely.

She replied quietly, "Yes please."

The toaster popped and Victoire turned her attention to extracting the toasted pieces of bread and buttering them. Teddy dropped the spinach leaves into both omelets, added some extra cheese, and then folded the omelet's over.

"Go ahead and ask."

Victoire looked up from the bread, "Ask what?"

"Ask the questions you're thinking so hard about," He told her as he flipped the omelet over one last time.

She cut both slices of toast in half, put one on each plate, and then carried the plates over to where Teddy was at the stove. He slid one omelet on one plate, the second on the other, turned the stove off, and then they sat down at the table with their breakfasts.

They had both had a few bites before Victoire spoke up, "Why'd he call you and not me? You're an auror for Merlin's sake!"

Teddy looked down at his fork, "He didn't exactly call me and ask me to pick him up, but perhaps he wanted to avoid getting a lecture about binge drinking and illegal drugs from a healer."

"Not a healer yet," Victoire replied automatically. Her friends and family had been calling her that for the past few weeks, the ones that coincided directly with her final exams from healing school that she had started mid-August. Her last exam had been the previous day, and she was so mentally and emotionally exhausted from all of the studying that she had ended up conking out rather early the night before. Teddy hadn't woken her when he left to get Baxter because he wanted her to get caught up on her sleep.

She stabbed a piece of her omelet, "Why didn't he call me? Doesn't he trust me?"

"Vic," Teddy said slowly as he reached for the hand she wasn't using to eat, "He was completely intoxicated. He didn't realize who he was calling let alone what that person would do in response."

Victoire chewed a piece of omelet carefully, "Worse than on Tuesday?"

Teddy idly ripped a piece off his toast, "I don't really know if they're comparable-"

"Teddy," She chastised in a warning tone.

He ripped off another piece of toast, "According to him it was just some alcohol . . . and some marijuana. I was there before he had the chance to take anything else."

She put down her fork and crossed her arms over her chest, "Oh he is definitely getting a lecture the next time I see him sober."

Teddy didn't smile; he knew her angry tone was just an attempt to mask how worried she was for Baxter.

"Love . . . he's having a hard time. Don't be too harsh on him."

"There's healthier ways to cope with emotional stress. He can start by talking about it. I've told him several times that I'm here and that I'll listen. Why won't he talk to me?" Victoire asked, close to tears. She raised her hands to her head and grabbed at her hair, showing some rather distressing emotional stress herself.

Teddy moved his seat closer to hers and gently prised her hands off her head. She was a healer to the core; invested and concerned with everyone's physical and mental wellbeing, "Vic, Baxter just needs some time. Give him time."

He didn't say what they both knew. That Baxter didn't particularly want to talk to Victoire about it because she was distinctly and vocally team Eliza about the whole situation.

"I'm not going to apologize for being on Eliza's side," Victoire said quietly, her foot starting to tap anxiously against the floor.

"It's not all about what happened with Eliza," Teddy reminded her, "There are a lot of other things that are stressing and depressing him right now. You can be on Eliza's side and be there for him at the same time."

"But he won't let me!"

Teddy squeezed her hands tightly, "Give him time."

Victoire sighed and picked her fork back up, deciding to change the topic completely, "When do you want to leave today?"

"Whenever is good with you. Sandra and Kyle won't be arriving at the hotel until tomorrow morning, and Malcolm said they'll be getting there around two o'clock this afternoon," Teddy said.

"Leaving two o'clock here, or arriving there at two o'clock in that time zone? Malcolm _is_ aware that there's an hour time difference between here and Spain, right?" Victoire asked with a small smirk.

Teddy rolled his eyes, "If he's not aware I'm sure that Nadia is. So what time do you want to get there today?"

She looked down at her plate, started moving the last few pieces of egg around it, and shrugged noncommittally at him.

"You still want to leave today right? I know the wedding isn't until Saturday and that we told Charlotte that we'd be in Spain a couple days before it, but we can wait to go on the day of the wedding if that's more comfortable for you," He told her gently.

"Why would I be uncomfortable getting there early? It's just your ex-girlfriend's destination wedding, where we will be sharing a hotel floor with your ex-friend who has been in love with you for who knows how long and who has been very vocal in how much she hates me-"

He reached forward and grabbed her hand, stopping her anxious and self-conscious verbal vomit, "We've been through this Vic; Charlotte wants us to be at her wedding because she likes you. As for Tasha, these next few days will be the last time you will ever have to see her. Besides, Malcolm will be there the whole time, and you know how much he loves arguing with Tasha, he'll take all of her attention away from you."

She looked up at him and bit her lip, "I'm sorry I'm being such a pain about this."

Teddy didn't think vocalizing that he understood that her unnecessary worry stemmed from her unneeded insecurities, would be a good thing at this point. Therefore, he settled on squeezing her hand in response and pulling her towards him so that her head could rest on his chest.

"You're not being a pain, you've just been really stressed these past couple weeks between studying for your exams, trying to help Eliza with the baby, and worrying about Baxter in particular. But this is exactly why we decided to go to Spain a few days before the wedding, so we could have time to relax and go sightseeing," He reminded her, one of his hands running gently through her hair, the other one resting on her knee.

She took a deep breath and then exhaled slowly, nuzzling her head into his neck, "I guess you're right. As always."

He grinned even though she couldn't see it, and started drawing patterns on her leg with his hand, "And after the wedding on Saturday, we're going to head to France for the Quidditch All Star Game on Monday."

"Where we will be surrounded the whole time by everybody on my father's side of the family, even the ones who don't particularly like Quidditch," She said with a weary sigh.

"It'll be fun and you know it, especially since Xavier's going to be playing for the British team. Furthermore, since the kids go back to Hogwarts this coming Thursday, they'll all be leaving France by Tuesday night to get ready for the next school year, while we will be staying in France until Saturday," Teddy told her, the circles he was drawing on her leg slowly inching up from her knee to her thigh.

Victoire automatically rolled her eyes, "Where we will be staying at my parent's beach house, with said parents, Dom, and Louis, because on Wednesday we'll be going to a family reunion for my mother's side of the family."

Teddy stopped drawing circles and wrapped his hand around her upper thigh, "Your parents, Dom, and Louis will all be going home on Thursday because they have to work, and then we'll have a couple days just to ourselves."

"Before we have to come back here for work."

He removed his hand from her thigh and tipped her chin up so that he could see her face, "Then we will come back home to work. I'll go back to the Auror Office, and _you_ will start your residency in the Dark Arts Reversal Ward at St. Mungo's."

She frowned at him, "We've been through this, they have to make me an offer still, and there is no guarantee that they will . . . Cassidy got her offer from them last week."

"We _have_ been through this; this next part is where I remind you that they can't make you an offer before they see if you've passed your exams. Your last exam was yesterday, Cassidy's last exam was last week. They'll make you an offer, you just have to wait a few days," He said consolingly.

Victoire closed her eyes, "Maybe I should just continuously dose myself with a calming draught until my examination results get in."

"How about we don't self-medicate?" Teddy suggested airily.

She smirked at him and lifted her hand to his head, she ran her fingers through his hair, "Then you're going to have to do a pretty good job of distracting me for the next week."

He leaned forward and touched his nose to hers, "I'm up to the challenge."

* * *

Even in his sleep, Baxter Weasley looked stressed and anxious. His tall frame was curled into a ball underneath his blankets, and he had such a pitiful look on his face that Cecilia almost hated to wake him. Almost. She pointed her wand at his head and conjured up a jet of cold water to spray him directly in the face.

He woke up with a start and looked around himself confusedly, breathing heavily from the sudden shock to his body the cold spray of water created. His blurry eyes focused in on Cecilia slightly since she was standing near his bed, his bloodshot eyes narrowed in on the wand she held in her hand.

He groaned when he put two and two together, "Why did you do that?"

"To wake you up," Cecilia replied with no sympathy, "You do need to be at work in exactly forty minutes after all."

Baxter scowled at her, belatedly realized that he had no clothing on underneath his sheets other than his boxer shorts, and pulled the bed sheet up to cover his bare chest, "And what was wrong with gently waking me up?"

"I was doing you a favour by waking you up for work, so beggars can't be choosers. As for the harshness of your wake up call, your sudden desire to have an out of control nightlife is hurting your best friend, _my_ boyfriend, so I'm not really sorry for choosing the route I did," Cecilia said inflexibly as she crossed her arms over her chest.

He looked chastised, but Cecilia highly doubted that it would be enough, "Did Louis leave already for work?"

"An hour ago," She replied tersely, "How's the hangover by the way?"

"My head feels like it's about to explode," He responded, "Merlin I need a hangover cure."

Hearing about his ailment didn't exactly tug at Cecilia's heartstrings. She did pull a potion bottle out and brusquely hand it to him though, "Pepper-Up potion's all I got for you."

He made a face; he knew it wouldn't do much for the pounding in his head, "I think I'd rather a headache curing potion."

"Oh, sorry to hear that, but you can't take a headache curing potion. Don't you know that those kinds of potions don't mix well with the THC from the joint you smoked?" Cecilia asked in fake concern.

Baxter glared at her, "And don't you know that your father will kill Louis if he ever finds out about your last few sleepovers here?"

Cecilia narrowed her eyes, "I hope that's not a threat."

He grabbed anxiously at his hair and closed his eyes with a slight pinch of pain, "It wasn't supposed to come out like that, I just-"

"You're hungover and cranky, I get it," Cecilia said letting him off the hook for that one instance. She made her way to the door, "I need to go, I have to stop by my brother's flat before going to work. I take it that you will go to work now that you're up, correct?"

Baxter nodded abashedly and looked down at the Pepper-Up potion she had given him.

When she was at the door of his room she turned back to him, "Oh and you might want to come up with a new excuse to give Louis when you see him tonight. Even he must be getting tired of your old ones."

She turned on her heel, left his room, and then left the flat, leaving Baxter to his own devices for the rest of the morning. It only took her another five minutes to disapparate away from the boys' flat and to appear outside the front door of the apartment complex that Xavier, and the majority of the Puddlemere United Quidditch players, lived in. Cecilia walked past the front desk without condescending to sign in as a guest, and took the elevator up to her brother's floor. When she got there, she didn't even bother to knock on the door before opening it up.

"Aren't those the clothes you were wearing yesterday?"

Cecilia had barely closed the door behind her before Xavier Wood had called out to her with a sarcastic comment, a waiting expression, and a raised eyebrow. She didn't have the chance to respond to her big brother's remark however, because someone else chose that moment to come to her defense.

"Leave her alone Xavier," Ally Weasley said firmly as she came up behind the Quidditch player, "She's an adult; she doesn't have to report to you."

Xavier glanced at Ally with a pout, "Mum and Dad were under the impression that she was here last night and I don't want them to get angry with me for covering for her."

Ally placed her hand on his arm and gave it a tender squeeze, "I doubt your mother will care, as for your father, I don't think it's your place to start an argument there."

"Ally-"

"You don't tell your parents every time I spend the night here," Ally continued, speaking over him, "So it's definitely not your place to tell them what Cecilia does."

Xavier pouted again and crossed his arms over his chest with a little huff. Ally rolled her eyes at him and pressed a kiss to his cheek, "Now apologize to your sister, you're going to be spending the next several days in France together along with your parents, and I for one would appreciate it if there wasn't any awkward tension."

He looked at his sister, "I'm sorry Cecilia; your personal life is none of my business."

Cecilia shrugged, "It's alright Xav, it's not your fault that Dad has a double-standard."

Ally pulled Xavier with her to the couch in the living room and gestured for Cecilia to sit in one of the chairs, "So when do you find out who you're going to be interviewing?"

Cecilia had started working for a professional Quidditch magazine in the beginning of July, the first month was basically filled with writing seminars and introduction courses. However, with the All-Star Quidditch game coming up, she along with the few other new writers and all Jr. writers on staff, were given the task of interviewing a player from one of the teams that would be playing in the tournament. Xavier's game in which he would play for Britain wouldn't be until Monday, but the first game of the tournament was scheduled for Friday night. All together eight different countries, four matches in total, would go on in the next several days, along with skills competitions in between the games, and every writer would be assigned a different player to interview, all from different teams.

"Not yet, the assistant editor said that she'll send us the interview details this morning," Cecilia replied.

Xavier had to be in France by later that evening, and since Cecilia had an article to write, and since their parents were obsessed with Quidditch, they were all going to France that night also. Their schedules wouldn't be too packed as the tournament was just for fun, so their parents had hoped that they'd have some family time in France over the next few days.

"I hope for your sake that you don't end up having to interview your brother, he's rather boring for a professional Quidditch player," Ally told Cecilia with a wink.

"Hey," Xavier called with faux indignation as he started to tickle Ally's sides, "You didn't think I was boring last night."

Cecilia made a face even though neither of them were paying attention to her, and only just refrained from pointing out that they were one of the reasons why she chose to spend last night at Louis's instead of in her brother's spare bedroom as she told her parents she was going to.

When they had finished flirting for the moment, Cecilia replied, "They're not going to give me Xavier. I've made it clear that I don't want to use any family connections when I'm just trying to get my feet wet. Hopefully I'll get someone more interesting."

At the word interesting, an owl flew in through the open kitchen window and landed on the arm of the chair Cecilia was sitting in.

"Perhaps that's your interesting Quidditch player," Ally said with a little smile.

Cecilia took the letter off the owl's leg and opened it up. She read its contents, shot Ally and Xavier a raised eyebrow, and then asked playfully, "Does the name Valentin Krum ring a bell with anyone?"

Ally's mouth popped open, "I didn't even realize he was playing professionally."

"It's his first year as a starter, apparently he performed well enough to get picked for Bulgaria's team for the tournament," Cecilia said, reciting pretty much all she knew about him in the one sentence.

"Invitations to be on the teams are also given by popularity factors; his father's famous so it must have helped his cause further to make him be chosen in his first year," Xavier said.

Cecilia nodded and then smiled a little, "I don't remember much of his time at Hogwarts during my third-year, but from what I do remember he was rather shy. Unless he's done a whole one-eighty in the intervening years, he probably hasn't had time to develop much of an ego yet, so my interview with him should be nice."

Ally nodded in agreement but then slowly said, "Whatever you do, I wouldn't suggest going down memory lane and mentioning Dom."

Cecilia tilted her head in confusion, "Duly noted, I wasn't particularly planning on it, but why shouldn't I mention Dom?"

"Because by my last count she's hooked up with both Valentin and his brother Konstantin in the past," Ally explained.

Cecilia's eyes widened, "Merlin, I do hope that she doesn't run into either of them this weekend."

Xavier snorted, "Even if she did she'd probably come out of it perfectly fine."

Ally and Cecilia both nodded their heads, and then Cecilia's mobile phone vibrated. She picked it up and saw that she had a new text message from her friend Eliza Parker. Before opening it, she looked at Xavier, "Can I borrow your guestroom shower? I have to be at work in an hour and I'd rather go to work from here than go back home and then to work."

"Of course, all of your stuff should still be in the room from where you left it last night," Xavier told her.

She nodded her head and left the living room. She opened up her message from Eliza as she walked, and smiled at the picture her friend had sent. It was of a small, two week old baby that had bright grey eyes and a small wrinkled and bald head. The baby was wearing a pastel blue and green stripped onesie that Cecilia had given to Eliza before the baby was born. It was a gender-neutral one because at that time she didn't know the sex of the baby. Cecilia felt a bit of a clench in her stomach as an image of Baxter's distraught face swam across her mind's eye, but she shook her head to clear it and sent Eliza back a text that said that she loved the picture.

When Cecilia left the room, Xavier grabbed Ally tightly and pulled her almost on top of him.

Ally giggled but pretended to swat Xavier's hands away from her, "Hey now, be careful Cecilia's not too far down the hall."

Xavier frowned adorably and nuzzled his head into Ally's neck, "But I'm going to miss you! I'm going to France today after all."

"Oh don't even try to pull that card," Ally replied as she ran a hand through his hair, "I'll be joining you there tomorrow right after I finish work."

Ally had finished potions school at the end of June and had started working as a potioneer at St. Mungo's in July.

"I'm still going to miss you," Xavier whispered against her neck before dropping a kiss to the skin there.

"And here I was worried that I'd sound like the clingy one," Ally said with a laugh as she pressed a kiss to the top of his head.

Xavier gave her another kiss, this one at the base of her neck, "I don't mind you being clingy one bit."

Ally used the hand that was on his head to lift his face up so that she could look him in the eyes, "I love you."

He gave her a radiant smile in response, "I don't think I'll ever get tired of hearing that."

"Xav," She berated with an eye roll.

"I love you too," He replied. The words were probably enough to appease her, but he gave her a deep kiss just to be on the safe side.

* * *

 **A/N:** Okay, so there's a list of things we should cover:

 **1.)** If none of the above story made sense, then you probably haven't read my other ones, which you really should (if you'd like to). _**Try and Tri Again**_ is the first, and _**Life After Hogwarts**_ is the second and you can find them by clicking my profile.

 **2.)** If you have read the others, then hello again everyone it's nice to 'see you' and I hope that you liked the first chapter of this new story!

 **3.)** If anyone has any questions, comments, or concerns, about this chapter, please feel free to leave them in a review (or PM)!

 **4.)** So, I mentioned Eliza's BABY in this chapter, and we will find out the gender and the name in the next chapter, but I think I'd be fun for y'all to VOTE (aka leave me a REVIEW) and tell me what gender you think the baby is.

 **5.)** Finally, how'd you like this first chapter?

 **Next Update:** Since it's Christmas holidays, I'm going to give everyone two weeks to get caught up on the last story and this one, and to vote on the baby's gender, so the next chapter will be up in two weeks.

 **Next Chapter:** Vic and Teddy get to Spain, we see Charlotte, Tasha, Malcolm and Nadia again. And we'll finally see some Eliza, some Benjamin, and some Louis and Baxter.

Teaser for Next Chap:

 **""What?"**

 **Victoire and Charlotte looked up to see a shocked Tasha standing near them.**

 **"Why would _she_ need to pick a wedding party?" Tasha asked Charlotte as she placed her hands on her hips."**

Again, I want to welcome everybody back to my wizarding world, and please leave me any comments, questions, or concerns!

 **I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas,**

 **Happy Holidays, and a Happy New Year!**

 **Again, leave me a review with any comments or questions,**

 **See you in two weeks time, and DFTBA!**


	2. Dramas and Mamas

**Happy New Year Everyone!**

 **A/N** : Well here it is everyone, the second chapter! I made you guys wait an extra week for this update, so I thought I'd post a little early! I start my new, and last, semester of school next week, so I'm not entirely sure if I will be sticking to a Thursday updating schedule, but I'd like to if it works out.

 **Baby Tally:** It was close, but most of you guessed that the baby was going to be a girl. You'll find out about half way through this chapter, so I'm going to say congrats to those who did guess right, and nice try to those who didn't.

 **Disclaimer** : I do not own _Harry Potter_.

* * *

 **Dramas and Mamas**

 **Thursday, August 25** **th** **2022**

 **2:00 PM**

The first thought that went through Victoire's mind when they stepped out of one of the smaller airports in Galicia, and gazed around at the city that was bathed in the afternoon Spanish sunlight, was that she really should have slapped on some sunscreen before they apparated.

"Bollocks. I'm going to burn," Victoire complained as she looked up at the sky and squinted into the bright sunlight.

Teddy chuckled and leaned towards her to push her sunglasses down off her head so they would cover her squinting eyes, "I think the two tubes you packed are enough sunscreen to last you the week."

She scoffed, "Our hotel here is on the ocean, and my parents' house in France is on the sea. We're going to be getting a lot of sunlight in the next week. I know that you're not worried about getting burned, but I sure am."

"Don't worry, I'll sunscreen your back for you," He replied with smirk.

She wanted to pretend to be not so impressed with his remark, but the smirk on his face made him look so sexy that it was difficult to be angry with him for not taking her worry seriously. She just ended up with a rather neutral roll of her eyes.

Teddy pushed his own sunglasses down to his face and noted a person with bright red hair standing in the parking lot adjacent to the airport.

"It seems we've got a welcoming committee," He pointed out as they walked towards the woman.

Charlotte Cole, the woman with short curly red hair that Teddy had discerned, was the perfect choice for a welcoming committee as she was always rather energetic and bubbly. Victoire was just surprised to see her as she was the bride-to-be and she assumed that Charlotte would have more pressing things to take care of, two days before her wedding, than merely meeting guests as they arrived.

Charlotte closed some of the distance between them and grabbed Victoire into a tight hug, squealing some sort of greeting in her ear. Not that she didn't like the warm welcome, but it was more the reaction Victoire expected if she had been close friends with Charlotte for several years instead of newly acquainted for less than a year.

The bride let go of Victoire after a few moments and then gave Teddy, the actual reason why they were invited, a more subdued yet still sincere hug and hello. Teddy and Charlotte had been in the same year at Hogwarts and had shared a group of friends for most of those years. Victoire had only found out several months ago that the two used to date during their seventh-year, a fact that she had been ignorant to until Teddy's best mate Malcolm Wood had accidently let the history between the two slip. Victoire, who had thought that she knew about all of Teddy's ex-girlfriends, was very surprised to learn about Charlotte, and even more surprised when Charlotte's fiancé's family business began working with her friend Kyle Line's company. Therefore, Charlotte and her fiancé became friends with Victoire's friends Sandra and Kyle, which was how they, Victoire, and Teddy ended up with invitations to Charlotte's wedding.

"You didn't need to meet us here, between the two of us I think we could have made it to hotel," Victoire said in a friendly tone.

Charlotte waved her comment off right away, "Don't worry about it, honestly. If I didn't take this chance at a little break I probably would have ended up killing my maid of honour."

Victoire nodded, a little surprised to hear the malice in the usually always-perky woman's voice, and she was glad that she never did anything to make Sandra that angry with her while they had been planning her best mate's wedding to Kyle Line, a wedding that had taken place in June.

"Killing your fiancé's sister probably wouldn't be the best," Teddy observed with a smirk.

"That's what I was thinking," Charlotte agreed with a twinkling laugh that legitimately reminded Victoire of wind chimes.

Victoire shrugged her shoulders and turned to Teddy, "I don't know, sometimes I feel like I would be perfectly fine if Dom was out of the picture."

"You don't mean that," Teddy told her with a roll of his eyes.

"And you didn't see her in person at our family dinner last Sunday because you were working. She can rile up half of the family with one comment," Victoire argued holding up one finger to emphasize her point.

Teddy waved off her example, "Dom can rile Lucy up with one look."

Victoire nodded her head in agreement.

"Are you ready to go to the hotel?" Charlotte asked with her ever-present smile.

"Sure," Victoire replied before looking down at her watch, "Although according to Teddy, Malcolm and Nadia are supposed to be arriving here right about now too."

Teddy looked behind them towards the airport, where the official long-distance apparation port was for the area, and coughed self-consciously, "I said that I was sure that Malcolm knew that there was a time difference, not that he would be on time."

Victoire rolled her eyes, "He can text us when he finally gets here."

Charlotte had brought a car to pick them up because the short distance to the hotel was rather scenic, and the three piled into the car. The ride to the hotel ended up being both things that Charlotte had promised: relatively short and very scenic. Once Victoire got past the initial awkwardness of having a chat with her fiancé and one of her fiancé's ex-girlfriends, the conversation flowed rather freely and they were still so absorbed in it that when they entered the hotel lobby they didn't even notice that Tasha Bennett was sitting in a chair close to them with a waiting expression.

"Tasha," Charlotte said in the same sweet and excited tone when she finally perceived her, "Please tell me that everyone has had a chance to calm down by now."

Tasha pursed her lips and seemed to ignore Teddy and Victoire's presence all together, "They had, but now there's some drama between Mariel and one of Dimas's groomsman."

Charlotte let out a sigh, "Which groomsman?"

"Lucio?" Tasha said hoping that she pronounced it right.

Charlotte pinched the bridge of her nose, "Rowena Ravenclaw, those two promised me that their past history wouldn't be an issue."

Victoire and Teddy shared an awkward look and wondered if they should politely leave the two alone and go check into their hotel room. Teddy was just about to excuse themselves when the mobile phone in his pocket vibrated. He pulled it out and glanced down at the new text message.

"Malcolm says that he and Nadia are about to portkey to the airport."

The comment was directed towards Victoire, but it grabbed both Tasha and Charlotte's attention.

Tasha scowled and Charlotte smiled, "Perfect, but I have to go deal with some drama that really should have ended with school." She turned to Tasha, "Tash, will you go pick them up at the airport?"

Tasha's eyes looked like they were going to pop out of her head in surprise, "Seriously? I'm sure they can make their way to the hotel just fine."

Malcolm and Tasha hadn't really gotten along well since graduating from Hogwarts seven years ago.

"This is my wedding," Charlotte said to Tasha in an understatedly calm tone, "So I would appreciate it if you would do things my way."

Tasha did end up pouting, but the fact that she didn't say anything else about the errand proved that she did care about her friendship with the bride. Charlotte handed Tasha her car keys, and Tasha took them with a grimace but did then leave the hotel lobby.

When Tasha left, Charlotte turned back to Teddy and Victoire with an expression that quickly went back to smiling, "I don't know how long dealing with this bridesmaid/groomsman issue is going to take, but it should be finished by seven o'clock tonight. We have a group reservation at Casa Adlongos at seven, will you guys come? I'm going to extend an invite to Malcolm and Nadia too; I'd really appreciate having some people other than my wedding party there tonight. Especially if I can't resolve this new issue."

Victoire and Teddy shared another look and a nod, "We'd love to come."

"Perfect," Charlotte said, a very sincere smile on her face, "You've got the rest of the afternoon to yourselves, so if you want to go out and see the area I'd suggest playa de las catedrales, it's a beach, but it's a different type from the one the that's behind this hotel."

"Thanks for the recommendation," Teddy replied with a grin.

They parted then, Charlotte walking towards the hotel elevators, Victoire and Teddy towards the front desk to check-in. Even with the slight language barrier, checking in didn't take much time, the pair was on the elevator, and going up to their room before Tasha had arrive back with Malcolm and Nadia.

Their room was large and rather fine, and since it was on back portion of the hotel, they had a beautiful ocean front view from their balcony.

Victoire was hanging up a few dresses that she had brought with her in the closet, when Teddy came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"So do you want to go to the beach Charlotte mentioned?" He asked in a whisper against her ear.

She smirked even though she was still facing away from him and he couldn't see, "Well you did promise to put sunscreen on my back . . ."

He smiled into the skin of her neck and she could feel his hands slip underneath her tank top, and slowly slide up her sides, the fabric of the shirt moving with them, "You do know that I wasn't literally talking about sunscreen, right?"

She rolled her eyes and turned around to face him, effectively causing him to let go of her shirt, "Oh, I know. However, I'm going to take your word for it. Let's go to the beach."

* * *

 **6:40 PM**

"Teddy!" Malcolm Wood exclaimed excitedly as he strutted through the door that Teddy had just opened up to his insistent knocking.

"Malcolm, you do realize it's only been like a week since I last saw you, right?" Teddy asked his friend as he patted him on the back. Malcolm had pulled him into a hug the minute he had stepped into Teddy's hotel room.

"I just missed you," Malcolm said, finally letting his best mate out of the embrace.

Teddy gave him a speculative glance and then turned to Nadia Cassano, Malcolm's girlfriend, who was still standing at the threshold of the door. He gestured for Nadia to come in and asked, "Has he been pre-dinner drinking?"

Nadia walked into the room and rolled her eyes at her boyfriend, "He said that if I let him drink before we go out that he will be nice to Tasha at dinner. I made him stop after two."

"I guess we'll just have to wait and see if it works then," Teddy replied, his gaze going back to a grinning Malcolm.

"Teddy, did I hear someone knocking on the-" Victoire was trying to fit her earring into her ear as she walked out of the bathroom, "Door. I guess that answers my question." She finished with her earring and smiled brightly at Malcolm and Nadia, "Bonjour."

"Buonasera," Nadia replied walking towards Victoire so that the girls could share a gentle hug.

Victoire glanced at Nadia, "You look fantastic."

And she meant it. Nadia was tall with an athletic build from playing Quidditch professionally; she was the starting centre chaser for Puddlermere United, and her height was only accentuated by her outfit choice for the evening. She was wearing a dove grey cocktail dress that ended just below her knees, and had a deep-v neckline with three-inch straps that rested on her shoulders. The back of the dress had an even deeper V, showing off the toned muscles of her back, and even though her dress wasn't short, her legs looked even longer in the plum coloured pumps she was wearing. Nadia's short black hair was in its usual bob cut, but her hair had been curled into ringlets to give it an extra bounce. She was wearing a simple pair of white gold hoop earrings and had on natural make-up.

Nadia smiled, "Thank you, but I doubt I'm anything compared to you. Stai benissimo!"

Victoire was wearing a pale pink coloured dress that fit her like a second skin. It had a sweetheart neckline with a skirt that ended just above the knee; there was an edging of black lace along both the bottom of the skirt, the deep sweetheart neckline, and a strip of the same lace wrapped around her waist like a belt, just underneath her bust. She had on a pair of black peep-toe stilettos that were also covered in black lace, along with a pair of pink diamond solitaire earrings that she had been fixing into her ears when she had left the bathroom. There was a matching pink diamond solitaire on a chain around her neck and even a bracelet that completed the set around her right wrist, the only other piece of jewelry she was wearing was the engagement ring on her left hand. Most of her straight blond hair was left down, except for a bit of the top that was pulled back and away from her face, her make-up was just some simple black eyeliner and mascara, along with a pale pink lipstick that perfectly matched the colour of her dress.

"Vic's nice, but you're totally hot Nadia," Malcolm told his girlfriend with a cheeky grin as he came up behind her and slapped her arse.

Nadia just rolled her eyes at him; she knew exactly what Malcolm was like before she started dating him, and she was glad to see that he was still his same self after officially being her boyfriend for the last three months. He just wouldn't be Malcolm Wood if he weren't cheeky and infuriating.

"I may not have Malcolm's eloquence," Teddy said to Victoire as he walked up to her and wrapped his arms loosely around her waist, "But I will say that you are absolutely gorgeous."

Victoire smiled at him and pressed a kiss against his lips, "I'd be very afraid if you did have Malcolm's special brand of eloquence."

"Oi Freckles," Malcolm grumbled, calling Victoire by the nickname he had given her in her fourth-year, "You'd be lucky to have me."

"I think I'll just make do with Teddy thanks," Victoire responded with a chuckle as she grabbed Teddy's arm and gave it a squeeze. She looked up at her fiancée, "And you look dashingly handsome yourself."

Teddy was also dressed for dinner in a well cut pair of tight fitting dark blue almost black jeans and a black button-down dress shirt, the sleeves of which were already rolled up to his elbows. His hair was an inky black with a pale pink streak near his temple. If they didn't have to meet at the restaurant in the next ten minutes Victoire would have pushed Malcolm and Nadia out of the room so that she could jump her fiancé's bones.

Malcolm demanded that Nadia compliment him like Victoire did Teddy, and after she pinched his arse and told him that he cleaned up well, the four left the room and then the hotel so they could apparate to the restaurant.

The restaurant was upscale and classy, and when they walked into it, they ended up in a room that was almost like a foyer. A cheery Charlotte, who had dragged her fiancé Dimas with her by the hand, immediately greeted them. The bride-to-be looked stunning in a strapless silk emerald green dress that hugged her waist and legs, and she was wearing an emerald and silver necklace and earring set that contrasted beautifully with her short curly red hair. As always she was wearing a pair of sky-high heels that would make Dom drool, and the pair that night were tall enough to make up for her small stature, and made her head almost level with her fiancé's chin.

"I'm so glad you guys decided to come," Charlotte told Victoire as Dimas shook hands with Teddy and Malcolm.

"Thank you for the invitation, did you get your . . . earlier issue sorted out?" Victoire asked as delicately as she could.

Charlotte rolled her eyes and somehow managed to smile at the same time, "Never ask a couple who have been on and off again since they were sixteen to be a bridesmaid and a groomsman, and then expect them not to get pissed off with each other when the bridesmaid hits on another groomsman. Just don't do it. Please learn from my mistakes when you go to pick your own wedding party."

"What?"

Victoire and Charlotte looked up to see a shocked Tasha standing near them.

"Why would _she_ need to pick a wedding party?" Tasha asked Charlotte as she placed her hands on her hips.

Charlotte opened her mouth to respond, but Malcolm answered first, in a very gleeful tone, "Because Freckles and Teddy are engaged Big T." He grabbed Victoire's left hand and held it up for Tasha to better see the engagement ring.

"What? Since when?" Tasha asked in a fierce voice.

"Since June," Charlotte said with an innocent expression, "Did I forget to tell you about that Tasha?"

Teddy had privately proposed to Victoire during Sandra and Kyle Line's wedding reception, and thanks to both Fleur and Kyle's big mouths, most of their acquaintances who were at the wedding had found out about their new engagement before Victoire and Teddy even had a chance to tell them. Because of Kyle's newly professional and personal relationship with Charlotte's fiancé Dimas, they had also found out about Victoire and Teddy's engagement during the reception, and had been very nice and sincere in expressing their congratulations later that evening.

Tasha's eyes were wide as she glanced at Charlotte, "Yes, it seems you did forget to tell me."

Charlotte patted Tasha's arm gently, "My bad Tash."

Victoire and Teddy exchanged uncomfortable looks while Malcolm looked like a kid on Christmas morning, "You didn't know yet? Merlin this is brill!"

Nadia hit Malcolm in the stomach and gave him a stern glare that told him to shut up.

Before Tasha could say or ask anything else that would make the situation even more painful, a man in a waiter's uniform came up to Dimas and spoke to him in Spanish. He replied and then told Charlotte that their table wasn't fully ready yet, but that there was room at the bar if they wanted to get drinks already. Dimas went ahead into the room with the rest of the wedding party, and Malcolm, Nadia, Victoire, and Teddy slowly followed while Charlotte hung back to speak with Tasha. They tried to hurry, but Victoire still caught Tasha's hurt tone of voice as she spoke to Charlotte.

Teddy noticed that Victoire was still staring towards Charlotte and Tasha even though they were walking away from them, and he squeezed her hand, "It'll be fine, Charlotte and Tasha just need to talk."

They got to the bar just behind Malcolm, and he turned right around to them and handed them both drinks, "Cheers Mate, Freckles."

Victoire didn't even ask what was in it and started to guzzle it down. Teddy on the other hand raised an eyebrow at his best friend, "Did you just order in Spanish?"

"When you travel for work you pick up quickly how to ask for alcohol in several popular languages," Malcolm replied with a cheeky wink before holding a drink out for Nadia.

She went to take it from him, only for him to move it out of her reach, "Uh, uh, uh. I think you owe me a little something in exchange for it. I'll take a kiss as payment."

Nadia placed her hands on her hips, "You didn't ask Vic or Ted for a kiss before giving them drinks."

"That's because I don't want a kiss from them," Malcolm told her with a smile.

"Thank Merlin for that," Teddy muttered before taking a sip from his drink.

Malcolm ignored him and puckered his lips to Nadia. She rolled her eyes at him, but leaned forward to press a kiss to Malcolm's lips. There was a small grin beginning around the corner of her lips when she pulled away. He gave her another mischievous smirk and then handed her the drink.

It was only a few moments later that Dimas, along with the rest of the wedding party, gathered around them. Dimas made the introductions between the four and the wedding party, Victoire getting a few, but not as many as she'd dreaded, looks from the others at the mention of her name.

"So how do you know Charlotte?" One of the groomsman, who was stereotypically tall, dark, and handsome, asked in English with a Spanish accent.

"Teddy, Malcolm, and I all went to Hogwarts together along with Tasha," Charlotte replied brightly, she and Tasha having just joined the group by the bar.

One of Tasha's bridesmaid's, a woman that she must have met while she lived in Galicia, handed Tasha a cocktail, "Were they in Ravenclaw with you Char?"

"Malcolm a Ravenclaw?" Tasha scoffed as she accepted a drink from the bartender.

Charlotte shot a look at Tasha and then looked to the bridesmaid that had asked her a question, "Teddy and Malcolm were in Gryffindor with Tasha."

Dimas looked at Victoire, "What house were you in at Hogwarts Victoire?"

"I was a Gryffindor too, I was two years below Teddy and everyone else," She explained.

"Is that where you two met?" One of the other bridesmaids, the one who Dimas had introduced as his sister, asked her.

"Oh no," Victoire replied a little awkwardly, she wasn't usually one to talk about herself to strangers, "I've known Teddy since I was born."

The people who didn't know her gave her an odd look, "His godfather is my uncle, although he wasn't married to my aunt when I was born, but Teddy and I have known each other since forever."

Victoire noticed Tasha roll her eyes, walked over to the rest of the bridesmaids, and started whispering with them. She felt her stomach start to churn as she watched Tasha and the other women whisper, most likely about her, and Victoire sighed and swallowed several more mouthfuls of her drink. She had just finished it when a waiter came by and told them that their table was ready. The ones who were sitting at the bar got to their feet and they were just starting to follow the waiter when Victoire felt the black clutch purse in her hand vibrate. She opened it up and pulled out her phone, which was still vibrating from someone calling her, she glanced down at it and noted that Eliza's name was on the screen. She pressed the answer button and held the phone up to her ear.

"Hello?"

Teddy stopped moving and glanced at her.

She tried to plug her other ear to hear the voice on the other end of the line better, "Eliza Honey slow down, I can't understand you."

"How high did you say the fever was?" Victoire repeated into the phone.

Teddy shot her a very worried glance at the word 'fever', and opened his mouth to say something. Victoire saw him and held up one finger, asking him to give her one-minute, "Ninety-nine point three degrees Fahrenheit? That's not too far out of the range of normal for a baby."

"I know she's two weeks old Eliza but-" She paused to listen to what Eliza was saying to her and noticed that Teddy wasn't the only one staring at her. Malcolm, Nadia, Charlotte, and even Tasha were still standing around her. She looked towards the door that led to the entryway, pointed towards the phone, and then nodded her head in the direction of the entry.

Teddy nodded his head and she turned her back on them and walked out of the noisier part of the restaurant, "I know that muggle healthcare suggests taking an infant under three months old to the doctor for a temperature over ninety-nine degrees, and I understand that her temperature has been climbing, but Wizarding babies sometimes run warmer than other babies."

"No really," Victoire insisted, "Some studies show between twenty and forty percent. If you don't believe me you can take her to St. Mungo's, but with her being only two weeks old there's a chance that she could catch something worse while you're in the waiting room. Is it just the fever? Or does she have a rash? Is she crying and inconsolable? Vomiting? Is she eating differently?"

She felt a wave of relief with each negative answer that Eliza gave her, "That's good. If her fever does get higher than ninety-nine point eight, I'd take her to see a healer, but if her temperature has been staying steady where it is without any medicine, then I'd just leave her for right now. You should also probably call your mum and ask her if you had fevers as a young infant, it's genetic in babies who have magic."

Eliza spoke some more but Victoire could hear a bit of relief in her voice compared to the worry that was there when she first began her conversation with her, "Good. And Eliza, you should call Benjamin."

She paused and waited a few minutes so Eliza could dole out some self-conscious excuses, "Eliza, he is her father and he cares about her. He'll want to know that she is ill, what he does with the information will be up to him. But you should give him the chance to make that decision for himself, just put the quaffle in his hands."

"Okay," Victoire said into the phone with a small smile after hearing Eliza's half-hearted agreement to contact Benjamin, it might take a few minutes but Victoire knew that she'd end up going through with it. "Give Rowan a kiss for me then, and please don't hesitate to call me at any time during the night if you have anything you need to talk to me about. Okay? Bye Sweetheart."

She pressed end call, put her phone away, and then walked back into the main part of the restaurant and quickly found their large table, the lone empty seat in between Teddy and one of the bridesmaids.

"Is there something wrong with Rowan?" Teddy asked worriedly as Victoire sat down in her chair.

"Eliza was worried that Rowan had a fever and wanted to take her to St. Mungo's. I told her that up to forty percent of wizarding babies run with slightly higher temperatures and that if it doesn't get warmer than what it is at now that she's probably okay. She said Rowan wasn't crying uncontrollably or vomiting, and that she doesn't have a rash or different eating habits. I said that Rowan's probably okay then, and that she can call me any time that she needs to tonight if something changes," Victoire explained.

Teddy grabbed her hand and gave it a squeeze, "So you think Rowan will be okay?"

"I haven't seen her personally but she should be fine," Victoire said steadily.

"Are you a healer?" One of the groomsmen asked Victoire curiously.

Victoire looked up at him and blushed, "Um, not formally. My last exam for healing school was yesterday."

"That just means that you have to wait a few days until it becomes official," Nadia said with a smile to Victoire across the table from her.

"Are you going into pediatrics?" The groomsman asked interestedly.

"No I've applied for a residency in St. Mungo's Dark Arts Reversal Ward," Victoire explained. She got a few looks again, not any different from ones she'd had before, "That call was from a particular friend. She's a young single mother and she's worried."

Charlotte glanced at Victoire, "Do magical babies really run warmer than muggle ones?"

"Up to forty percent of them do, it's usually pretty genetic though, runs in families," Teddy answered before Victoire could.

Malcolm gave his best mate a confused look, "How do you know that?"

"Apparently I was one of those infants. Harry had me once when I was a few months old, I spiked a small fever, and according to Ginny, he completely freaked out, she still likes to tell the story of how worried he was. My grandmother quickly assured Harry that I was fine, and several years later when they had James, he had a small fever when he was only a month old and Harry had the foresight not to flip out that time, and it turned out that James also ran a bit on the warm side. Al and Lily were the same way when they were born too," Teddy described,

Victoire did the quick math in her head, "That _is_ between twenty to forty percent of the family."

Her phone vibrated again and she pulled it out.

"Eliza again?" Teddy asked.

She shook her head, "Cecilia. Word travels fast, even to France, and she wants to know if Rowan really will be okay."

"As if you'd lie just to appease Eliza," He replied with an eye roll.

The phone vibrated again.

"Cecilia again?"

"Nope," Victoire replied typing out a quick reply, "Eliza. I told her to call her mother, turns out that as an infant Eliza had a string of fevers that the muggle doctors couldn't explain as she always turned out fine and tests never showed any infection or disease."

"Genetic," Teddy murmured.

"Genetic," Victoire agreed, putting her phone away. When she looked up from her clutch, she saw Tasha watching her and giving her an annoyed look.

"Don't you know that it's rude to be on a phone when you're at dinner?" Tasha asked scornfully as she eyed the phone Victoire had already put away.

Malcolm frowned at Tasha, "She already put it away Big T, get over yourself."

Tasha shot Malcolm a fiery look and opened her mouth to speak when Charlotte quickly interrupted them.

"I think I need to powder my nose," She said as she gracefully got to her feet, "Join me Vic?"

Victoire was surprised and slightly confused, but if it got her away from the scorching look Tasha was giving her, she'd take it. The two girls left the table, Victoire bringing her clutch with her, and they wandered into the bathroom.

"For the record, you can be on your phone the whole night if someone needs your help," Charlotte told Victoire sincerely.

"Eliza won't contact me too often, she'll be afraid of _bothering_ me. She only called me because she was really worried," Victoire said.

Charlotte nodded, "I do apologize for Tasha's attitude problem."

Victoire shrugged noncommittally and looked down at her shoes, "It's fine, she's probably just lashing out at me because she felt blindsided by how she found out about mine and Teddy's engagement."

"True."

There was a little bit of an awkward pause as Charlotte reapplied her lipstick, or at least Victoire thought the pause was awkward, Charlotte didn't seemed bothered by it.

"Why didn't you tell Tasha earlier about our engagement? You've known since June." Victoire finally asked.

"I thought she needed a little tough love. I figured her finding out about it abruptly might be the dose of reality she would need, to get over her crush on Teddy," Charlotte replied evenly.

Victoire's head snapped up quickly, "You knew that Tasha fancies Teddy?"

Charlotte laughed hollowly, "I've known since seventh-year when she stopped talking to me the first week that Teddy and I started dating."

Victoire felt her stomach churn, "Tasha's been in love with Teddy that long?"

"I think it's more like he's the one that got away," Charlotte said with a shrug, "She's had him up on a pedestal for so long that I think even he probably wouldn't meet her high standards anymore."

"And you thought that forcing this knowledge on her with mine and Teddy's smiling faces right in front of her would help her get over it?"

Charlotte folded her arms over her chest, "Tasha's my friend, and even though she has faults I love her. I want her to be happy, and she can't be happy if she's hung up on a bloke who's happily engaged and who she's never going to end up with. There are plenty of other good guys out there who aren't desperately in love with someone else."

Victoire sighed, she didn't like Tasha, but she could try to sympathize with the pain she must be feeling, having found out that the man she's in love with will never love her back.

"I also apologize for how nosey my wedding party has been about you too. Tasha informed them that Teddy was an ex of mine and they've been really curious to meet you," Charlotte said ruefully.

"Why would they be curious about me?" Victoire asked in shock.

Charlotte rolled her eyes and started twisting a lock of her red hair around her finger, "According to my bridesmaids, the only reason why someone would invite their ex and their ex's fiancée to their wedding would be because I want to brag about how much better and happier I am. You know, to prove I'm over him, because apparently trying to start a friendship and inviting him to my wedding doesn't already prove that I'm over him."

"Merlin women can be confusing sometimes," Victoire blurted out.

Charlotte nodded her head understandingly, "I know, I don't really get it either. Anyway, they've been anticipating meeting you because obviously they wanted to compare you to me and had already decided that they'd find you lacking. They're really confused now though, because you're gorgeous, and brilliant, and caring and they weren't expecting that. Now they're wondering why I would invite you to my wedding if it wasn't for the purpose of you making me look good."

Victoire figured that she should probably _not_ use the opportunity to voice the opinion that she was also wondering why Charlotte had invited them to the wedding.

Charlotte plastered a smile on her face, "We should be good to go back by now. Dimas's best man is obsessed with Quidditch so he's probably gotten over being star struck by meeting Malcolm's girlfriend, and has started an in depth conversation about Quidditch by now."

Victoire let out a sigh of relief, "Now that's something I can discuss without feeling awkward."

* * *

 **6:49 PM England**

"Oh," Eliza murmured softly in surprise as she waved her hand to magically open the front door, "I didn't expect you to get here so quickly."

Benjamin fidgeted with his hands, but looked directly at their little girl who was snuggled into Eliza's arms, "You said she has a fever?"

Eliza moved to the side to allow Benjamin to come into the apartment, "I told you that I spoke to Victoire and she doesn't think that it's serious as long as it stays below one-hundred."

"She's two week's old, how is a fever not serious?" Benjamin asked worriedly, his eyes still glued onto the tiny and wrinkled infant that Eliza was carrying.

She noted how Benjamin was wringing his hands together and she gently handed the baby over to him, "There's nothing wrong with her besides the fever, Victoire said if it's just the fever then it's not out of the ordinary for Rowan to be warm. Apparently twenty to forty percent of magical babies can run at slightly higher temperatures without them being sick."

He seemed a lot calmer once he had his daughter in his arms, and he gently rocked her. Little Rowan Grace Parker-Dickinson, their daughter who was exactly fourteen days old, had started to make a whinging sound as she was moved from the comfy cradle of her mother's arms. Her father didn't seem too concerned at the sound, and after he had her adjusted in his own arms, she stopped making the whimpering noise and gazed up at her father with wide grey eyes.

"She does seem okay," Benjamin said slowly as he stared into her eyes, she seemed content, "But are you sure it's normal?"

Eliza gestured for them to walk further into the apartment so that they could sit down in the living room and explained, "Vic says it's genetic. She told me to text my mum; apparently, I had a series of fevers when I was an infant that muggle doctors couldn't explain."

"So she gets it from you then?" Benjamin asked quietly.

Eliza nervously pushed a stray piece of her dark hair back behind her ear, "I guess so."

Benjamin looked up at her and then back down at Rowan, "I hope she gets your eyes too."

"Um," Eliza said in surprise, "Brown eyes are actually dominant over green, so she's more likely to end up with your eye colour."

"More likely, but there's still a chance," Benjamin said with a small smile.

Eliza stood up quickly from her seat and turned her back to him as she faced the kitchen, "Do you want something to drink?"

She was in the kitchen and making some tea before he had the chance to answer. He glanced at the kitchen and then looked down at his little girl, "I'm sorry that I make your mother feel so uncomfortable. But I really do hope that when your eyes change colour that you have her green eyes."

He probably would have gone on to say more things that he hoped Rowan would get from her mother as she grew older, but Eliza had just walked back into the room, one mug of tea in her hand and a glass of water in the other. She set the mug of tea down on the coffee table in front of him, and then sat herself down next to him on the couch, making sure that there was at least two feet of space between them.

Benjamin spent a minute wondering if he wanted to try to drink the tea and hold the baby at the same time, but then he decided that he didn't exactly trust himself just yet. He awkwardly thanked Eliza but didn't touch the tea since he was still holding Rowan. Eliza brought her glass of water up to her lips and took a deep drink of it. Silence elapsed and neither Benjamin nor Eliza knew exactly what to say to each other.

Eliza finished the water and then set the glass down, "Does she feel warmer?"

He moved a hand to the baby's forehead, since her head was the only part of her that wasn't covered in a green and blue stripped onesie, and waited a few seconds, "She doesn't feel any different." He moved one hand to his pocket and pulled out his wand, "I can do a temperature detecting spell if you want though."

"You know how to do a temperature detecting spell on an infant?" Eliza asked him curiously as she eyed his wand.

Benjamin bit his lip, "I learned how to do basic healing spells for babies about a month ago."

Eliza felt really bad for feeling impressed with his dedication, even though it was technically his job as Rowan's father to learn how to take care of her.

"Go ahead and check it then," She replied.

Benjamin began to twist his wrist, and before he could start the spell the doorbell range. Eliza got up to answer it, and was more than surprised to see Louis and Baxter Weasley standing at her threshold.

"Hi Eliza," Louis greeted her cheerfully, "Mind if we come in?"

"Of course not," Eliza said hurriedly before she even realized that the words that were tumbling out of her mouth. She blamed Louis's bright smile and Baxter's gentle expression for her rash decision to allow the both of them in without thinking it through too deeply.

Louis held up a plastic shopping bag with a grin, "My girlfriend told me that if we were going to stop by that I needed to bring you Greek salad from Kokinos?"

Eliza couldn't help but smile, Cecilia had introduced her to the Greek wizarding restaurant in June, and the Greek salad had quickly became one of her cravings during the last few months of her pregnancy.

"Of course she did. I also take it that Cecilia told you specifically to come check on me and Rowan because she's running a fever?" Eliza asked shrewdly.

The part veela gave her another bright smile, "She's a meddler, but you just can't help but love her."

Cecilia had arrived in France around noon with her family, and was only still in the other country because of Victoire's assurance that Rowan would be fine. The geographical distance didn't stop her from _suggesting_ to Louis and Baxter that they stop by to look in on Eliza and the baby though.

"Is Rowan sleeping?" Baxter asked curiously, speaking directly to Eliza for the first time that night since she didn't particularly consider his mumbled hello at the door to count.

"Oh, actually she's-"

"Her temperature is at ninety-nine point two, that's point one of a degree cooler than what you originally said it was, isn't it?" Benjamin called as he walked into the foyer, still holding the baby in his arms. He looked up from Rowan and noticed the two other men who were standing in the foyer with Eliza, "Um. Hello."

"Hello Benjamin," Louis said casually as he walked over to Benjamin. Louis bent down a little so that he could see Rowan better. He held out his hand to the baby and she grabbed at his index finger, "And hello there pretty girl, I hear that you've given your mother a scare."

He looked up and observed Benjamin's facial expression, "I take it you gave your father a scare too."

"A little one," Benjamin replied uncomfortably.

Eliza wrapped her arms tightly around her waist and glanced at a silent Baxter, "I called Benjamin to tell him that Rowan had developed a little fever but that Victoire said she'll be okay. He decided to come over to see her."

Baxter nodded woodenly, was silent for a minute, turned his gaze to where Benjamin was holding Rowan, and then back to Eliza, "So her temp's gone down?"

"A little," Benjamin replied tersely.

Louis let out a sigh and was going to try to diminish the little bit of the animosity between the other two men, when Rowan started to cry. It wasn't particularly loud or piercing, and Eliza seemed to know exactly what her daughter wanted.

"It's time for me to feed her," Eliza said moving towards Benjamin and reaching for her daughter. Benjamin smoothly handed the two-week old over, and Eliza swiftly walked out of the foyer and down the hall towards the nursery.

"I'm going to invite myself further in and put this in the fridge then," Louis said holding up the plastic shopping bag.

Benjamin and Baxter slowly followed him, the former sitting back down in the living room and picking up the mug of tea that was still warm, and the latter following his cousin to the kitchen.

"I told you it would be awkward if I came," Baxter whispered to Louis as the blonde placed a container of Greek salad in the fridge.

Louis rolled his eyes and closed the door of the cooling appliance, "And I told you that trying to do something about the awkwardness would be better than trying to drink enough alcohol to make you forget the entire situation."

Baxter looked ashamedly down at his shoes. His cousin walked over to him and patted him on the back, "If it makes you feel better, Benjamin's Rowan's biological father and he seems awkward enough being around her and Eliza. You're not going to feel comfortable around either Eliza or Rowan right away; it'll take some time."

"I don't want to get in the way. I don't want her to feel as though I'm just waiting around to pounce on her," Baxter sighed agitatedly as he ran a hand through his red hair.

"Eliza knows you Baxter, she knows that you're not like that," Louis comforted before smiling a little, "Besides, the poor woman delivered a baby two weeks ago, I think the last thing on her mind right now is romance. Just be her friend, be there for her, and see where it goes."

"And stop trying to use alcohol as a coping mechanism?" Baxter said filling in what Louis hadn't.

Louis put his hands up defensively, "Sorry Baxter, but that's one lecture that you're just going to have to suck up and take from Vic."

Baxter didn't look particularly happy with the prospect, but he figured that he probably deserved whatever Victoire was going to give him. With their conversation over for the time being, the two wandered out into the living room and sat down in chairs across from Benjamin. Louis slowly badgered something resembling a conversation out from Benjamin, and after about fifteen awkward minutes, Eliza walked back into the room with Rowan.

"That was quick," Louis commented conversationally after a brief pause where neither Baxter nor Benjamin seemed to know what to say to her.

She rolled her eyes at Louis, "She was a little hungry but not starving apparently. And now that she's had a little more to eat, she's happy and excited instead of tired." She shook her head a little sadly and a little more indulgently. She looked at the three men, "So who wants to hold her?"

Louis raised his hand almost as fast as Eliza use to in Charms class, "Me, me, me! I had a long day of magical law enforcement training and my girlfriend's in another country. I could use some time with a beautiful girl in my arms."

Eliza personally thought that Louis was laying it on a little thick, but even though it had only been two weeks, she was well on her way to turning into a proud mother. She handed Rowan to Louis, who was very gracious as she reminded him twice to support the baby's head, and then sat down on the empty loveseat.

"Am I going to have to take a picture and send it to Cecilia?" Eliza asked Louis laughingly as she listened to the hard-core baby talk he was using with Rowan.

"Only if you think it will make her jealous," He replied with a grin.

"Where's your mother Eliza?" Baxter asked her curiously. Eliza had chosen to move out of her parents' house just before she gave birth, and her mother had been staying with her in her apartment since the beginning of August in case she went into labour early. Her mother had continued on with her after the birth, to help her get through the first few weeks with the new baby.

Eliza grabbed a piece of her loose hair that had fallen out of her sloppy ponytail and twisted it around her finger, "Tonight was the night I convinced my mother to go back home so that she could make it to my younger sister's dance recital. I had promised her that I'd be fine with just Rowan for the rest of the evening, and about an hour after she was out the door I noticed that Rowan was warm. I had to make my mother swear that she wouldn't come back and that she _would_ go to my sister's recital."

"Are you going to be alright by yourself tonight?" Baxter asked her concernedly.

She opened her mouth to reply, but Benjamin spoke first, "She's not going to be by herself, I'm going to stay until Rowan's temperature goes back down to normal and stays normal, just in case."

Eliza pulled harder at the piece of hair wrapped around her finger, and looked down at her lap while Baxter and Benjamin both folded their arms over their chests and looked away from each other. Louis sighed and looked down at Rowan and whispered so that no one else could hear, "It looks messy now, but they just both care a lot about you and your mummy."

* * *

 **A/N:** So there it is! Eliza and Benjamin have a bouncing baby girl named Rowan! So congrats to those who guessed right. I hope that you liked this chapter, and let me know who surprised you the most in this update, Charlotte or Benjamin? If you have any comments, questions, or concerns please leave them in a review.

 **Important:** I'm obviously taking creative license with the whole 'magical babies run on slightly higher temperatures', so a reminder that if you are around a very young newborn infant with a fever over 100 degrees Fahrenheit (or 38 degrees Celsius).

 **Next Update:** Will be next week (I'll be back at school) and I'm thinking it will be a Thursday/Friday update like usual.

 **Next Chapter:** We get to see some adorable Teddy/Vic, and some not so adorable Vic confronting Tasha. There's some even more adorable Xavier and Ally as they take Brogan out for ice-cream, and Sandra and Kyle finally arrive in Spain just in time for everyone to go out to a night club.

Teaser for Next Chap:

 **""What would you know about disappointment?" Tasha asked scathingly and her grip tightened around her drinking glass, "I doubt you've ever had a disappointment in your life."**

 **"I don't need to explain myself to you; I'm trying to help you.""**

 **Something Cool:** One of you lot, the amazing **MissMatchedEyes** , sent me a PM a few days ago telling me that she had some time and found herself putting together some movies clips to make a sort of 'movie trailer' for **_Life After Hogwarts_**. It's really cool considering that the story I wrote is actually really complicated to make out of movie clips, so I like that it gives you the gist of how the story goes. She's given me permission to post the YouTube link for others to look at it, so if you Google search: /bwTY_zN5pAY it should pop up.

 **This Leads Me to Something Else:** A few of you have asked before if I have a Tumblr, and I've told you no because the only tumbling I do is falling down (or up) the stairs. But I've recently wondered if I should get one so that I can can share other things if people want to share them with me, or things like post updates if I'm going to be late/or early, other things like links to articles or research for some of the more sceince-y or wordy chapters, or pics of things that inspire some of what I write about. I can go retroactive and do TTA and LAH too. But the main question is, are there enough people interested in following (or looking up my page if you don't have a Tumblr) to see things? I promise that I'll do a better job of it than of my dismal Twitter habits. So, any thoughts?

Thank you so much to everyone who has followed, favourited, read, and reviewed the last chapter of LAH and the first chapter of this story! I really appreciate it that so many of you have seemed to follow me over from the last story.

An especially BIG thank-you to:

 **princessofwhiteroses, rosesnlilies, Jilly98, no cure for crazy, liverpoolss, sepoetry, Autumn, GryffindorsRock, Rosie loves pi, Future Madam Pomfrey, NicoleTheSmith, MissMatchedEyes, Mikinnou, jeremiah123, carbo21, kIMaYa, SoccerDiva, JustBeHappy, PrettyLittleWinchester26, moozga, SunlightBurningAtMidnight, The eighth Weasley child, Rensk3, AnnabethWeasley22, Manydifferentfandoms, Owlbuddie212, bmg20, silverlover02, carbo21, beatrice. arendes, Guest1, Bubbly Bookworm, MadiHope, Michaelarules, Jennifer Jules, Princess Cruella, Lyly4218, Nerdbird18, Lobster, PhoenixGravity, Devi2509, Ann, LittleFreak2101, Brook-Lucas-Fan-23, TheProphetBVB, Guest(2), Venz, CranberryBliss, dftbamda, bunHEad95, WolfGirl, HP Queen, TheGoldenSnitch, Guest(3), TedandVic4ever, Last Ride Of The Valkyries, jml2002, Anna, zvc56, DaughterOfTerpsichore, Encypher, rumbadumba, WishIWasAMarauder07, The Awesome One, Seher Syed, nickybby,** **Weow,** and **Break This Spell626**.

 **Rosie loves pi** : I'm hoping to keep this posting schedule the same as the last. As for what's going on between Eliza and Baxter, we saw a bit more here, but there will of course be more as the story goes along.

 **Future Madam Pomfrey** : It wasn't like a large confrontation between Eliza and Baxter, just some little things that makes him feel uncomfortable.

 **Mikinnou** : Oops, you were wrong, nice try though.

 **kIMaYa** : I know that Christmas time is busy for a lot of people so I figured I'd give people two weeks to finish off the last story and to get this one started.

 **Rensk3** : It's never too late to start reviewing! I'm glad that you're joining me for this one too!

 **Manydifferentfandoms** : We'll definitely see more of the 'younger' cousins as Ally mentioned that the whole family is going to be in France for England's game. We will also here about them sporadically throughout the story, but since some of them (James, Freddie, Al, Rose, Lily, and Hugo) are all still at Hogwarts. And yes, because of this we will see some James and Melanie.

 **silverlover02** : You'll see in a few chapters that there are more Weasleys that know about Baxter, but I can't exactly answer your question as to who right now.

 **beatrice. arendes** : Sorry, no boy named Michael.

 **Bubbly Bookworm** : We will definitely see a lot more Cecilia and Louis.

 **Jennifer Jules** : There'll be mention of the kiddos at Hogwarts definitely, and I'm still deciding if there are going to be entire chapter jumps or not.

 **Lyly4218** : Oh, that's so nice to hear! And please don't ever refrain from writing a review because you're worried about your English translations, I think it's amazing that you're fluent enough to read and write in two languages as it is, yo don't need to apologize ever.

 **Nerdbird18** : Can't say about the wedding, although you'll find out in a few chapters whether it will or won't. As for Vic being pregnant, I promised to stop with the pregnancy scare chapters, so that probably won't happen until she gets married. And that's a lot to cover so probably not in this story. But who knows really? There's still a lot of this story left to go. There will definitely be lots of drama and fluff either way.

 **Lobster** : One of your guesses was right, so one of three isn't bad. And no, the baby isn't Baxter's because he and Eliza never had a relationship.

 **TheProphetBVB** : Did the end of the chapter bode a little better than the last?

 **WolfGirl** : Not named Celia, sorry. As for Vic hearing from Eliza, I think the above section of the chapter makes that pretty apparent, and Eliza's not exactly dating anyone at the moment.

 **HP Queen:** I hope it will be action packed and interesting. It might not be jump on a dragon fighting a kelpie action, but it does have specific plot and some mysteries for our favourite aurors.

 **TheGoldenSnitch** : I'm not going to answer all of your questions because we're still going to find out some of them, but I will answer the ones that have already been mentioned in the story. Louis is in Magical Law Enforcement training (MLE), Baxter, Benjamin, and Eliza's jobs we will find out about later. Dom is a lawyer not in MLE and she works for Colton Knott's father's firm.

 **Last Ride Of The Valkyries** : You mean double X chromosomes right? If she had triple Xs, or trisomy X, she'd be at risk for an increased risk of learning disabilities, delayed development of motor skills, and some other things. Victoire will explain it more later and it's more the fact that he's using drugs and alcohol to cope with life stressors, which could lead to a dependence and then an addiction. It's also because marijuana affects his decision making abilities, and can cause him to do other dangerous things while on it (like trying to apparate when he's baked or perform other magic). But again, in a few chapters you'll understand better why it's worrying Vic so much. And again, THC and cannabis on their own aren't dangerous, but who knows what else was in the joint as Baxter had just taken it off of someone he's never met before in a city where he's not familiar with people. It can also be harmless compared to other illegal drugs, but there is a reason why it's called a gateway drug (I'm not trying to sound like an overbearing parent I swear).

 **I hope everyone's having a good New Year,**

 **I hope you liked the chapter,**

 **Please leave me any questions, comments, or concerns,**

 **Until next week, DFTBA!**


	3. Ice Cream and Night Clubs

**A/N:** Hello everyone! I hope you all had a fantastic week, and here's the next chapter!

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own _Harry Potter_ , but I will take all the credit for Brogan in this chap.

* * *

 **Ice Cream and Night Clubs**

 **Friday, August 26** **th** **2022**

 **7:48 AM Spain**

"Teddy," Victoire moaned in annoyance as she reached for the bedside table, "I need to check my mobile."

"No you don't," Teddy murmured into her skin as he kissed his way down the spine of her bare back, his hands holding onto her hips from behind to try to stop her from moving any farther out of his reach.

She moaned again, this time in much less annoyance as Teddy's hands slid off her hips and wrapped around the front of her waist, pulling her back towards him and against his hard chest, "I need to see if Eliza messaged me after the one from last night."

"Eliza told you that Rowan's temp went back to normal," He reminded her in a low voice as his hands glided up past her lower ribcage.

Victoire stopped reaching for her phone and relaxed against the bed, the pillow her face was pressed into absorbing the deep moan that escaped her lips when Teddy sucked a sensitive patch of skin, from the base of her neck, into him mouth and softly grazed his teeth against it. She rolled over to face him and pulled his head down to hers so that their mouths could meet. He grabbed her and pulled her tightly to him so there was barely any space left between their bodies; she wrapped one hand around his head and slid her fingers through his hair.

She stretched her other arm out towards the bedside table again and summoned her mobile phone into her hand. She removed her mouth from Teddy's and let out a rather breathless and triumphant giggle. He sighed in defeat and rested his head on her chest, listening to her beating heart and rapid breathing. Victoire kept one hand in his hair and used the other one to look at the screen of her mobile.

"No new messages."

"Told you so," Teddy mumbled into the skin of her chest, "That wasn't necessary."

Victoire started to run her fingers through his hair, the locks shining rather brightly from the morning light that was coming in through the open balcony doors, "Your hair's pink."

"All of it?" He asked interestedly.

"Mmhmmm," She agreed.

He could feel the vibration of her answer running through her chest and he slid his hands underneath her back, hugging her to him, "What about my eyes?"

She looked down at him and he glanced up at her to give her a view of his irises.

Victoire smiled lightly at him, "Blue, but not your normal blue. They look more like mine."

She could feel him smirk against her skin and press a kiss to where her heart was, "I've always thought that your eyes were pretty."

"Do you think Dom's eyes are pretty too?" Victoire asked a little sarcastically since she and her sister both inherited the same blue eyes from their mother.

"Her eyes are different from yours," Teddy said moving his head up and looking right at her, "They're the same colour, but they don't have the same soul as yours."

"Soul?" Victoire scoffed with a raised eyebrow.

"Dom's eyes are bold whereas yours are gentler. Hers have a spark of vivacity, but your spark is of cleverness. Hers are changing, yours are constant."

She reached forward and pressed the palm of her hand to his cheek, "What did I do to deserve you?"

He moved a hand to her face and ran his thumb across her lips, "We're not together because I did something to deserve you, or because you did something to deserve me. We're together because we're just right for each other. We may or may not deserve each other, but what's important is that we still try to deserve each other, that we try to be the best people we can be for each other, and for ourselves."

She gave him a soft smile, "I promise not to tell Malcolm that you say such soppy things."

He pressed a kiss to her nose, "That's one of the reasons why I love you."

Victoire gazed at him, his eyes slowly changed from the ocean blue colour that was similar to hers, and darkened into the sapphire blue colour that he usually wore, "I'm so thankful that you love me. I don't think I would have been able to handle some other girl coming in, sweeping you off your feet, and taking you away from me. I don't know how Malcolm doesn't hate me for monopolizing so much of you."

"He's always had to share me with you," Teddy told her with a grin, "I think you're right though, if I had fallen in love with someone else I don't think you and Malcolm would have shared me well with her."

"And James, Al, and Lily would have had to share you at holidays when things with the other girl got more serious. You know, it really was a good thing for everyone involved that we ended up together," Victoire mused seriously.

He chuckled, "I doubt your godfather would exactly agree with you."

She touched her nose to his, " _Please_ , you think that my father and Kingsley would have handed me off to another man with less complaint? They couldn't have handpicked a person that they would trust more with me."

"Harry did tell me once that he knew you'd take care of me," Teddy told her with a lazy smile, "For the record, I'm very happy that you fell in love with me too."

Victoire smiled at him, but then it wavered.

"What is it?" He asked as he narrowed his eyes.

She frowned, "I was just thinking about Tasha."

He sighed heavily and rested his forehead against her shoulder, "Way to spoil the mood Sweetheart."

"It's just . . . I feel bad for her."

"She's been so mean to you."

"I know, trust me, I realize how out of the ordinary my reaction is. But I know what it feels like to love you and to worry that you'll never feel the same way back. I can't imagine how much more it would hurt if you were in love with and engaged to someone else," Victoire told him uneasily.

Teddy kissed her shoulder, "I do feel bad for Tasha, but I love you and I'm not sorry for it."

"I'm not either," Victoire insisted, "I just wish I could do something to help."

"I think the only help she'll want from you would be for you to chuck me, if you chucking me would cause me to run into her arms instead that is."

"Now," He continued as he rolled off her and sat up in bed, "I think we need to do something that will distract you. Let's go to the beach and go for a run."

Victoire tilted her head to the side, "And you think that will distract me because . . . ?"

"Because you'll be too busy trying to catch up to me to think about anything else," Teddy told her with a smirk.

She narrowed her eyes at him, "Oh you think you're going to be leading do you? You are so on."

* * *

 **4:16 PM France**

"Godric I missed you," Xavier murmured into the skin of Ally's neck where he was peppering kisses as he pulled her cardigan off of her shoulders and arms.

Ally laughed breathlessly and dug her hands into his dirty-blonde hair, "We've been apart one day."

"Yup," Xavier agreed as he moved one of his hands to the back of her head and pressed his mouth against hers.

She smirked against his lips and opened her mouth to deepen the kiss. He backed her up until the backs of her knees hit the edge of the bed, and he pulled out the elastic that was holding her hair up in a bun. When her dark hair tumbled down her back, one of Xavier's hands twisted in her long locks, the other one sliding down her back and pressing her against his chest. Ally moved her hands from Xavier's head and slid them up underneath his shirt so that's she could feel the muscles of his back.

He pressed her backwards until she was lying down on the bed, him leaning over top of her. He slid a hand around to the front of her shirt and pulled at where the bottom of her silk tank top was tucked into the waistband of her dress slacks. Xavier's hand had just slipped underneath the fabric of her shirt and grazed the skin of her stomach when the door to the room banged open.

"Xav!" Brogan Wood called happily a minute later as he ran into the room.

Xavier sprung away from Ally and hastily sat up on the bed.

"Ally!" The four-year-old yelled again as he excitedly tried to climb up onto the bed and sit with his brother and his brother's girlfriend.

Katie and Oliver Wood stuck their heads into the room, "Your mother and I are going out for a few hours. So tag, you're it."

Xavier got off the bed and walked towards his parents, "What about Cecilia?"

"She had to meet some of the other new writers for her magazine," Katie said brightly.

Xavier glanced over to the bed where Brogan had started to tell Ally about the new words of French that he had learned that morning, and then looked back at his parents and spoke in a low tone, "I can't believe you just let Brogan run into my room. We could have been-" He stopped there when he realized that he _was_ talking to his parents after all.

"Ally got here five minutes ago Xavier," Katie pointed out, "We didn't think you'd work that quickly."

Xavier's face went red, and to further embarrass him, Oliver reached out and patted his eldest son's cheek, "And if you really wanted some privacy you should have used better spells to seal the door."

"Bye Bro," Katie called into the room to Brogan as she blew him a kiss, "Bye Ally."

"Bye Xav," Oliver continued, patting his oldest child's other cheek again and then leaving the room with Katie, the two of them closing the door behind them.

Xavier leaned back against the door once it was closed and shot Ally an apologetic look, "Merlin I'm so sorry about that."

"It's fine," Ally responded waving him off. She got off the bed, found her cardigan, and then put it back on, "It was just a tad bit embarrassing."

Xavier bit his lip and Ally reached forward to grab his hand. She gave it a comforting squeeze and then glanced at Brogan, "So you've got me and Xavier for the afternoon Bro, what would you like to do?"

"Ice cream!" Brogan yelled excitedly, almost falling off the bed in his haste to get to his feet.

Xavier frowned, "It's too close to dinner to have ice cream Brogan, you won't be hungry for supper, and then you'll be bouncing off the walls when Mum and Dad get back-"

Ally squeezed Xavier's hand again and gave him a shrewd look, "And if Brogan is hyper this evening that will be your parents' problem when they get back, won't it?"

He caught her eye and mischievous smile, "Alexandra Muriel Weasley are you suggesting that we pump my four-year-old brother full of sugar and then give him back to my parents later tonight when he's sure to be on a high?"

"Maybe."

Xavier leaned forward and pressed a quick kiss to her lips, "You know a lot of people think that you are all your mother, but you've definitely got some pieces of George in you."

Ally smirked and then held out her free hand to Brogan, "C'mon Buddy, let's go get some ice cream then."

Xavier grabbed his wand from his room while Ally walked Brogan out into living room space that connected Xavier, Cecilia, and Katie and Oliver and Brogan's hotel rooms together. They made sure that Brogan's shoes were tied properly, and then the three set out to find an ice cream shop that was close to the hotel.

They found a wizarding one that was only a few blocks away, and Ally impressed both Brogan and Xavier by ordering their ice cream in French.

"I didn't know that you knew that much French," Xavier said interestedly across the booth from Ally, Brogan had beat him to the seat next to her.

Ally, who was trying to stuff a napkin into the neck of Brogan's shirt to minimize any damage that the afternoon treat might cause, blushed shyly, "I only really know how to order ice cream and pizza in French. Oh, and some swear words that Vic taught me when we were eleven that got us both into trouble with Grandmum Molly."

Xavier chuckled, the deep sound causing Ally's insides to squirm.

"You can't tell me that you've known Victoire Weasley for roughly the past twenty years of your life and that you haven't picked up any French yourself?" Ally asked curiously as she dipped her spoon into her cup of ice cream.

Xavier took a lick of his ice cream cone, "Like you, I haven't learned any words that are proper for public use. Most of them I only know because she used them every time we played against Colton Knott and the Slytherin Quidditch team."

Ally giggled and then told Brogan that he should lick the other side of his ice cream cone before it dripped down his hand. The little boy nodded his head eagerly and twisted his waffle cone around to follow Ally's instructions. She then looked up from Brogan and glanced at his older brother.

"It seems like it's too late for you Xav," Ally said nodding to his hand. Xavier's chocolate ice cream had melted over the edge of his cone and trickled down his hand and to his wrist.

Brogan giggled at his brother and Xavier rolled his eyes, he licked the trail of ice cream off his skin, and looked up just in time to notice that Ally was staring at where his tongue had peeked out and cleaned off his skin. He shot her a cheekily raised eyebrow and then purposely licked his lips.

Ally copied his expression and lifted her spoon to her mouth and sucked some of her cheery gelato off of the plastic utensil.

"So," Xavier said in as casual a tone as he could muster as he shot a glance at his rather content and oblivious little brother, and then gazed back at Ally, "Maybe we should hang out in your hotel room tonight. My parents have already proven that mine isn't exactly as private as I thought it would be."

She looked down at her bowl of ice cream, "Yeah, um, there's something I haven't told you yet . . ." Before she could continue, the mobile phone in her pocket rang and she pulled it out and glanced at its face.

"It's from Freddie, he wants to know where we are," Ally explained.

"Why would your brother care about where you are right now?" Xavier asked confusedly.

Ally pursed her lips, "Because he and James are in my hotel room right now and they want to know where I am so that we can meet up."

"Freddie and James are in France?" Xavier questioned, "I thought your family wasn't coming until tomorrow for the first skills competition?"

"The majority of them are waiting until tomorrow or Sunday to get here, but James asked Harry and Ginny if he could get here earlier so that he could see Mélanie," She explained.

James Potter had started dating Mélanie Bonheur-Lévesque during the last few months of the previous Hogwarts school year. Mélanie originally attended Beauxbatons Academy in France, but had transferred to Hogwarts in January of the past year, and she had James had been sort of seeing each other since May. Over the summer they had officially reached the level of boyfriend and girlfriend, and she had been in England up until a month ago when she went back home to France. James had been separated from Mélanie for the past month, and he was a little antsy to see her again, hence, his asking to be allowed to go to France even a couple days before the rest of his family was to arrive for the All-Star Quidditch tournament.

Xavier took another lick of his ice cream cone, "So James convinced his parents to allow him to come to France early, and they would only allow it if he stays with you until the rest of the Potters get here?"

Ally nodded.

"Okay that I understand. But why did Freddie decide to tag-along? I know that we joke about them being attached at the hip, but really, this is something else," He pointed out.

She twisted her spoon around her bowl, "Harry and Ginny didn't want to send James here by himself and have him impose on all of Mélanie's family's time, so James suggested that Freddie come with him so that he could have someone to hang out with anytime that Mélanie needed to be with her family."

"So now you're sharing a hotel room with two seventeen-year-old boys," He concluded.

"Only until Baxter gets here. He'll share a room with them and then I'll get my own single room," Ally told him contritely.

Xavier sighed, "And when does Baxter get here?"

"He and Louis are arriving sometime tomorrow. I'm sure Cecilia will know the moment they get here," Ally said before looking down at her phone and typing out a reply to her brother.

"Did you tell them where we are?" Xavier asked as he watched her fingers fly over her phone.

Ally nodded, "I did, according to Freddie they were on their way out of the hotel, when they ran into Cecilia coming into it. They've decided to irritate her for the next little while instead."

"Lovely," Xavier replied. He then glanced at Brogan and noticed that his brother had made it to the end of his cone and had decided to chew the bottom out of it, causing what was left of his melted ice cream to dribble out of the end.

Ally had noticed Brogan's action too and she told him to suck the melted ice cream out of the bottom of the cone.

"Like that?" Brogan asked Ally inquisitively as he smiled up at her, his mouth covered in chocolate ice cream.

"Sort of," Ally laughed as she leaned towards Brogan and dabbed around his face with a napkin. She glanced across the table to where Xavier was sitting and noticed him eyeing the end of his own ice cream cone, "Don't even think about it Mister."

Xavier gave her an innocent look an inched the end of the cone closer to his mouth, "Think about what?"

Ally met his gaze and then jumped out from her side of the booth and crossed the three feet of distance to Xavier's side. She tried to reach for his ice cream cone and he stretched his arm out and tried to stop her from grabbing it.

"I don't think so Missy," Xavier teased in a similar tone as she tried in vain to take his cone away. He stood up as much as he could with the table in his way and Ally was pretty much throwing herself at him as she tried to grasp the cone.

He brought the tip of his waffle cone to his mouth and bit the end off, the few drops of melted ice cream that was left in the cone starting a steady drip out of the end, "Oops."

Ally frowned at him, trying not to allow the edges of her lips to curve up as she watched his chocolate smudged mouth turn up into a smirk, "You're making a mess."

Case in point, the ice cream dripping out of the end of the cone was dribbling a little onto the table. When Xavier accidently moved it, some of the ice cream dripped onto one of their jean-covered legs apiece. They both sat back down and Ally sighed dramatically and pulled out her wand. She was glad that they'd picked a wizarding ice cream establishment and not a muggle one, and she vanished the ice cream spots from both of their pants before it could stain.

Xavier sucked the rest of the melted ice cream out of the end of his cone and then grinned at her, "A delicious mess."

She rolled her eyes, but didn't turn away when he leaned forward and gave her a sticky ice cream covered peck on the lips, "You're worse than a four-year-old."

Said four-year-old that she was thinking about, had gotten out of his end of the booth during their squabble and had joined them on Xavier's side of the booth. Brogan threw his arms around his older brother's neck and then hung off him in some sort of hybrid of an attempted strangle and hug.

"What are you doing Bro?" Xavier asked in his weary but patient big brother voice as he tried to loosen his brother's chokehold on his neck.

"I wanted to be in the picture," Brogan replied sweetly.

Ally and Xavier's heads snapped to Brogan, "What picture?"

"The one that man took over there," Brogan said pointing towards the back of the shop. Both of the couple's gazes narrowed in on where the little boy was pointing to, and they noticed for the first time a slight man in his late twenties with a wizarding camera. He was unabashedly taking photos of the three of them. Xavier perceived a lanyard hanging around his neck with a card on it that he knew enough to assume was some sort of press badge.

"I think it's time to go back to the hotel Bro," Xavier stated evenly as he shared a look with Ally. She nodded her head and collected their rubbish as Xavier ushered Brogan out of the booth. Once Brogan was on his feet Xavier scooped him up in his arms and settled him on his hip. As Brogan was getting older and starting a new growth spurt, it had been a while since Xavier had carried him, and he was happy to let his big brother give him a ride. Ally finished disposing of their rubbish and Xavier held his hand out for her to take. They left the shop and walked as quickly as they could back to the hotel.

* * *

 **6:21 PM Spain**

"I missed you."

"I missed you too."

"It's been like four days since you last saw each other," Kyle Line reminded the two women as he watched them squeal and squeeze each other tightly in an embrace.

Victoire let go of Kyle's wife, Sandra Line née Collins, and glared at him, "Just because she's your wife doesn't mean that you own her. She was my best mate first and it's been a while since I saw her."

Sandra patted Victoire's shoulder, "We're still busy at work catching up with all of the stuff that piled up while we were away on our four week honeymoon, and you've been busy studying for your exams. It's not like married life has made such a difference."

"Thanks Honey," Kyle said airily to his wife, "It's nice to know that you're enjoying being married, you know we are technically in the honeymoon period, everything's just supposed to go downhill after this."

Sandra walked over to her husband and kissed his cheek, "You know that's not what I meant. I'm actually enjoying being married to you."

Kyle rolled his eyes and replied in a sarcastic tone, "Gee, that's quite the glowing report."

"If this is how these two react I'm really scared of how much mushier you and Freckles are gonna get when you tie the knot," Malcolm commented blithely to Teddy.

Nadia pinched Malcolm's side enough to make him jump, "Be nice."

"Speaking of tying the knot, have you two decided on a date yet?" Kyle asked Victoire and Teddy interestedly.

The three couples were out to dinner at a local bistro. Sandra and Kyle had arrived sometime in the early afternoon, but Victoire and Teddy had been out sightseeing, and according to a bragging Malcolm, he and Nadia were also otherwise engaged for most of the day. They were also supposed to meet up with Charlotte, Dimas, and the wedding party and some other of the bride and groom's friends at a club around eight, for a combined night-before-the-wedding bachelor and bachelorette party. They were having dinner and catching up before what was sure to be a loud and late night.

"Yeah," Sandra added, "I can't believe that your mother hasn't had you sending out save the date cards yet. You've been engaged for almost three months now."

Victoire sighed and twisted her fork around her pile of rice, "We uh, we haven't told anyone about the date yet."

"But have you decided on one?" Malcolm asked glancing at Teddy.

The engaged couple shared a look, and then Victoire bit her lip, "We have, we're just waiting to tell . . . well waiting to tell my mum really, when the time is right."

"It must not be good news if you're procrastinating to announce it," Sandra observed.

"It's not bad news . . . just probably not news that Fleur will exactly want to hear," Teddy said evenly, grabbing Victoire's right hand and giving it a squeeze.

Malcolm looked at his drink and tapped a finger against the glass, "If it's not what Fleur wants to hear than in her opinion it will be bad news."

Teddy glared at Malcolm, and then he moved his hand to Victoire's knee underneath the table and pressed down. She had started to anxiously tap her foot and shake her leg as the conversation wore on, and he decided to stop her before she smacked her knee against the underside of the table.

"It'll be fine, we'll tell everyone about our decision once things calm down a little," Teddy said with a tone that spoke to finality.

Victoire placed her hand over top of the one he had on her knee and squeezed it, "He means after everything with my healing exams, and residency gets decided."

"How did your last exam go?" Sandra asked Victoire, trying to change the subject slightly.

"I think it went well," Victoire said after taking a deep breath, "I just hope I did well enough to be offered a spot in D. A. R. W. for my residency."

Sandra waved off Victoire's worries, "You said so yourself that your interview with Healer Rhee and the others healers on the ward went well. I bet the only thing stopping Healer Rhee from offering you a residency spot there and then was the fact that you hadn't officially completed your exams or graduated as a healer yet."

Victoire self-consciously accepted her best mate's praise and then Teddy not so subtly changed the subject to something that wouldn't make his fiancée feel uncomfortable. Dinner passed much more comfortably, even when Nadia and Malcolm got into a heated five-minute argument that went from calm to angry and then back to serene before the other four could even realize what was going on.

They met the others at the club where they were supposed to meet at eight. Moreover, if Kyle thought that Sandra and Victoire's reunion was girly and full of squeals, it was nothing compared to the sounds Charlotte made when she saw Sandra and pulled her into a hug. Dimas did a good job of calming his fiancée down as always, and then introduced Sandra and Kyle to everyone in the wedding party except for Tasha, who already knew them. They exchanged hellos, Kyle shaking hands with the best man who worked with Dimas and whom he had met during a few business meetings, and then they entered the dance club.

Loud Spanish music was playing, and Charlotte hurriedly announced that she absolutely loved the song, and that all of the girls needed to join her on the dance floor ASAP. Sandra, Victoire, and Nadia all shared a look before following Charlotte through the crowd and towards the dance floor. They danced through the rest of the song, and the one after, before they were allowed to take a break from the floor to get a drink.

The girls found Teddy, Malcolm, and Kyle near the bar, Victoire went right up to her fiancée, grabbed the drink from his hand, and took a sip of it. Teddy watched her and lazily wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her body towards his. She smirked at him from underneath the rim of the glass and got one last sip in before he leaned in and kissed her.

The kiss was relatively short, heated, and it left her wanting much more, which she could tell from the sexy smirk on his face, was his plan. She gazed as evenly as she could into his twinkling eyes, the dark lighting in the club making it almost impossible to discern the dark blue of his irises from the black pupils. She handed him back his drink, which was still half-full, and he downed it in only a few seconds. He set it down, and then Victoire signalled the bartender for two more drinks without breaking her gaze from Teddy. She didn't even have to send the bartender a flirty smile to get his attention, and soon two new drinks were sitting at her elbow.

Despite the non-encouragement the bartender was getting, he shot Victoire a leer and a raised eyebrow. Teddy rolled his eyes in exasperation and slid the hand that was at her lower back further down and grazed her ass while his other hand moved to the back of her head so that he could pull her face to his and connect their mouths. She eagerly returned the kiss, but then slowly ended it.

"Someone's a little possessive," Victoire teased as she picked up her drink.

"I'm allowed to be," Teddy replied before taking a sip of his own new drink, "Your engagement ring is supposed to deter other men, but it doesn't seem to be working."

She swallowed some more of the drink, realizing for the first time exactly how strong the alcohol was in the drinks Teddy had ordered, and rested her free hand on his arm, "I guess you'll just have to stick close to me for the whole night then."

"Sounds like a plan to me," He whispered into her ear before capturing her lips in another kiss.

"Merlin you two," Malcolm complained loudly from beside them so that they could hear him over the loud music. "Can't you be polite and take your snog session to the dance floor like every other person in this club?"

Victoire and Teddy broke apart and shared a look. They finished what was left of their drinks and then left the bar and went towards the crowded dance floor. What people were doing on the dance floor wasn't exactly dancing, but everyone was moving to the beat of the music more or less, so it did seem like some sort of cohesive jumble.

Teddy would never brag about having 'killer dance moves' like Malcolm would, and has, but Andromeda did force him to take ballroom dancing classes when he was younger, so he did know how to move to the rhythm of music. And since he was the male partner, it was only really Victoire that people would look at if they were looking, which who was he kidding, they were definitely looking. He wrapped both of his arms around her waist and pulled her close, until they were pretty much just grinding against each other, her arms alternating from wrapping around his neck, to sliding over his arms, to back up in the air or ruffling her own hair.

They danced through a few songs, spotting Kyle and Sandra as well as Charlotte and Dimas through the crowd once or twice, until Victoire suddenly stopped moving and shot Teddy a raised eyebrow, "Is that your mobile phone vibrating in the pocket of your jeans?"

Teddy slid his hand into his front right-side pocket and pulled out the muggle device, his eyes zeroing in on the message on the screen.

"It's from work," He yelled into her ear so that she could hear over the pounding of the drums in the song, "I need to take this."

Victoire waved him off, only surprised that he'd actually gone almost two whole days without being contacted in some way, and he quickly slipped through the crowd, and presumably off the dance floor. Not even two minutes after Teddy had left, three other men on the dance floor tried to come up to her and take his place; she hurriedly realized that staying on the dance floor without Teddy or someone else from their party was not the best idea, and moved off towards the direction of the bar again.

It had been a while since Victoire had actually gotten sloshed, or even buzzed, since her veela and werewolf genes sped up her metabolism and made it difficult to get drunk. Teddy had a similar problem because he had a lot more werewolf genes than she did, so she wasn't entirely surprised that the drinks she had stolen from him earlier were ordered stronger than usual.

When she reached the bar, she considered ordering something else that wasn't as strong, but then shrugged and figured that since the wedding wasn't until the afternoon the next day that it didn't matter if she had a little more to drink than was normal. She was on holiday and she was going to continue to enjoy it. She smiled easily at the same bartender from earlier, and he slid right over to her and hastily made her a new drink. She watched him carefully, and then told him thank-you in English when he handed it to her. It was a rather busy Friday night, so the bartender was quickly called away, and Victoire didn't have to worry about him trying to flirt with her.

Victoire was a few sips into her drink when Tasha pushed her way into the crowd around the bar and somehow ended up right beside her.

"Godric what does a person have to do to get the attention of a bartender around here?" Tasha muttered to herself as she tried to find a bartender. She glanced to the other side, noticed Victoire sitting right there, and frowned when she took in both the blonde and the glass she was drinking from, "I guess that answers _that_ question."

Victoire rolled her eyes but waved her hand to capture the bartender's attention. She wasn't sure it if was just a lucky break, or if he had been intermittently looking at her, but he noticed her wave and was in front of them in minutes.

Tasha ordered her drink, and when she had it in her hand, Victoire glanced at her, "I know that you hate me, but it's not my fault that people decide to pick me out of a crowd."

"Really? You don't think that it's your fault that you flirted with the bartender?" Tasha asked both scornfully and sarcastically.

Victoire rolled her eyes, "I never encouraged him. A small smile and a thank-you don't count."

"Is that what you tell Teddy?" Tasha asked as she took a delicate sip of her drink.

Victoire took a large swallow of hers in contrast, "Even if I was, isn't it up to him to decide whether or not he believes me?"

Tasha made a face, "You've got him so trapped in your _charms_ , that he doesn't even realize that he'd be better off without you."

Victoire put her hands on her hips, "I dearly hope that you're not trying to insinuate that the only reason why Teddy wants to marry me is because of our physical relationship. Because if you are, that would really show that you don't have a lot of respect or confidence in him."

"It's hard for him to see what a bitch you are when being with you will end up giving him everything he's ever wanted all wrapped up in a pretty package," Tasha protested.

"Everything he's ever wanted?"

Tasha took another swig of her drink, "A family; a big happy family that he will automatically get when he marries you. And it probably doesn't hurt that he'll get pretty little blonde-haired blue-eyed babies when he gets around to actually knocking you up."

"Oh, so now you're saying that Teddy's only going to marry me because I'm pretty and because he wants to be a part of my family," Victoire summarized. "Wow, you really don't know anything do you? Teddy already was a part of my family way before we started dating. He is not marrying me just because I'm pretty. And you know what? He does know that I can be a bitch and he still loves me."

Tasha opened her mouth to reply, but Victoire knocked back the rest of her drink and spoke first, "Just because you're in love with Teddy doesn't mean that you get to make decisions for him. I know that it's going to hurt and be disappointing, but you need to realize that Teddy loves me and that he's _chosen_ me."

"What would you know about disappointment?" Tasha asked scathingly and her grip tightened around her drinking glass, "I doubt you've ever had a disappointment in your life."

"I don't need to explain myself to you; I'm trying to help you."

Tasha chuckled hollowly, "You're trying to help me? All I want from you would be for you to let Teddy go."

"It's up to him if he wants to break if off with me, but I'm not going to encourage him to do so, because I love him in return. And yes I'm trying to help you, you need to give up on him before he has to confront you himself. I know that you have feelings for him, so I know that you don't want to have to have that conversation with him," Victoire said in as calm of a tone as she could muster.

"You're such a bitch," Tasha said suddenly. Victoire could hear the venom in her voice, but she could also tell that it was just a cover for the broken heart she was experiencing, her voice cracking even though she tried not to show how she was feeling.

"And I feel sorry for you," Victoire replied, she finished her drink and then turned her back to the bitter woman, walking back to the dance floor.

She found Malcolm and Nadia first, and joined them for the rest of the song. Another song, slower paced but with an intense rhythm began, and all of a sudden there were a pair of hands on Victoire's hips, grabbing her from behind and pulling her towards a hard chest. She would have liked to say that she knew right away that the hands belonged to Teddy, but she only allowed the man to grab her because neither Malcolm nor Nadia tried to intervene on her behalf.

The hands on her hips gripped her tightly and she started swaying her body to the beat of the music. She leaned back into the man's chest and her mouth turned up in a smile when she felt a pair of lips drop a kiss to the side of her neck. She reached backwards and placed a hand on the back of the man's neck.

"How was your phone call?"

Teddy chuckled into her hair, "It was fine. Hayden just wanted to let me know that the trial has officially been pushed back to September 12th."

"It took that long just to tell you about the date being pushed back?" Victoire asked pryingly.

He let out a low sigh, "We might have discussed other things too."

She turned around to face him and slid her arms around his neck, "Things you can't tell me or thing you don't want to tell me?"

He bit his lip and pressed his forehead against hers, "I don't want to do this here."

Victoire rested a hand on his cheek, "There's nothing to 'do', I'm not going to ask questions. I promised you that I'd be less nosey."

A small smile quirked up around the edges of his lips, "I didn't exactly expect you to follow through with it though."

* * *

 **A/N:** How'd you find the chapter? And who was more devious here, Katie and Oliver or Ally? I gave you both some adorable Brogan and some Vic vs. Tasha interaction so please review and let me know if you liked it, I know a lot of you were asking for them! As always please leave me any questions, comments, or concerns!

 **Side Note:** A lot of you asked about the 'wrap-up' with the Peru case from LAH, and most of you were very patient in waiting for a response. Most t.v. shows show the legal process as rather quick (because they have an hour max to play out a story, unless you're watching Law and Order) but I wanted to emphasize while most of the mission part is over with, there will still be a lot of legal matters and still some investigating left to go. Now I'm not entirely sure how fast the justice system works in the wizarding world, so when we go more into detail about it, I'll explain why they didn't go to trial until September. I hope this explanation tides you all over until then.

 **Next Update:** Next week! Same time, same place.

 **Next Chapter:** We get some lovely Cecilia/Louis which I know a lot of you have been waiting for, as well as a chance to see some other characters from LAH such as Clark and Mark. Also Vic and Teddy talk about the future and may or may not answer some questions you've had.

Teaser for Next Chap:

 **""Bloody Hell."**

 **"Cecilia Kathryn Wood, you will not swear in front of you little brother!" Oliver rebuked severely as he frowned at his only daughter. He was really wondering what had gotten into her."**

Thanks to everyone who has followed, favourited, read, and especially reviewed this chapter!

 **Really Exciting:** There's only two chapters of this story posted, but I'm still only five reviews away from 100, which is amazing, so thank you everyone for getting me here, and for hopefully getting me past it!

An Especially BIG Thank You To:

 **Autumn, B. arendes, no cure for crazy, LeviosaProphecy, SoccerDiva, Rosie loves pi, Seher Syed, TheSlytherinQueenbee, Last Ride Of The Valkyries, Jennifer Jules, bunHEad95, silverlover02, The Awesome One, Devi2509, 8Lottie8, NicoleTheSmith, jeremiah123, JessieGail, WishIWasAMarauder07, GryffindorsRock, HP Queen, WolfGirl, TheGoldenSnitch, Zarak, Aeistrya, zvc56, MissMatchedEyes, Lyly4218, crumer, Weasley Cousin,** and **Jily71102**.

 **LeviosaProphecy** : There'll be slight mention of the state of Benjamin's personal life (single/married/divorced/widowed) in a few chapters time so I'm afraid that I'm going to have to make you wait a few weeks to find out. Sorry.

 **Rosie loves pi** : Victoire's grown a bit so she's probably never going to revert back to TTA Vic, but I hope you enjoyed her being slightly snapish to Tasha here. If anything, she feels more sorry for Tasha than angry right now.

 **Last Ride Of The Valkyries** : Okay, totally get it, sorry but I wanted to make sure we were on the same page with the right number of Xs. While giving Rowan a disorder of some sort would create more drama and give a lot more opportunity for me to write about things I have experience with (abnormal psychology, working and living with developmentally slower individuals) I'm not planning on making her life any harder in that sense. It's not because I want everyone to be perfect, but more because if she did have one of those problems (not saying that she can't get a problem when she's older) it would defeat the purpose of using her as an example to prove to 'Purebloods' that mixing with people of not pureblood (muggleborn in this case) makes a child that is just as strong and healthy, if not stronger because of the greater genetic variety of her genes, which was going to be somewhat of the point. Therefore, it is a good suggestion, but I've decided to take Rowan's character in a different direction, for different purposes, that will still serve the plot in interesting ways.

 **bunHEad95** : Thanks, although it's funny that you think Rowan's such a unique name because I used it because I know of someone named Rowan and I thought it was somewhat of a normal name. (But I have worked in daycare and I've heard a lot of names.)

 **The Awesome One** : I'd prefer to let Mr. Knott speak for himself, but I think it's safe to say that nothing he says will be giving you the warm fuzzies any time soon.

 **HP Queen** : Tasha's a cursebreaker, and Malcolm is a freelance writer for magical magazines and newspapers.

 **Aeistrya** : Yes, I did leave the confrontation somewhat vague between the curse-breakers and the ancient civilization because I was going from mostly Vic's POV, and I purposely left off on some of the follow up because we'll be going over it, and learning new things about it, in this story. Also, I had already decided that Kyle and Sandra's wedding would pretty much be the end (excepting the last chapter for discussion of Teddy/Vic's engagement) because that's how the story started, and I didn't want to go past it, but I also didn't want the investigation and legal matters to be all tied up in a way that really wouldn't have been realistic, therefore, we're continuing it in this story because stuff like this can take a lot of time (explanations and excises will of course go more into detail in chapters that deal with it). DFTBA stands for Don't Forget To Be Awesome, you can also google it and find out about it and the Vlogbrothers who started the term.

 **MissMatchedEyes** : Don't worry, we'll get some Louis/Cecilia 'action' in the next chapter, and we heard from Brogan in this one, and we'll hear from him in the next one too.

 **Lyly4218** : I think I've got myself covered with the French because I'm only going to be using short phrases, but if I find myself in need for a larger translation then i will keep you in mind.

 **Okay, I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter,**

 **Please leave me any questions, comments, or concerns in a review!**

 **Until Next time, DFTBA!**


	4. Publicity

**A/N:** Hey there everyone, here's the next chapter, and I can promise you that you'll love it!

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own _Harry Potter_ nor do I have any rights to _Beetlejuice_. I just thought that it was an appropriate analogy (And if you're confused by this statement, I promise it will make much more sense by the end of the story).

* * *

 **Publicity**

 **Saturday, August 27** **th** **2022**

 **8:22 AM France**

Cecilia had only been awake for about ten minutes, yet she had already checked her mobile phone messages about twelve different times within that time span, and she was debating over whether or not she would seem too clingy if she were to text Louis that early in the morning. London was behind where they were in France by an hour, so even though she wasn't entirely sure that Louis would be up she hoped that he wouldn't consider her pathetic for messaging him as soon as she was awake.

"Pass the milk please Cee-Cee?" Oliver Wood asked his daughter from across the table from her. She was sitting down with her parents and Brogan, and they were just starting breakfast.

Cecilia had heard her father's request, but before she could even look up at him, her phone vibrated and she quickly opened the new message from Louis. Her eyes scanned it and she was typing out a reply when her father loudly cleared his throat.

She pressed send on her mobile and looked up at him, "Yes?"

Oliver wasn't frowning at her, but his expression was far from a smile, "I asked you to pass the milk Cecilia."

She reached for the open jug and handed it to her father. Her mobile vibrated once more, and she passed the milk off to her father rather shakily in her haste to pick up her phone again and look at the message.

"Cecilia!" Oliver admonished as some of the milk sloshed out of the jug. He sighed heavily and waved his wand to clean up the mess. When he looked back up, he noticed that his eighteen-year-old daughter was still sitting across from him, her eyes glued to her phone and her fingers flying over the keyboard on the touch screen.

"Cecilia Kathryn!"

She looked up wide-eyed and surprised at her father, "What is it Dad?"

"It's not polite to have mobile phones at the breakfast table," Oliver told her sternly.

"I was just asking Louis when he and Baxter are planning on arriving here today," Cecilia explained as she glanced back at the face of her mobile.

"It's still impolite," Oliver argued, his face taking on a frown at her arguing.

She blinked and glanced beside her at her younger brother Brogan. He was currently using a plastic straw, that she wasn't entirely sure how he got, to blow bubbles in the milk of his cereal bowl. She watched him remove the straw from his mouth and then put it in one of his nostrils to try to blow bubbles with the air that came out of his nose. Cecilia spent less than a minute watching her brother before turning to gape at her father, " _I'm_ the one being impolite?"

Oliver scowled, but Katie decided that she should be the one to break the tension, "Brogan stop that right now and put the straw in the rubbish bin. Cecilia, you _do_ know that it's rude to be on your phone while having a meal with people."

Both Brogan and Cecilia looked properly chastised. Brogan got up from the table to throw away the straw, and Cecilia vanished her mobile phone back to her room.

"Good," Katie replied in a bright tone once everyone was back at the table and distraction free, "Now Cee-Cee, what time did Louis say he was getting here?"

Cecilia sighed but there was a small smile playing around the corners of her lips, "He wouldn't tell me. He wants to surprise me."

"It's not much of a surprise since you know that he's coming today," Oliver observed flatly, as he picked up his mug of tea.

Katie shot her husband a look, "It's sweet that he's trying to surprise her."

Oliver tipped his mug towards his lips and grumbled something unintelligible into the ceramic rim.

"What was that Dad?" Cecilia asked in a tone that was supposed to be cheerful, but ended up falling flat.

Katie opened her mouth with the intention to try to change the direction that she could tell the conversation was going, but Oliver replied to their daughter first, "I just said that I was wondering how you plan to get your first article written for your magazine this weekend and spend time with your boyfriend at the same time."

Cecilia clenched her teeth and plastered an attempted smile on her face, "You don't seem worried that Ally's presence this weekend will distract Xavier from the skills competition today or his game on Monday. Now why would that be Daddy? It can't be because Xavier's competitions don't matter. I mean, they actually don't because this tournament is for charity, but every Wood knows that you take every chance you can get to practice."

Oliver set his teeth, not even realizing that he was copying Cecilia's expression, "Xavier's been playing Quidditch professionally for four years. He knows not to let Ally distract him."

"Perhaps this isn't a conversation that we should have over breakfast," Katie suggested airily, realizing full and well that neither her husband nor her daughter were probably listening to her.

"And in seven years of schooling at Hogwarts I never once handed in an assignment late. Louis wasn't a distraction during our last four years of school together, so I doubt he will be this weekend," Cecilia argued with her father.

Katie did intervene this time before the argument could escalate, "Cecilia Sweetheart, I believe that there is an owl near the window over there. Why don't you go answer it?"

Cecilia sighed and stood up from the breakfast table, the room was spacious for a hotel room, but the small kitchen space was directly connected to the living room space and her parents could still see her as she walked over to the window to let the owl in. She took the copies of _The Daily Prophet_ and _Witch Weekly: Special Saturday Edition_ from the owl's leg and the bird flew away. Cecilia tossed the newspaper in her father's direction, hitting him right in the chest with her Wood Quidditch genes, and glanced at the front cover of _Witch Weekly_ before she planned to pitch it to her mother.

"Bloody Hell."

"Cecilia Kathryn Wood, you will not swear in front of you little brother!" Oliver rebuked severely as he frowned at his only daughter. He was really wondering what had gotten into her.

She rolled her eyes and then flipped over the newspaper version of the popular woman's magazine, which was nothing more than a pile of gossip sheets, so that her mother and father could see it. On the cover were two moving wizarding photos of Ally and Xavier. The first photo showed Ally almost sitting on Xavier's lap in a restaurant booth. He was holding up an ice cream cone and she was rolling her eyes at him, and doing something underneath the table that they couldn't see from the photo, but that at best looked like she was rubbing his leg. The second photo was obviously taken around the same time as the first, and it depicted Xavier giving Ally a soft kiss on the lips. The title of the page read 'Is Xavier Wood Back O _n_ with On-Again-Off-Again Girlfriend?'.

"Bugger," Katie said with a sigh. Oliver also pinched the bridge of his nose and quickly searched through _The Daily Prophet_ to see if they also had photos of Xavier and Ally. Cecilia handed her mother the copy of _Witch Weekly_ , and Katie skimmed through it with quick fingers, "These are obviously from when they took Brogan to get ice cream yesterday. I need to make sure that they didn't print any of him."

Cecilia took a deep breath, she had been at Hogwarts when Brogan's picture was last printed in the newspaper without Katie and Oliver's permission, but she could still remember the warpath her mother was on when the incident first occurred.

"Any of Brogan?" Oliver asked Katie after he had scanned the _Prophet_ and failed to find even one picture of Xavier or Ally in the paper.

Katie put down _Witch Weekly_ and let out an appreciative sigh, "None of Brogan, whoever took these must have realized how much trouble they would be in if they did print photos of him."

"Well now that we've got that taken care of, who's going to inform Ally and Xavier that they are probably now the topic of discussion among hundreds of middle aged witches as they sip mimosas during Saturday morning brunch?" Cecilia asked as she crossed her arms over her chest.

Oliver and Katie both shared a look before glancing back at Cecilia.

"Um, no thanks."

* * *

 **9:13 AM Spain**

"So where did you two go last night? It was relatively early in the evening so I can't believe that you lot came back here to sleep," Malcolm probed interestedly as he speared a piece of eggs Benedict onto his fork.

Victoire rolled her eyes at Malcolm's question and took a leisurely sip of her orange juice. He was Teddy's best mate so really, it was in his purview to answer Malcolm's snooping queries.

"Do you really want me to tell you why we left early last night? It might not match up to the more entertaining theories that you have bouncing around in your head," Teddy pointed out before drinking some tea.

Malcolm took a few minutes to consider Teddy's, rather good, point and Nadia took Malcolm's silence as an opportunity to speak, "They're entitled to their privacy Malcolm, you don't need to know absolutely everything about what they do."

"Hey," Malcolm replied defensively as he felt that they were ganging up on him, "I just want some quid pro quo. Teddy shares deets with me and I'll share deets with him."

Nadia slapped his arm, not as lovingly as she usually did, "You better not share details about our private lives with him."

"I don't know why you would think that I'd want to hear details," Teddy said as he made a face, "I neither want to hear them, nor do I want to share."

Malcolm crossed his arms over his chest, "I liked it better when we use to share these details between us."

"We never shared details about this," Teddy argued.

Malcolm raised an eyebrow at his best mate, "I think you're forgetting the time that you got drunk and told me that-"

"I get the picture," Teddy said suddenly and very loudly so that he would drown out his friend's voice.

Victoire suspiciously narrowed her eyes at her fiancé, his hair was still his regular turquoise blue colour, but his eyes had changed ever so slightly from his sapphire blue to a suspicious yellowy-green.

"But I haven't gotten the picture yet," She glanced at Malcolm, "What did Teddy share with you on one of those rare occasions when he got drunk?"

Malcolm opened his mouth and Teddy cleared his throat loudly and sent his best friend a look that Victoire wouldn't have been be surprised to see actually kill him.

"This happened before you even started dating Freckles," Malcolm argued with Teddy as he tried to wave off the other man's concern.

"Really? Victoire asked interestedly with a glance at Malcolm and then a specific look at Teddy, "Which girlfriend did you gossip about with Malcolm then?"

Teddy sent Malcolm a hard glare, and then Malcolm glanced at Victoire and mimed zipping his lips, locking them, and throwing away the key. Normally Victoire would not let a situation like such go; however, Sandra and Kyle chose that time to join the other two couples at the hotel's restaurant for breakfast.

"What took you two so long?" Victoire asked the pair, not forgetting about Teddy's attempt to, and achievement, of shutting Malcolm up. She filed the earlier discussion away for later and then focused on her best mate and her husband.

"There's nothing wrong with wanting a lie in on a Saturday," Kyle commented brightly.

They had to wait for the waiter to reach their table to order some food, but there was a pot of warm tea on the table, so Kyle grabbed it, poured himself a cup, and then went to pour one for Sandra. She placed her hand over her empty teacup to stop Kyle from pouring, "I think I'll stick to water this morning."

Kyle nodded and put the teapot down, Victoire glancing at Sandra and noticing that she looked a little green.

"If you're feeling a little hungover from last night, I think tea will help," Victoire suggested to her friend.

"Hungover?" Malcolm commented in confusion as he joined the conversation, "Sandra didn't have anything alcoholic to drink last night."

Sandra stared at Malcolm wide-eyed, "How did you know that?"

He shrugged, "I just noticed."

"Why didn't you drink?" Victoire asked puzzled.

"I was feeling a little ill last night and I figured that drinking alcohol wouldn't help," Sandra explained.

Victoire narrowed her eyes at her best mate and began a visual inspection of her friend, "You've been feeling ill?"

"I'm just a little run down," Sandra said waving off Victoire's concern, "I must have caught a small bug. I'll just take a pepper-up potion after breakfast and I'll be right as rain."

"I'd feel better if you let me look at you."

Sandra locked gazes with Victoire, "And I'd feel better if you didn't. You don't need to worry about me; I'll get over it quickly."

Victoire didn't agree with the medical practicality of 'I'll-get-over-it-quickly', but she let her friend alone, mostly because a waiter had come by to take Sandra and Kyle's breakfast order. Once they ordered, Sandra's request for plain oatmeal not sliding past Victoire, a different hotel employee came up to their table and said that they had received mail for some of them. Victoire and Nadia both received missives in still sealed envelopes.

They opened them up at the same time and began reading them.

"Who's it from?" Teddy asked Victoire inquisitively as he tried to read over her shoulder.

"Xavier," Victoire replied with an affectionate eye roll, "He says that since he has a game on Monday, that he convinced one of the arenas to allow him in on Sunday to do a work out and have a pre-game-day run, as per Puddlemere United tradition. He says that he's convinced Ally to join him, of course, but also Cecilia, James, Freddie, and somehow he also convinced Clark and Mark even though they're only going because of the skills competition today."

"And he wrote to you about this because he wants you to join in?" Teddy asked Victoire with a smirk.

Victoire looked up from her letter, "Not just me, he said that I should bring you too Teddy."

"My letter is from Xavier also," Nadia commented with a sigh, "He sent me an invite to this run of his tomorrow too."

"Merlin my cousin's a nutter," Malcolm scoffed, "We've got a wedding tonight, and he wants you lot to run a marathon tomorrow morning?"

"The run's not until eleven and it's not exactly a marathon," Victoire corrected.

Nadia nodded her head, "I think this sounds like it will be fun. And if it helps Xavier get into the zone, then it's good all around."

Victoire and Teddy shared a look, "I think a run will be fun."

"Me too."

"Well at least my best friend knows me well enough not to ask me to run around a Quidditch arena for fun," Kyle commented with a smile.

A waiter came by with a Sandra and Kyle's breakfasts, and they ate for a little a while as Victoire, Teddy, and Nadia tried to convince Malcolm to join them on Xavier's run for the next day. They had almost finished their meal when another hotel employee, they were really on the ball that morning, popped up and handed rolled up copies of _The Daily Prophet_ to Kyle, and _Witch Weekly: Special Saturday Edition_ to Malcolm.

" _Witch Weekly_?" Victoire teased Malcolm as he and Kyle untied their papers and unrolled them.

"And old friend from my first writing job works there now," Malcolm explained, he looked down at the paper and frowned, "Um, when did Xavier send you guys those notes?"

Victoire and Nadia both looked down at their letters, "Yesterday night. We were out at dinner and we went straight to the club afterwards. We came back too late to look for letters so the staff gave them to us this morning."

"Which is why he didn't explain this," Malcolm said with a bit of a flare as he turned _Witch Weekly_ around so that everyone else at the table could read the front page that showed two pictures of Ally and Xavier.

"At least Ally's hair looks nice in these photos," Victoire offered after the quiet pause, she rubbed her hands over her face, "Good Godric Gryffindor this is going to piss them off."

Kyle titled his head to the side as he gazed at the pictures, "It's not the worst headline there's been about them in the past few months."

That was true; the press had been all over Xavier and Ally since they went to the Quidditch league's end of the season awards dinner at the end of June. They mostly focused on Xavier since he was the hottest commodity of the pair, but Ally's rather famous last name didn't help her much either. To their friends and families' knowledge, Ally and Xavier had be on again since Kyle and Sandra's wedding, and hadn't been off in that span of time. However, because they were usually private people –and because the press seemed to enjoy amping up the situation for all it was worth– they created the drama of the two being on-and-off. Therefore, any mundane picture of Xavier in public with another woman (especially if it was Victoire) or Ally with another man (Spencer didn't mind in the least when _they_ were attacked by the paparazzi one Tuesday night in July) became front of the gossip page news. Despite all of their new front-page time, it was safe to say that Ally and Xavier hated their new publicity.

"That picture of Ally and Xavier on the left better be her rubbing his leg though," Sandra commented, saying what no one else wanted to.

"I'm sure it's all innocent," Nadia added.

Malcolm rolled his eyes, "Of course it's innocent; it's Ally and Xavier. But not everybody knows them how we know them, and these pictures show a lot of unusual PDA."

* * *

 **10:09 AM France**

"Merlin Xavier must be flipping out about this," Ally said to Cecilia as they made their way into the arena where that day's skills competition was going to take place at ten-thirty.

Cecilia patted Ally's arm comfortingly and didn't even need to ask what 'this' was, "He'll be fine, it's not the first time you guys have been front page news."

"I know, it's just . . . being labelled as on-again-off-again really bugs him," Ally explained, she pinched the bridge of her nose and let out a guilty sounding exhale, "Which is all my fault really, we wouldn't be in this mess if I hadn't broken up with him in the first place."

Cecilia didn't reply. She had never really spoken with either Ally or Xavier about their break up several months ago, and she didn't exactly know how to respond to Ally's comment about the backlash being all her fault. She did try to add a lighter note to the conversation though, "They'd still print every photo of Xavier and Vic they could, so it doesn't matter, they'd create drama whether it's there or not."

"Fair point," Ally said as they got to their seating section and had to show their ticket passes again.

They walked into the box seating area and spotted Katie and Brogan already there along with people that Cecilia recognized as family members of other Puddlemere United players. In addition to the charity games that would be played over the extended weekend, there were also skills competitions that were mostly for fun and bragging rights.

The teams for the Quidditch games were picked by popular vote among the public for the certain national teams; by player stats for the leagues (Xavier ended the last league season as the top keeper which is why he was offered his position); and of course by nationality (Nadia was a top chaser but that was in the British league, and the Italian team picked their players differently). However, the skills competition was different and open to players that were not on the national teams, and who may also only play as reserve players on some teams. Clark and Mark were not on the British team that would be playing the Quidditch game on Monday, but they were going to be in the skills competition, along with other Puddlemere United players, except for Nadia of course who was at a wedding with Malcolm.

As Ally and Cecilia walked towards Cecilia's family, they noticed Harry and Ginny Potter and their children James, Al, and Lily; along with Hermione and Ron Weasley with Rose and Hugo; and Ally's father George and her brother Freddie. James and Freddie had already been in France for a day, but Ally felt better now that their parents were around to help keep an eye on them so that she was no longer solely responsible for making sure that the partners in crime didn't do anything to that would get them deported.

"Hey Allygirl," George greeted his daughter when she walked up to him; he wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her into his side for a hug.

"Hi Dad," Ally sighed, she looked around the group, "Where's Mum?"

George patted her arm, "She got an early call to go into the hospital this morning. She'll portkey over as soon as she's free."

"How're you feeling Honey?" Hermione asked Ally as she and Ginny took turns giving her hugs.

"I'm fine."

Neither woman seemed to believe her, nor did they do a very good job of hiding their disbelief in her reply. They didn't want to push Ally to talk about the article that even they had read in _Witch Weekly_ that morning though, so the two older women took turns filling the dead air with explanations about their other family members expected times of arrival.

According to Ally's aunts, Percy, Audrey, and Molly were supposed to show up in the next few minutes, apparently Lucy had chosen to stay behind in London until the next day because she suddenly decided that she needed to get more work done. Bill, Fleur, and Dom were also all supposed to show up soon, with Baxter and Louis's time of arrival still not set in stone as Louis was adamant about trying to surprise Cecilia. Ally's grandparents were supposed to arrive on Sunday along with her Uncle Charlie, and of course, Victoire and Teddy who were planning to leave Spain Sunday morning for France.

A few feet away from the Ally, Cecilia was speaking to Ginny Potter about her excitement to do her interview and write her first article that weekend, and Ginny was just giving the younger girl some pointers on writing, when Brogan Wood ran up to his older sister and hugged her leg.

"Cee-Cee," Brogan began, giving his sister an adorable smile, "I'm thirsty."

Cecilia rolled her eyes and patted the top of his head, "And you want me to go get you something to drink I assume Bro?"

He nodded his head with a bright expression, "Please, and thank you."

"Why don't you ask Mum?" She asked her little brother.

"She told me to ask you," Brogan replied, smile still on his face.

Cecilia glanced over at her mother who was speaking to George, "Mum?"

Katie gave her daughter a charming smile that was eerily similar to the one her brother had been giving her, "It'll be easier if you go and I stay here to watch him."

Cecilia rolled her eyes and then turned to leave the box, she asked if someone else wanted anything while she was gone, while heavily hinting that maybe Freddie or James could join her so she wouldn't have to wait in line by herself, but everyone responded in the negative and she left alone.

She had made it to the area where there were a series of concession stands, and was just debating over which line would be shortest when she heard a voice from behind her call out.

"Well aren't you a sight for sore eyes."

She spun around on her heels and only took a second to gaze at the blonde haired man behind her before closing the few feet of distance between them and throwing her arms around his neck.

"Hey Sweetheart," Louis said with a chuckle as he squeezed Cecilia to him in a tight hug.

"I missed you," Cecilia whispered into the fabric of his t-shirt. The differences in their height meant that her head just reached the middle of his chest.

Louis rubbed a hand down her back, "Real life's a little different from Hogwarts isn't it? Sometimes we don't have the opportunity to see each other every day."

"And it sucks," She complained, nuzzling her head a little more into his chest, "How was your last few days of training?"

"Exhausting, but that's what I expected and signed up for. What about you? Got your interview with Valentin Krum scheduled yet?" He asked her interestedly.

Cecilia looked up at Louis and gave him an anxious yet excited smile, "Bulgaria plays Spain tonight at six, so my interview with him is scheduled for directly after that."

Louis teasingly raised an eyebrow at her, "You're hoping that they win tonight then."

"That would probably make for a smoother interview, yes," She disclosed as she started to bounce on the balls of her feet.

"You don't have anything to worry about, Valentin's really nice. But if you're worried I _could_ -"

"Nope," Cecilia cut him off with a tap to his nose before he could finish his offer, "We've talked about this. I want to get my foot in the door without using any family connections."

He leaned down and pressed a kiss to her forehead, "Valentin's not your family connection. He's actually one of mine."

She sighed but didn't respond; she knew that he meant well and that Weasleys just had a penchant for meddling. Louis noted her silence and gave her a soft smile, "I know that you really want to do this on your own though, so I'll suppress my urge to interfere."

"Thank you," She replied stretching up onto her tiptoes.

"You're welcome," He replied leaning down because he knew that even on her toes she couldn't reach his lips without some help.

It had been two days since they saw each other, and the force of Cecilia's kiss showed him exactly how much she missed him, as if there was any doubt. Her hands slid up around his neck and her fingers tangled into his blonde hair tightly, clearly illustrating that she wasn't planning to let go of him anytime soon. He tightened his hands around her waist and hips, and captured her bottom lip between his, sucking it into his mouth and making her sigh.

"Cecilia Kathryn!" a stern voice called out following a loud throat clearing.

She pulled away from Louis, turned slightly, and found her father standing a few feet away from her, his arms crossed over his chest and a strict expression on his face.

"Hi Daddy," She replied in a perky tone as she pretended that her father had _not_ just caught her snogging her boyfriend in public.

"Shouldn't you be with your mother getting ready to watch the skills competition?" Oliver Wood asked Cecilia, his gaze resting on Louis for a moment before it drifted back to his daughter.

Cecilia crossed her own arms over her chest, "I was, but then Brogan asked me to get him a drink."

Oliver glanced at her empty hands, "Did you make it invisible?"

"No, I ran into Louis before I got there. We were just saying hello," Cecilia explained, although she felt more like she was defending herself.

"In public?" Oliver asked her, his hands moving to his hips.

She frowned at his attitude and he continued, "You should probably go get Brogan his drink now, the competition is supposed to start soon."

Cecilia wanted to roll her eyes, but she knew that that would only cause her father to 'middle-name-her' again. So instead, she plastered on a fake smile, grabbed Louis's hand, and turned her back on her father, "We'll just go then."

They had only made it about two feet away before Oliver called to her again, "Cecilia Kathryn."

She took a deep breath and turned around to look at her father, "Yes Dad?"

His gaze drifted to a silent Louis for second before he looked back at Cecilia, "Don't take too long, the competition will start any minute and it would be rude to miss the beginning of it."

Cecilia did roll her eyes this time, and walked away from her father and towards the concession stands, her free hand waving at him to prove that she heard his last comment.

"Should I ask about the tension that I sensed there?" Louis asked slowly once they were in line at the stand with the shortest queue.

Cecilia sighed in response and leaned against his arm, "I've been Cecilia Kathryn more often today than I've been Cee-Cee."

"What started it?" Louis asked, knowing that even though she was trying to play it cool, his girlfriend was very much a daddy's girl.

"Apparently he didn't appreciate me texting you at the breakfast table," Cecilia replied flatly.

Louis rubbed her back, "I'm sorry then for being a part of the problem."

"You're never a problem," She told him with a sweet smile, "Dad just decided to blow things out of proportion. And now, even though he won't say it, I think he's just gotten more stressed after we found out about Ally and Xavier being front page news."

"That's probably it," Louis agreed giving the top of her head a kiss.

* * *

 **1:01 PM**

The skills competition had gone on rather well, Xavier did brilliantly as always and Clark and Mark did well themselves, even when they weren't doing an activity in which they were working together. They had each won one of the activities apiece, which was a good sign because it meant that they would all be in good moods by the end of it. Once the competition was finished, instead of the players leaving the pitch, the spectators had a chance to go down onto the pitch to meet the half score of players on the field.

Ally, her family (which had included pretty much everyone who was planning on arriving before Sunday), and the Woods took their time as they meandered down to the field, most of the casual spectators had gone by the time they made it to the pitch. Xavier was speaking to Clark and Mark, and Ally outpaced her family so that she could get to her boyfriend.

"You were fantastic," Ally told Xavier sweetly as she grabbed him into a hug.

"Thank you," Xavier replied softly as he kissed her temple.

"Do we get that kind of a welcome too?" Clark asked as he and Mark stood next to them; he shot a cheeky smirk in Ally's direction.

She rolled her eyes at the beater but let go of Xavier and went to give both Clark and Marks hugs. Her relinquishing Xavier gave him a chance to see his family as well as greet the Potters and Weasleys who had arrived in France just in time for the competition. Clark gave Ally a quick embrace and then handed her off to Mark so that he could harass Dom, who was close by and saying something to Xavier, for a greeting of his own.

"Well I can see where I stand," Ally said with a laugh to Mark.

Mark shrugged, "You know he's been trying to get Dom to go out with him for like two months now."

"It's not going to happen," Ally commented as they watched Clark flirt with, and then get efficiently shut down by, Dom Weasley.

"I know, I think even he knows a little, he's not the type to give up though," Mark told her.

"He's a professional Quidditch player; I'd be shocked if he did."

Ally and Mark slowly got closer to Xavier and his well-wishers, and Ally noticed that most of her family members were taking their leave except for Dom (who was still speaking to Xavier and Clark) and Louis (who was stuck to Cecilia's side).

"Where's everyone going?" Ally asked Dom curiously.

"Everyone still needs to check into their hotel rooms and get settled," Dom explained, "But I hope that your calendar is clear for this evening because we're all going out to dinner at seven."

Ally sighed, already dreading a large family dinner out in public, she hoped that if any arguments were to crop up that they would be done in English to avoid letting the entire restaurant know about any of their family issues.

"I'll be there with bells on," Ally sighed.

Xavier wrapped an arm around her shoulder, " _We_ 'll be there."

She glanced up at Xavier, "You don't have to come. You had a busy morning."

"I want to come," He told her with a gentle smile.

"I told you they were _on_ again," Clark whispered to Mark in an obnoxiously loud tone.

Ally and Xavier both rolled their eyes, while Dom shot Clark a surprised look, "Wow, so not only do I now know that you can read, but that you also enjoy _Witch Weekly_."

Clark shot Dom a lecherous look, "I'll tell you anything you want to know Sweetheart."

"Ixnay on the philandering," Mark muttered to Clark before he plastered a bright smile onto his face and looked at something in the distance behind Dom, Cecilia, and Louis.

Clark's gaze followed Mark's until he spotted the reason why his friend had told him to put a halt to his flirting with Dom. A few feet away from them, a small six-year-old boy came barreling towards Clark and grabbed him around the legs, "Uncle Clark!"

"Hey there Zach! How'd I do?" Clark asked the little boy as he bent down to give him a hug.

"You were great!" The little boy replied with a wide grin while a pretty young woman in her mid-twenties came up to the group, she had been right on the younger boy's heels.

"Zach," The woman called exasperatedly to the little boy as she came to him and Clark, "You know that you're not supposed to go anywhere without me."

The little boy turned to the woman and pouted endearingly, "I just wanted to see Uncle Clark Mummy."

The woman sighed and Clark spoke before she could, "It's fine Tab, the whole reason you're here is to see me after all."

"Always the modest one there aren't you big brother?" The woman said with an eye roll as she gave Clark a hug.

"It's hard to be modest in front of my biggest fan," Clark told his sister airily as he held his hand up to his nephew for a high-five.

Zach looked up at Clark, "Mark was really good too though." He then turned and held his hand out for the other beater to high-five him.

"Thanks Zach," Mark replied with a chuckle as he returned the little boy's high-five. He looked up from the six-year-old and glanced at Clark's sister, "Hi Tabitha, enjoy the competition?"

Tabitha smiled shyly at Mark, "I did. It was nice to see that my brother's not the only Quidditch player out there who likes to showboat."

"I don't showboat," Clark argued.

"Yes you do," Mark and Tabitha replied. They both blushed when they realized that they spoken at the same time.

Clark rolled his eyes and looked towards the others who were still standing around them, "Do I showboat?"

"Yes," Xavier replied quickly and without remorse.

The beater scoffed and then quickly introduced everyone else to his sister and his nephew. Little Zach was star struck at the sight of Xavier Wood, a little surprising considering that his uncle was a professional Quidditch player himself, and he enjoyed asking Xavier about twenty questions in the span of two minutes. Clark's sister Tabitha had a hard time pulling Zach away from the professional Quidditch players after that, but she did convince him to come away after a reminder of something they needed to do at the hotel before they could meet up with 'Uncle Clark' for dinner later in the evening.

When they were gone Clark glanced at Dom, "Bet you didn't know that I was so good with kids."

"I didn't," Dom admitted in an impressed tone, "You were very sweet with your nephew."

"So does it change your mind about that date?" Clark questioned.

Dom snorted, "Yeah right."

Clark frowned and Mark patted him on the shoulder, "Maybe next time Mate."

* * *

 **7:35 PM Spain**

"Getting any ideas?" Teddy whispered into Victoire's ear as he sat down in the chair next to her.

He handed her a glass of alcohol that was stronger than the wine she had had during the dinner, and she smiled at him in thanks, "I know that I'm not letting my mother pick the flower arrangements for our wedding."

She gazed around at the reception space of Charlotte and Dimas's wedding, and even though it was beautiful and definitely Charlotte's style, Victoire already knew that she wanted a few less flower arrangements than what was dotting the room for her nuptials. And she also knew that if her mother had a say, her future wedding would look like a garden had thrown up.

"And how do you plan on stopping her from helping you pick out flower arrangements?" Teddy asked his fiancée before taking a sip of his drink.

Victoire sighed and grabbed at her loose hair, "Fair point. We should probably just elope then."

Teddy wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pressed a kiss to her temple, "If that's what you want then we'll do it. But we will have a lot of angry family members to explain to after the fact."

"I think my mother would forgive us . . . eventually," She replied after thinking it through for a few moments.

"I agree. If eventually means after we give her at least six grandchildren," He said with a sigh.

She scoffed, "I am not giving birth to _six_ children."

"Of course not," Teddy agreed with a nod, "We'll need to have _at least_ eight kids."

Victoire's eyes widened and she stared at her fiancé, "Eight? Where exactly are you getting that number Mr. Lupin?"

"I did the arithmetic," Teddy told her seriously, "Xavier Wood will want seven kids, enough for an entire Quidditch team, and you'll want to one-up him as always, so I'm counting at least eight kids."

She looked around them worriedly even though they were the only ones at the table at that moment, the other couples were either on the dance floor or at the bar, "Don't speak too loudly, if my mother hears you she'll try to force us to make an unbreakable vow to have _at least_ that many kids."

"Fleur's in a different country right now," Teddy pointed out.

"But if you say the word grandchildren I swear that she will just pop up out of nowhere," Victoire maintained.

Teddy placed his hand on her knee, hitting some skin since the hemline of her dress has ridden up while she sat in the chair, "Your mother's not _Beetlejuice_."

The look on Victoire's face said that Teddy's words weren't entirely convincing, "As for the number eight, you're not actually expecting us to have eight children are you?"

He shot her a smirk that lit up his gorgeous face, "I think practicing for eight children would be fun."

She had to smile in response, "While I agree with you there, I think eight kids is a little much for two people who are both going to have full time jobs."

"Fair enough," He told her with a smile, "I guess we'll just have to wait and see how many we'll end up with. But back to an elopement, do you really want to?"

Victoire shook her head, "No, I just said that because the thought of my mother's influence on our wedding is making my head spin. Besides, I can't take the joy of planning a wedding away from my mum, at the rate Dom's going it's up in the air as to whether she'll ever get married, and Louis will probably be forty before Oliver allows Cecilia to get married."

Teddy chuckled a little, but then he put on a serious expression and reached for her cheek, "I understand that you want to involve your mother, but if you'd really rather we elope then we'll do it and I'll take all the backlash from your mother afterwards."

"You must really love me if you'd face an angry, part veela mother-in-law on my behalf," Victoire said softly as she gazed into his eyes.

"I'd face anything for you," Teddy whispered, their faces having drifted closer to each other as they spoke.

She smiled beautifully back, "I appreciate the sentiment. I really do. But what I want, more than anything, is to stand up in front of all of our family and friends and become Mrs. Lupin."

He groaned and leaned his forehead against hers, "Godric that has to be the sexiest thing I've ever heard you say."

"Good to know," Victoire whispered, her words were accompanied by a breathless laugh. She had just started tilting her lips towards Teddy's when the obnoxious voice of Malcolm Wood broke into their peaceful bubble.

"And what are we talking about over here? You two look rather cozy," Malcolm commented nosily as he sat down in a chair next to Teddy. Nadia was on his heels and she had an apologetic expression on her face as she sat down next to her meddlesome boyfriend.

Teddy pressed a quick kiss to Victoire's lips and then glanced at his best mate, "We're just talking about the future."

"Which future?" Malcolm asked interestedly, "The near one where you're wondering how much longer you'll have to stay at the reception before you can sneak out, or the distant future where you'll be naming your first child after me?"

Victoire scoffed and rolled her eyes, "We're not naming our first born son or any son after you."

"I didn't say that it had to be a son. Malcolm could be a pretty girl's name too in this day and age," Malcolm stated in his fatter-of-fact tone.

"We're not naming any of our future children after you," Teddy told his friend firmly.

Malcolm waved him off, "That's what you say now, but when you're on your eighth child and you're trying to pick a name that neither you guys, Sandra and Kyle, nor Xavier and Ally have used yet, you'll know where to find me to ask permission for the use of mine."

Victoire's mouth popped open almost comically, "Why does everyone think that I'm going to pop out eight children?"

"Well Xavier is going to want seven kids, and you're going to be competitive and try to have at least one more-" Malcolm was explaining before Victoire waved him off.

"I've heard the theory."

Malcolm shrugged, "As for whether you'll actually end up pregnant eight times, I'm sure you and Teddy will give it a good go either way."

"Can we just stop this conversation about how many future children Teddy and I are going to have?" Victoire asked.

"Of course," Malcolm replied pleasantly, "We can circle back to it when you ask me to be godfather of your first child."

Victoire groaned.

* * *

 **A/N:** So there were a lot of parts of this chapter that were completely adorable, but I want to know, what was your favourite? Cecilia/Louis, Ally/Xav, Clark and Mark's interaction with Clark's sister and nephew, or Vic and Teddy's talk at the wedding? ;) Please let me know which part you liked best, or if some of them tied. And of course leave me any questions, comments, or concerns in the form of a review!

 **Next Update:** Next week!

 **Next Chapter:** Lotsa Weasley drama. We get to see pretty much everyone with the last name Weasley as they all go out to dinner, there's teasing all around but Freddie goes a little too far. Cecilia does her interview with Valentin Krum, we'll see a bit more of Vic and Teddy at Charlotte's wedding, and we'll get a chance to hear from the newly married couple!

Teaser for Next Chap:

 **""What, it's obvious that he has the hots for Eliza-"**

 **"Freddie I think you've said enough stupid things this evening," Ally said sternly and loud enough to drown out her brother's words.**

 **"I'm not the one who fancies a girl who just had another man's baby.""**

Oh Freddie.

Thanks to everyone who followed, favourited, read, and especially reviewed because we reached over 100 which was awesome!

BIG thank-yous to:

 **silverlover02, WishIWasAMarauder07, Seher Syed, B. arendes, jml2002, loverloverlover, LunaRose95, no cure for crazy, Autumn, SoccerDiva, Slytherin Mischief, zvc56, jeremiah123, The Awesome One, Nerdbird18, kIMaYa, TheSlytherinQueenbee, Rosie loves pi, NicoleTheSmith, Bubbly Bookworm, GryffindorsRock, PhoenixGravity, MuggleCreator, Jennifer Jules,** and **carbo21**.

 **silverlover02** : Good memory. Katie did throw a fit last time, and she would have thrown a fit this time but they didn't get any pictures of Brogan. Did Louis/Cecilia live up to your expectations?

 **WishIWasAMarauder07** : We will see more of Eliza and Benjamin later, but we need to get through a week in France first.

 **jml2002** : Aww, thanks.

 **SoccerDiva** : I think this chapter had all of your favourite goofballs.

 **The Awesome One** : As you've seen, Tasha's only really mean to Vic (and to Hayden in LAH, but that was because it bugged Hayden that she flirted with Teddy while they were in Peru), and since Charlotte's her best friend, I think it's safe to say that she probably does have some redeeming qualities, and that she just behaves very poorly in situations where Vic is concerned.

 **Nerdbird18** : Don't be too hard on yourself, that situation you came up with was good. However, that would involve Teddy losing his coolly crafted calm and blowing up, which would take a lot (He was raised by calm and collected Andromeda Tonks nee Black remember).

 **TheSlytherinQueenbee** : Vic was a little insecure in LAH, but where Tasha is concerned she's not, she still has her own insecurities, but she doesn't doubt that Teddy loves her.

 **Rosie loves pi** : I'm hoping this chapter answered your question about the photos the photographer took, as for when the wedding will be, we'll find out in several chapter's time.

 **carbo21** : Not a love child, but annoying gossip nonetheless.

 **I hope everyone liked this chapter,**

 **Please leave me your thoughts of it and any questions you may have in a review,**

 **Until next time, DFTBA!**


	5. Family Matters

**A/N:** Alright everyone, here's the next chapter.

 **READ THIS:** Okay, so a lot of you told me in your reviews that you think Sandra may be pregnant. I'll take partial responsibility for this because I did tease you guys a **LOT** in the last story, but I think this is also partially your fault because you guys just want to see what you're hoping to see (not that I'm upset in the least that you're so invested in the characters).

 **So** , I will say this now, Sandra feeling ill did not have anything to do with her being pregnant, and I didn't mean for it to seem like it. There are literally hundreds of other reasons why she would feel nauseous, and the only reason I added it in was to show more of how Victoire's very much a mother hen, and that she can't really turn off her 'healer mode'. So, I'm sorry, but no pregnant Sandra, just a little stomach bug. Okay? Okay, let's get in with the story then.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own _Harry Potter_.

* * *

 **Family Matters**

 **Saturday, August 27th 2022**

 **7:45 PM France**

"I'll give you a galleon if you chug what's left of that bottle of wine," Freddie Weasley tried to convince James Potter, as they sat next to each other at the dinner table.

All of the Weasleys and Potters that were in France were out at a restaurant for dinner, and Ally was very thankful that they were in a private dining room so that Freddie would not be inflicted on any other of the restaurant's patrons.

"Yeah, I'm not doing that," James said to Freddie as he pushed away the bottle his cousin was holding out to him, "I'm meeting Mel after dinner and there's no way that my parents will let me go if I get drunk."

Freddie rolled his eyes and set the bottle of wine down, "You're much less fun now that you've got a steady girlfriend." He glanced at Baxter and Louis across the table from him, "Either of you want to earn a galleon?"

Oddly enough, Baxter looked green at the thought of guzzling down the half a bottle of wine, "No thanks."

"Course you won't," Freddie muttered with another eye roll, "What about you Louis? We know that it won't get you sloshed."

"Huh?" Louis asked, only looking up at Freddie once he'd heard his name.

Xavier, who was sitting on Louis's other side, glanced down, and noticed that the younger man was on his mobile phone, "How's the Bulgaria and Spain game going?"

Louis's head switched from glancing at a wine bottle brandishing Freddie to looking at Xavier, "Pardon?"

Xavier nodded towards the phone in Louis's hands, "I asked how the Bulgaria/Spain game is going. I assume that you're texting Cecilia after all."

The younger man didn't even blush, "She says that Bulgaria just caught the snitch."

"Which means that she'll be doing her interview really soon," Ally added in an excited tone of her own.

"Who is Cecilia interviewing tonight anyway?" Dom asked as she eavesdropped on their conversation. She had spent most of dinner speaking to Molly and trying to flirt with the attractive waiter.

Ally and Xavier shared a look, but Louis answered his sister, "Valentin Krum."

Dom's eyes widened slightly, "Well that will be nice for Cecilia. He's totally hot."

Louis glared at Dom, "It will be nice for Cecilia because Valentin's an agreeable bloke."

"He's agreeable," Dom granted as she ran the tip of her finger along the rim of her half-filled wineglass, "But sometimes you want someone more rugged with a mysterious edge. Now Konstantin on the other hand, has those qualities, as well as bigger-"

"No, no, no, no, no!" Everyone around Dom yelled, half of them pulling their hands up over their ears to cover them.

Dom rolled her eyes and folded her arms across her chest, "I was just going to say hands."

"We still didn't want to know," Freddie retorted making a face.

"Whatever," Dom sneered, "It doesn't matter anyway. Teddy made me promise to leave Konstantin alone about a month ago, until their case goes to trial and gets settled."

Ally took a sip of the wine from her glass, "How kind of you to stop shagging Konstantin to make things less awkward for Teddy while their case is still open."

Dom shrugged, "The novelty was wearing off anyway."

"Of course it was," Ally mumbled into the rim of her glass.

Dom either didn't hear Ally's words, or she just didn't care, and she began another conversation with Molly, this time about whether or not they thought that Lucy was actually going to make it to France in time to watch the game on Monday.

"So you're going to see Mélanie tonight?" Ally asked James, hoping to change the subject around the dinner table to something other than Dom's whatever love life.

James blushed and looked down at his plate, "Yeah."

Ally smiled brightly at James and shot a look at Xavier, he shook his head at her, telling her not to embarrass him too much.

"So things are going well with her then?"

"Apparently it's better than yours and Xavier's on-and-off-again relationship," Freddie commented, coming to his best mate's aid.

It was Xavier's turn to look down awkwardly at his plate. Ally sighed and glanced at Freddie, " _That_ isn't proper dinner conversation."

"But talking about Dom's latest hook-up is?" Freddie asked.

"No, that's why I was trying to change the subject!"

"We can talk about the girl Al fancies if you guys want a change in conversation," Lily piped up from a little ways down the table.

Al scowled at his younger sister, "I don't fancy anybody."

"You don't think you do because you're in denial," Lily corrected with a stern point of her finger.

Her middle brother stabbed a vegetable with his fork, "I _don't_ fancy anybody."

"Yes you do," Lily announced in a singsong voice.

Al sighed, "Since you like to meddle Lils, why don't you tell us if you ever found out who sent Rose those flowers last Valentine's Day?"

Rose glowered at Al, and even Lily's face darkened, "I still don't have any leads on that."

"You don't?" Baxter asked curiously.

"It's a cold case by now," Lily explained, she glanced at a red-faced Rose, "But do you know who sent them to you?"

"Nope," Rose replied quickly, a little too quickly.

Most of her cousins' eyes turned to her, "I don't."

Lily shot Rose a sceptical look, and Rose realized that she should probably take a page out of Al's book and shift the attention to someone else, "Lily, did you know that Molly went out on a date earlier in the week?"

Lily's redhead whipped from Rose to the other end of the table where a suddenly startled Molly sat, "Who'd you go out with?"

"Just a guy I met a work," Molly replied uninterestedly, "There's not going to be a second date, so it's not important."

The youngest Potter pouted.

"Isn't there some girl that you should be teasing Freddie about?" Molly asked, trying to sic Lily onto someone else.

"I don't actually think there's anyone that we can talk about that will embarrass Freddie," Lily mused.

"There is something I need to say to Freddie concerning girls though," James said as he turned to his partner in crime, "I want to win the Quidditch House Cup again this year, and to do so I need to make sure that my players aren't at each other's throats."

"And . . .?"

James frowned, "So I need you to promise not to harass Norah Summers this year."

Freddie pursed his lips and looked thoughtful, "I'll pass."

"Excuse me?"

"I'll pass on making that promise," Freddie explained, "I'm not going to make a promise to you that I can't keep."

James sighed heavily, "Thanks for being honest with me at least."

"Have we covered everybody's love life yet?" Louis asked the table at large.

"Everyone but Lily, Hugo, and Baxter's," Dom commented idly.

"Well Lily's not going to have a love life until she's thirty," James explained readily, Al nodding his head right along with him.

Lily rolled her eyes but then set her narrowed gaze on Hugo, "What about you though Hugo? Do you fancy anyone?"

Hugo shrugged and sent everyone a wide smile, "Only every other pretty girl that I see."

Almost everyone at the table rolled their eyes at him and then they all glanced at Baxter.

"It's all on you now Mate," Al told his cousin.

"I think we all know who Baxter fancies," Freddie muttered.

Ally and Louis sent Freddie a glare.

"What, it's obvious that he has the hots for Eliza-"

"Freddie I think you've said enough stupid things this evening," Ally said sternly and loud enough to drown out her brother's words.

"I'm not the one who fancies a girl who just had another man's baby."

"Frederick Alastor Weasley!" Ally yelled loudly while Baxter noisily pushed his chair back from the table, got to his feet, and stalked out of the room.

Baxter's exit and Ally's yell had finally drawn the attention of the adults who were at the far side of the long table, and they all stared warily at their children. Louis stood up; he ignored the looks he was getting from everyone, and left the table to try to catch up with Baxter. He could hear the adults asking Ally what was going on, but he couldn't hear whatever reply she made up because he had to jog to get through the restaurant so that he didn't lose Baxter.

He grabbed his cousin by the upper arm, catching up to him on the sidewalk just outside the restaurant.

"Everyone knows that Freddie has no tact," Louis said gently to Baxter.

"He may not have any tact but he didn't exactly lie," Baxter replied, looking down at his feet.

Louis folded his arms over his chest, "It's not fair of him to say the things he did, the way he did. Eliza isn't just some girl that you think is cute who had a different man's baby. She's a brilliant, kind, witty, and gorgeous woman who made a mistake with Benjamin nine months ago. Eliza's taking responsibility for Rowan -she loves her a lot- and I agree with you, it's not the right time for you to try something with Eliza."

Baxter pulled at his hair and was silent.

"But that doesn't mean that there's something wrong with you for wanting something with Eliza. It's okay to care about her, and I know that you can't help how you feel about her. You're giving her the space she needs, and I know it's hard but it proves that you're a good person because you're putting hers and Rowan's needs above your own," Louis said.

"But I'm not a good person. A good person wouldn't resent Eliza for allowing Benjamin to be so involved in their daughter's life," Baxter whispered quietly.

Louis clapped his cousin's shoulder, "No one's perfect. And I can tell you if I somehow found myself in the same situation that you're in, that I'd probably feel the same way. You're backing off to give Eliza space, and yet Benjamin's engaged to someone else and he's allowed to go over practically anytime he wants to see Rowan and Eliza. It's hard, and it's not fair, but it's the situation that you're in."

"It'd be so much easier if I didn't like Eliza so much."

"But you do."

Baxter nodded his head and let out a heavy sigh.

"Are you ready to go back inside now?" Louis asked him before glancing down at his watch, "I'm sure that one of our other cousins has done something by now to capture everyone's limited attention spans."

"I'd rather not go back if it's all the same to you," Baxter said slowly.

"Why?"

Baxter frowned, "Because my dad and I will just end up getting into an argument if I go back in there."

"Have you and your father not worked things through yet?" Louis asked worriedly.

"There's nothing to _work_ through. He just needs to apologize to me for what he said and for trying to control to my life," Baxter argued.

Louis pinched the bridge of his nose and muttered, "I'll take that as a no then."

Baxter looked as close to angry as he had ever got, "And how do you think you'd react if your father told you that not knowing what you wanted to do with your life meant that you had no ambitions, that you should just do whatever he says because he obviously knows what's better for you than yourself, and that the girl you like isn't worth it and that you should just 'get over' her."

Louis opened his mouth, but Baxter continued before he could reply, "Trick question, your dad's not a prat so he'd never say that to you."

"Your dad's just trying to do his job as a father," Louis said even though he didn't want to play the devil's advocate, "And he thinks that what he's doing is what's best. He just wants you to be happy and for you to succeed in life."

"You know my father. He thinks that the only way to be happy and to succeed is his way," Baxter disputed.

Louis held his hands up cautiously, "I'm not saying that the way he's going about it is right, but he's your dad, he just wants what's best for you."

"What would be best for me right now would be to not speak to him tonight. I'd prefer not to see him at all this weekend, but I doubt that's going to happen," Baxter grumbled.

"So what do you want to do now?" Louis asked.

Baxter rubbed his temples, "I think I just want to go to back to my hotel room and crash for the night."

"It's still early," Louis pointed out. He probably would have said more, but the mobile phone in his pocket vibrated and he pulled it out.

"Cecilia?" Baxter asked automatically.

Louis shook his head, "No it was Dom."

"She's literally right inside the restaurant and she's texting you?"

"She wanted to let me know that she, Molly, Ally, and Xavier are going out for drinks after dinner and she wants to know if we're going to join them," Louis explained as he read the text message.

Baxter pursed his lips, and he didn't spend much time considering the offer at all before repeating, "I think I'll pass and just go to my hotel room."

"C'mon it might be fun," Louis countered. He got another text message from and read it, "If it's not it will be interesting at the very least. According to Dom, Colton and Anastasia Knott are also going to be going."

Baxter tilted his head in curiosity, "What are they even doing in France?"

Louis shrugged, "You know that Vic and Teddy, and Ally and Xavier have been getting closer to the Knotts over the past few months. I guess they came to for the weekend and to see Xavier's game on Monday. Colton must like Quidditch; he was the captain of the Slytherin team at Hogwarts after all."

Baxter nodded, "Whatever, I'm just going back to the hotel."

"To wallow?" Louis asked shrewdly and with a twinge of firmness.

"As opposed to my other option of going out for drinks with two happy couples, my _sister_ , and Dom who will probably find a guy to hook up with in the first fifteen minutes?" Baxter asked sardonically.

Louis pocketed his phone, "I'll be there."

"Until Cecilia messages you to tell you that she's done with her interview."

"I'll stay with you."

"But you'd rather be with Cecilia," Baxter pointed out, "And don't even think about denying it."

Louis crossed his arms over his chest, "I'm not going to deny it, but I can get through the night without seeing her again."

Baxter's lips twitched, "I've already heard you moaning about how you had to go through the last two days without Cecilia, I'm not excited to hear you complain tonight over drinks about how you saw her only for a few hours this afternoon."

"I'm not that bad," Louis contested a small smile around his own lips.

"You are though," Baxter argued, "But I don't blame you. If I could be with the girl I like, I'd use any opportunity to. Anyway, I don't want to go out tonight. I want to go back to my hotel room. You should go though. It'll distract you until you get a call from Cecilia."

Louis sighed and then watched Baxter walk away from him to find a secluded place to apparate away. With his cousin out of sight, Louis walked back into the restaurant just in time to see his family starting to get up from the table. Several of his cousin, aunts, and uncles shot him a glance, but it was his Uncle Percy who chose to stride over to him.

"Where's Baxter?"

"He's tired and decided to go back to his hotel room," Louis explained expressionlessly. In spite of whatever he said to Baxter earlier, he was on his best friend's side.

Percy scowled and shoved his hands into his pockets, "What did you two talk about?"

"Nothing that need concern you Uncle Percy," Louis replied, forcing a bright smile.

His uncle opened his mouth to say something else, a frown on his face, but Ally intervened before it went any farther.

"C'mon Louis, Dom said that you're coming with us tonight," Ally said as she sidled up to Louis and Percy.

She gave her Uncle Percy a smile, bright but not as distracting as Louis's, and then gently extricated Louis from his very short interview with their uncle. After a flurry of hugs, kisses, and goodbyes between the family members, James left to see Mélanie (he had somehow agreed to let Freddie come with him because Mélanie wanted him to meet some of her friends), and all of the other kids who were not legally old enough to drink went back to the hotel, leaving the older ones to go off and find a bar.

Ally had actually enjoyed spending time with Xavier, Colton and Anastasia, and Molly when they all met up at a wizarding bar after dinner that night. She always found it entertaining how Colton would be stiff and almost unfriendly at the beginning of any of their meet ups, but that he would thaw very quickly under the influence of his wife and Dom. Once Colton defrosted and became friendlier, Dom spent more of her energy scoping out all the men around the bar, trying to pinpoint the ones that were single and the most attractive. She had just spotted someone, forcing Molly to go with her to act as her wing-woman even though Molly didn't speak a word of French, and left Ally and Xavier with the Knotts, and Louis.

Which meant that it was pretty much only the two couples, as Louis was only really paying attention to his mobile phone. After exchanging a few grins with Xavier, Ally suggested that Louis just leave already and go to Cecilia. Louis confusedly asked Ally what she was talking about, as Cecilia had not let him know that her interview was over yet, and she gave him a smile and told him that considering how long it had been since the end of the game, that Cecilia was probably close to being finished. She also reminded her cousin that if he wanted to, that he could probably figure out where Valentin Krum would be, and therefore where Cecilia was. The blonde pursed his lips in consideration, then quickly scooped up his phone, said hasty goodbyes, and left the bar.

* * *

"I think that's all of the questions that I have," Cecilia said easily as she looked through her notebook. The calmness she was feeling at the end of the interview compared to her anxiety at the beginning was hugely dissimilar, and she realized that her aforementioned apprehension was totally unneeded.

Valentin Krum young, but still three years older than her, gave her a cheerful smile that softened his dark and handsome features. "Vere isn't anyving else you want to ask me?"

"I don't think so," Cecilia said, then she glanced down at her watch and her eyes widened, "It's probably a good thing too, we've been an hour already."

"Wow," Valentin said, "Vat was ve most comfortable interview I haf ever had."

Cecilia smiled playfully at him, "That's kind of you to say, but considering that you've only played Quidditch professionally for a year and a bit, I can't believe that you've had _too_ many interviews."

"Well, in my limited experience vis interview has been ve best. You're very good at vis," Konstantin told her as the both of them stood up from their seats.

They began to make their way to the door of the hotel's smaller conference room, in which they were conducting their interview, and Cecilia smiled to herself. She had thought that her first interview went okay, so she was glad that Valentin seemed to feel the same way about it. And if the amount of information she got from him was any indication, he did feel comfortable enough to answer her questions and even volunteer some information of his own.

Valentin opened the door to the room and gallantly gestured for Cecilia to leave the room first. They left the room and chatted about the interview as they meandered down the hall past the other conference rooms. At the end of the hall were the elevators for the floor and a small waiting room. They had just stepped foot into that area when Cecilia noticed that Valentin's brother Konstantin was sitting in one of the chairs, obviously waiting for his younger brother. Along with Konstantin was another familiar faced man that he was having a conversation with: Louis Weasley.

Cecilia stopped where she was in surprise, and Louis observed her right away and stood up from his seat.

"How'd it go?" He asked brightly, a large smile overtaking his face when he walked over to where Cecilia stood.

She sighed and folded her arms over her chest, "What are you doing here?"

"I was excited to see how it went," Louis said cheerily. His excitement was very palpable, he was almost bouncing on the balls of his feet, and he moved to wrap an arm around her waist.

"You know each other?" Valentin asked Cecilia in confusion at the exchange going on between the two.

Louis turned his bright smile towards Valentin and pulled Cecilia into a hug, "I have the honour to call Cecilia my girlfriend."

Cecilia rolled her eyes at her boyfriend's extravagant words and glanced up at him, "Please tell me that you haven't been waiting here this whole time."

"Only about ten minutes," Louis replied with another brilliant smile and a kiss to the top of her head.

Valentin glanced at Cecilia, "You did not mention vat you were so close to ve Weasleys."

"I was hoping to get through my first interview without dropping any names, not just my family's," Cecilia told Valentin a little uneasily.

The Quidditch player gave her a shy smile, "Vat doesn't surprise me, you were very professional and considerate vrough our entire interview."

Cecilia smiled thankfully back. But Louis wasn't blind to how Valentin was grinning at, and eyeing, Cecilia in return. The hand he had on Cecilia's back tightened a little, and he added himself to their conversation, "So I take it that the interview went well? Not that I doubted it for a minute."

"I think it went well," Cecilia told Louis reservedly; she didn't want to say too much with both Valentin and Konstantin standing right next to them.

"It was excellent," Valentin countered, "Vun of ve best interviews I haf done in a while. Cecilia's very good."

Louis nodded his head and pressed a kiss to Cecilia's temple, "She's brilliant at pretty much everything though. So it's not surprising."

Cecilia blushed and peeked at Konstantin and then Louis, "So what were you two talking about while you were waiting for us to finish?"

"We were talking about Louis's recent training, and I also asked him when he expects Vic and Ted to arrive," Konstantin explained.

"I was just telling him that the rest of our family is here already, and that Vic and Teddy are supposed to be arriving sometime tomorrow," Louis summarized.

Cecilia started to move towards the bank of lifts, the three men following closely behind her, "Speaking of your family, what are the Weaselys and Potters up to tonight?"

"Everyone's doing their own thing," Louis told her as he reached forward to press the down button on the wall next to the lift's doors.

Valentin and Konstantin stood in front of a different set of lift doors, and pressed the button to go up as they had rooms in that specific hotel.

"It was really nice meeting you," Cecilia said to Valentin, holding her hand out to his.

He shook it in return and gave her a smile, "Same, and it was very nice being interviewed by you."

She chuckled while Louis and Konstantin said goodbye with a handshake of their own, and Louis turned to shake hands with Valentin. Both of their elevators arrived at the same time, and the pairs went their separate ways. Cecilia pushed the button for the ground floor and then turned to stare at Louis.

"You couldn't just wait for me to call you?"

He gave her a bashful smile and pulled her very close to him in the relative privacy of the elevator, "It's not because I didn't think that you couldn't get in the elevator and out of the hotel on your own, I'm just rather pathetic and wanted to be the first person to hear about how your first interview went."

She couldn't even pretend to be annoyed with him when he was being so sweet, "Well since you asked, my interview went as well as Valentin said it did. He said I did a really good job of putting him at ease, and that the questions I asked were insightful but not prying."

"Yes, I could tell that when Valentin sang your praises," He responded, his smile hardening a little on his lips.

"You were right; he's very nice, and friendly."

"Maybe a little too friendly," Louis muttered in a low tone that wasn't exactly quiet enough to pass by Cecilia.

She reached up and patted his cheek a smidge condescendingly, "Is someone feeling a little jealous?"

His brown eyes flashed and Louis walked her back towards the wall of the elevator, "One, I'm jealous of anyone who gets to spend time with you when I can't. Two, I wasn't imagining it, I think you definitely made an _impression_ on Valentin."

His face was really close to hers and she would be lying if she said that she didn't think that Louis was rather attractive when he was riled up. It didn't happen very often, so she thought she'd milk it, "I don't really think that he was flirting with me, he was just being nice."

Louis's eyes blazed and he moved his face until their lips were _very_ close to each other's, "Men are always nice to women they think are gorgeous."

"Are they now?" Cecilia asked in an overly innocent tone, her eyes focused intently on his lips.

He would have closed the distance between their lips then, if it weren't for the sound of the lift _ding_ ing as they landed on the lobby floor. They broke apart, walked out of the hotel, and then found a place so that they could apparate to the hotel Cecilia was staying at.

They didn't speak as they walked into the lobby and lift of the other hotel, and once the doors had closed the two in by themselves, and the button for the twentieth floor was lit, Cecilia's back met the wall of the lift and Louis's mouth attacked hers.

Cecilia moaned softly as he pressed her tight against the wall; he took her open mouth as an invitation and slipped his tongue into hers. She pulled tightly at his blonde hair, and he trailed his hands down her sides and to her hips. He gripped her tightly around there and hoisted her up so that their height difference wouldn't put a strain on his neck. She wrapped her legs around his waist, and pulled harder at his hair when she felt one of his hands grip her ass while the other travelled up her side.

Louis had just pulled his mouth away from hers to give them both a chance to breathe when the lift _ding_ ed, signally that they were at their desired floor. Louis was stable on his feet as they escaped the elevator, but he had to wrap his arm around Cecilia's waist to steady her wobbly knees as they travelled down the corridor. She stopped them just outside the door that led to the rooms she shared with her family.

He gave her a confused look when she didn't directly unlock the door, and she rose up on her tiptoes and pulled his face down to hers so she could press a solid kiss to his lips.

"That seemed rather final," He said with a raised eyebrow.

Cecilia pouted, "It might be. If my parents are on the other side of this door the only place you're going to be allowed in is the living room space."

"So?"

"So it's not very private," She retorted.

Louis pressed a quick kiss to her forehead, "I just want to spend some time with you. Nothing more."

"Well maybe I want a little something more," She sighed before turning around and unlocking the door.

They entered the shared living room/kitchen space just as Katie was exiting the room her and Oliver were to share with Brogan.

"Hi Cee-Cee, how was your interview Honey?" Katie asked merrily when she spied her daughter.

"I think it went very well," Cecilia answered happily as she shuffled further into the room.

Katie met her halfway and gave her a light hug, "That's so great to hear." She let go of her daughter and smiled at Louis, "Hello Louis, how has training been?"

"Training has been fine, I'm glad to have a few days off before it starts up again though," He replied conversationally.

"Yes, Cecilia told me about a family reunion on Fleur's side, when is it again?" Katie questioned.

"The family reunion is on Wednesday. Mamma, Dad, Dom, and myself all have to be back in England by Thursday for work. Vic and Teddy have plans to stay until Saturday though."

Katie nodded her head, "Xavier, Oliver, and I all have to be back in England for the first training session on Wednesday, but Cecilia's lucky, she doesn't have to show up at work until Friday to hand in her written interview."

Cecilia nodded a little awkwardly in agreement, and then her mother turned her attention to her, "Your father's downstairs at the hotel bar with some old friends. I came up here to put Brogan to bed, and I was planning on staying to keep an ear out for him, but if you're going to stay in for the rest of the night, I think I'll go down and join Oliver." Katie smiled brightly at Cecilia, "Would you mind keeping an ear out for your brother if I leave Sweetheart?"

Cecilia shrugged, "Alright."

"Thank you," Katie replied. She wandered over to the door that led to the hotel hallway and then turned back, "Oh, and Cecilia, your father and I will be at _least_ another hour."

She ended her sentence with a not-so-subtle wink, and then left the room.

Cecilia let out a heavy sigh, "Oh thank goodness it was Mum and not Dad."

"Why?" Louis asked in confusion as Cecilia grabbed his hand and pulled him towards a room on the other side of the living space, which had its door closed.

"Because if it was Dad, in the mood he was in earlier, he would have thanked you for walking me to my hotel room and probably shut the door in your face," Cecilia explained, opening the closed door to her room.

Louis stopped at the entrance to the door, "We're supposed to keep and ear out for Brogan."

Cecilia pulled out her wand and sent three spells towards the door to her younger brother's room, "We'll keep this door open, and those wards will let me know if he sets a foot out of bed."

She had barely finished the explanation before pushing Louis into her hotel room and towards the bed. He let her move him, sitting on the edge of her bed, and then watched her tuck the notebook she had from Valentin's interview into a bag she had sitting open on the chair near the desk.

"Did it seem rather purposeful to you when your mother brought up my family reunion on Wednesday, and that you don't have to be in the office until Friday?" Louis asked her as he watched her flitter around the room.

Cecilia blushed adorably and clasped her hands in front of her, "I might have mentioned to her about you inviting me to go to your family reunion with you, and to stay at your family's beach house."

"Good," Louis smiled happily, "So what was your parents' decision then?"

She glanced down at her toes, "Um, Mum was fine with it but . . . we haven't exactly told Dad about it yet."

"Why not?"

"Because I'm trying to figure out a way to present it in which he won't automatically say no," She told him.

Louis titled his head to the side and patted the spot on the bed next to him, "Would it help if my parents spoke with yours? If the invitation came from them?"

"That's the best chance we've got," Cecilia said, plopping down on the bed next to him,

He wrapped his arm around her shoulder, "Why are you afraid that your father will say no?"

"Because all he's going to hear is that we'll be staying in the same house, and in rooms across from each other's," She said as she nuzzled her head into his neck.

"He does realize that at Hogwarts we lived like a staircase away from each other, right?" Louis asked, running his fingers through her dark hair.

She sighed, "I think he realizes it, but that he just doesn't fully grasp the concept." She shook her head and then locked gazes with Louis, "Now, my mother has just given us an hour timeline before she brings Dad back up. So I suggest we make the most of it."

"What do you suggest we do then?"

"Celebrate my first successful interview."

* * *

 **12:43 AM Spain**

"Where did Malcolm and Nadia go?" Victoire asked Teddy a little too loudly as she glanced around them. They were slowly swaying on the dance floor together, the music wasn't exactly slow, but Victoire –who was several drinks in– didn't particularly care.

Teddy held her body tight to his, mostly so that he could make sure that she didn't stumble, even though she claimed that she wasn't drunk, but he didn't exactly trust the validity of her statement, "They left a little while ago."

"Why?"

"I don't really know, and knowing Malcolm, I don't really want to know," Teddy told her as he slowly spun them around in a circle.

She rested her head onto his shoulder, "You don't gossip with Malcolm about me, do you?"

He smirked and chuckled deeply into her hair, "He caught me staring at your arse once when he came to see me after one of our Quidditch practices in my seventh-year, and he wouldn't let it go until I told him that, objectively speaking, you had a nice arse."

"Really?" She asked, lifting her head so that he could see her raised eyebrow.

"For reals," He replied touching his nose to hers, "So besides that incident, all I've told him was that you are the best thing that has ever happened to me."

Victoire scoffed playfully, "He should already know that by now."

Teddy grinned at her, but before he had the chance to say anything else, the bride and groom found them in the crowd.

"Are you two enjoying yourselves?" Charlotte asked excitedly in a very loud voice so that she could easily be heard over the music.

Victoire bobbed her head a little excessively, "Yes . . . there are a lot of flowers."

Charlotte and Dimas gave Victoire an odd look and Teddy tried to cover for her, "What she means is that the flowers are nice."

"It also seems as though Vic's been enjoying the bar too," Dimas added with a chuckle.

Teddy and Charlotte joined him right after, but Victoire pouted and removed her arms from where they had been resting on Teddy's shoulders from their dance, so she could firmly cross them over her chest, "Why is that funny?"

"Nothing you need to worry about Sweetheart," Teddy told her gently as he pressed a kiss to her temple. She was still frowning, but he took advantage of her silence to change the course of the conversation, "What about you guys, is this everything you'd thought it would be?"

Dimas smiled contentedly, but let his new bride do the talking, "It's better."

Charlotte shared a loving look with her husband and then glanced back at Teddy and Victoire, "I mean even in my wildest dreams I never thought that Malcolm would get through the whole evening without starting a fight with Tasha."

"He said it's his wedding gift to you," Victoire commented even though she didn't exactly pick out the sarcasm in Charlotte's voice.

"I'd take peace between them over another set of crystal scotch glasses that I'm never going to use," Charlotte said.

Dimas frowned at his wife, "What if I want scotch glasses?"

Charlotte rolled her eyes, "Mi tesoro, we don't need a dozen scotch glasses."

"But we need two dozen wineglasses?" Dimas asked her with narrowed eyes of his own.

"Not everyone brings their own liquor glasses to dinner parties like your sister," Charlotte replied a little too curtly.

Her husband sighed heavily and opened his mouth to defend his older sister.

Victoire glanced up at her fiancé as the newlyweds argued, "I'm not so sure that I want to get married anymore."

Teddy rolled his eyes, "There's nothing to worry about, you're good with shrinking and storage spells and I know better than to comment on your sister's drinking habits."

"You're better than me then," Victoire mused as she raised up onto her tiptoes in her shoes and then slowly came back down. She glared down at her feet, "I wanna take my shoes off."

"Wha-" Teddy tried to ask before she reached down to pull of her high heeled stilettos. She was several inches shorter with them off as they had a rather impressive heel on them.

He raised an eyebrow at her, "You can't go the rest of the night without shoes."

Victoire rolled her eyes and then spoke very slowly to him, "I'm not going to go barefoot. I'm just going to transfigure them into flip flops." She glanced at the nude coloured shoes in her hands, "Now where did I put my wand?"

Her fiancé sighed and took the shoes out of her hands, knowing that if she couldn't remember right away where she had stashed her wand that she probably wasn't in a condition to be doing magic in the first place. He pulled his own wand out of the pocket of his dress robes and sent a few spells at the shoes. Nothing happened.

"Vic?"

"Hhhmmm?"

"Did you borrow these shoes from Dom?"

"Mmmhmm."

"Are they an expensive brand?"

"Mmmhmm."

"The type of high end brand that puts charms on their product so that it can't be tampered with?"

"Mmmhmm."

"So how exactly were you planning on transfiguring the shoes?" Teddy asked her.

Victoire shrugged, "I dunnono."

"Pardon?" Teddy questioned, he didn't exactly expect a response though as Victoire was currently spinning around on the spot, her arms open wide. He sighed again and reached out to gently grab her arm to stop her, "I think it's time to call it a night."

She stumbled to a stop and she looked Teddy up and down, spending the time to take in how well he wore his dress robes, "Yay!"

She had reached out to touch his arm, but Teddy stopped her, "No, not yay. You're drunk. We're going to our room and we're going to _sleep_ off the alcohol. We do have to travel to France tomorrow, and we did promise Xavier we'd run with him."

"I'm regressing that right now."

"You mean regretting?" He asked, a smile playing around his lips.

"Yeah that."

Teddy shook his head, grabbed her hand so that he could entwine his fingers with hers, and they turned back to the bride and groom who were still standing near them. Charlotte and Dimas had finished their argument a few minutes ago and had skipped ahead to making up, rather publicly. Although Victoire didn't really think it was her place to judge seeing as it _was_ their wedding day.

Victoire and Teddy said their goodbyes and thank-yous, Teddy solidly deciding that Victoire was more sloshed than she would admit to considering the very tight and very squeal-ly hug she and Charlotte shared. They were hugging so forcefully that he had to use more of his strength than he expected when he tried to extricate Victoire from the bride. After repeating several times that they enjoyed the wedding, the engaged pair finally made it out of the reception and towards the bank of lifts in the lobby, luckily the wedding reception had taken place in the ballroom of the hotel they were staying in.

They got to their room quickly enough and even though Teddy had firmly explained yet again that they were going straight to bed to _sleep_ , Victoire pretty much pounced on him the minute the door to their room shut behind them.

Teddy took a bit of pity on his fiancée's drunk state and allowed the kiss for a bit before slowly pulling away, "Time for bed."

"Help me out of my dress?" Victoire asked spinning right around to put her back to him.

"Vic-" He started in complaint.

"I just need help with my zipper," She cut in quickly with an eye roll that he couldn't see.

He had just set his hands on her back when a loud knock issued from the direction of the hotel room door.

Victoire was closest so she ran towards it and opened it to see Sandra Line, who was clad in sweats and a harried look. One look at her best mate's face and she knew that something was amiss.

"What's wrong Sandy?"

* * *

 **A/N:** Okey dokey, I'm going to leave it here and allow you guys to yell at me now. Just trust that I needed to end it here, and that I had originally ended it a few sentences further, which actually would have been way worse and probably would have made all of you want to kill me. That being said, don't forget to leave me any questions or comments in a review.

How'd we like learning more about Baxter's situation? Do any of you feel different about him now that you know a little more? And how adorable are Cecilia/Louis and a slightly drunk Vic?

 **Also** , if you guys didn't read my **A/N** at the top of the story, please make sure you do so now.

 **Next Update** : I'm going to start out by saying that I'm sorry, but I think my weekly updates are going to have to go down to an update every two weeks instead. My last semester of university is very involved right now, and to be both involved in it and to make sure that I'm not making you guys wait months in between updates, I'm going to slow down my consistency right now in hopes of at least keeping an updating schedule that will be regular if not as often as you or I would like.

 **Next Chapter** : It is finished, so I can tell you that it will start up right after this cliffie, and that it will definitely be worth the wait. We'll find out what's 'wrong' with Sandra, Victoire will do her best to fix it, and we will also finally get to Xavier's run, in which we will see pretty much all of your favourite characters.

Teaser for Next Chap:

 **"Victoire reached out and patted Sandra's hand, "I'd do anything for you. Besides, it worked. Also, it's not the first time I've ever done something technically illegal, and most likely it won't be the last."**

 **"Are you sure that it's smart of you to marry an auror then?" Sandra queried."**

Thanks again to everyone who has followed, favourited, read, and especially reviewed!

An especially BIG thank you to:

 **nickybby, silverlover02, SoccerDiva, B .arendes, Autumn, NicoleTheSmith, JustBeHappy, jeremiah123, Venz, Anne, TheProphetBVB, loverloverlover, no cure for crazy, kIMaYa, MuggleCreator, loverofthetwins, WishIWasAMarauder07, Rosie loves pi, GryffindorsRock, TheSlytherinQueenbee, Jennifer Jules, PhoenixGravity, WeasleyCousin, LunaRose95, zvc56, Guest(1), rosesnlilies,** and **bmg20.**

 **nickybby** : I'm glad you liked the Woods. As for your casual theory, if you haven't read my A/N at the top of the story, please go an do so.

 **silverlover02** : Definitely not a family dinner without drama.

 **Autumn** : Xavier's run wasn't in this chap, sorry, but it will be in the next one.

 **MuggleCreator** : Sorry, didn't mean to be a tease in the last chapter. In this one on the other hand, most def.

 **Rosie loves pi** : To answer your first question, read the A/N at the top of the story. For your second, I don't know, you'd have to ask him.

 **Jennifer Jules** : The competition/skills challenge is something I made up. I took the idea from hockey (NHL) originally (although other sports do this such as MLB and a few others) and the idea is that for the wizarding world it's international and teams for each country are picked out of all quidditch players of that nationality (Kinda like the World Cup idea) but instead of it being for a legit tournament, all of the money from the games, merchandise, etc, go towards charity, and therefore the game is kind of 'for fun'. There are several games as there are several teams, Bulgaria played Spain, and Britain will play Italy on the Monday, as well as skills competitions in which players compete other players that play the same position as them. In the skills competitions more people are welcome (a.k.a. people who aren't on the national teams but do professionally play quidditch) and they do activities like faster flyer, hardest thrower (with the quaffle), most accurate throw/aim, best keeper, etc. Again, it's something I made up, but based on reality.

 **PhoenixGravity** : Well will see more Teddy as an auror in this story eventually.

 **bmg20** : Theories are always nice to hear.

 **I hope everyone enjoyed this chap,**

 **Please leave me your thoughts and theories in a review,**

 **Until next time (remember not next week but the week after), DFTBA!**


	6. Morning After Drama

**A/N:** Hey everyone! Here's the next chapter, I'm updating a little early because you all waited so patiently!

Okay, so the beginning of this chapter is going to sound contrary because of what I said at the beginning of the last chapter, but I think we can all just deal with it and enjoy the awkward situation I wrote.

 **Warning:** So, I already told you that this story is going to talk about adult things, and in here we talk about adult things. If it makes you uncomfortable, then I do apologize, but hey it's real life and that's why I added it. Also, I still think this is 'T' level.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Harry Potter.

* * *

 **Last Chap:**

Victoire was closest so she ran towards it and opened it to see Sandra Line, who was clad in sweats and a harried look. One look at her best mate's face and she knew that something was amiss.

"What's wrong Sandy?"

* * *

 **Morning After Drama**

 **Sunday, August 28** **th** **2022**

 **1:08 AM Spain**

"You know how to do a pregnancy detecting spell, right?"

"Of course," Victoire replied to her friend, blinking rapidly as she tried to put all of her focus into the new issue at hand, Sandra's bombshell had a rather sobering effect on her, "But I might have lost my wand."

Sandra's eyes widened perceptively and she started breathing heavily.

Even in her tipsy state Victoire remembered how close Sandra had come to anxiety attacks before, and the last thing she wanted was her maybe-pregnant best mate to have one in the middle of the hotel hallway. She opened the door of the room wider, and gestured for Sandra to enter.

"So you think you might be pregnant? Is this why you were feeling ill this morning?" Victoire questioned once she got the door shut tightly behind her friend.

"No it wasn't why I was sick this morning. I think I literally just got pregnant, like within the past few hours," Sandra replied as her hands went to her curly hair.

Victoire's eyes narrowed in confusion, "Are you drunk too?"

Sandra pulled at her hair, "No I'm serious! I used the last of my birth control potion last night, and I thought that I packed another one to start, but I couldn't find it and you know that I can't say no to Kyle when he-"

"Sandra-" Victoire cut in in a chastising tone before Sandra took the conversation back.

"I know. It's not a good excuse and we should have done something else, but we didn't. And now I need to know if I'm pregnant."

"A pregnancy test spell won't do you any good Sandy, conception can take anywhere from an hour up to 5 days to occur, you might not even be pregnant yet," Victoire explained slowly.

Sandra stared at her best mate, "You can remember that fact but you can't remember where you put your wand?"

Victoire ignored her, she had a habit of transfiguring her wand into a bobby pin whenever she didn't have room on her person to carry it, and she had done the same for the wedding but couldn't recall exactly which pin it was, "All I need to know right now is whether you're ovulating."

"I don't know if I am. Is there a spell you can do to check?"

"Yes, but again, I don't know where my wand is and using wandless magic in my state isn't a good idea. Think hard, when did you last menstruate?" Victoire questioned.

Sandra crossed her arms over her chest and her finger nails bit into her arms, "Little more than a week ago?"

Victoire clapped her hands together, "That's good. Ovulation usually occurs twelve to fourteen days after menstruation."

"So I'm not pregnant?" Sandra enquired in a hopeful tone.

"Most likely not, but if you want to make double sure we can get you a something from the apothecary."

"Won't I need a prescription then?"

Victoire shook her head, "No it's over the counter. All it does is make sure that you can't get pregnant if you're not already. It's a good idea to get one because like I said, if you ovulate within the next few days, it could still happen. That's if you want to make _sure_ that you won't get pregnant though."

"I can't have a baby right now," Sandra said hurriedly, her breathing starting to get shallow.

"Okay, okay," Victoire replied, reaching out to place her hands on her friend's shoulders, "Take deep breaths, we don't need you hyperventilating. If we're going to make sure that you don't get pregnant then we need to find an apothecary A.S.A.P."

Sandra nodded her head and Victoire left her there for a moment and walked to the bathroom of the hotel room. Teddy had unobtrusively disappeared when Sandra had entered, and Victoire figured that he was probably trying to give them some privacy. Her assumption was correct and when she strolled into the bathroom, Teddy was just finishing up brushing his teeth.

"Sandra and I are going out, we'll be a half hour tops," Victoire told him as she opened up one of the bathroom vanity drawers and started rooting around in it.

Teddy spit out the toothpaste that was in his mouth and glanced at his fiancée, "Looking for something specific?"

"You'd think a hotel would include a sobering potion along with their complementary shampoos and Pepper-Ups," Victoire muttered as she pulled out the little bottles and peered at their labels.

He put his toothbrush away and helped her look through the drawer that was filled with about two dozen little bottles, "You hate sobering potions; they give you wicked headaches and make you feel nauseas."

"It feels like they just speed up the process towards the hangover, but I need to be able to concentrate on Sandra's issue without wandering off because I spotted a box of crackers," Victoire explained as she pulled out a little bottle that upon further glance contained mouthwash.

"I found a concentration potion," Teddy said offering her a small blue bottle.

Victoire made a face as she accepted it from him, "Great, enlarged pupils and a compulsive drive to get tasks done. I'm not going to be able to sleep if I take the whole thing. I'll just try a swallow."

She eyed it cautiously and then took a mouthful. After swallowing she glanced at Teddy as she twisted the cap back on, "Aren't you going to ask where Sandra and I are going?"

"I trust you," He replied readily.

She looked at him with a narrowed expression, "You were totally listening in on our conversation."

He's hair went red with embarrassment, "Your voices were loud. Also, I'm an arour. I can't help it sometimes."

Victoire shrugged, it wasn't really important whether he was listening in or not. She knew he wouldn't say anything to anyone else. She moved towards him to give him a kiss on the cheek, and then walked out of the bathroom. Teddy calling out from behind her that she needed to remember to put shoes on before she left. Her rubber beach flip-flops were the first ones she found, so she slipped them on and then grabbed the sparkly clutch purse that still held her money from when they went to the club the night before. Sandra followed her and the two best friends left, one dressed down in a grey muggle sweat suit and the other in rubber flip-flops and the chiffon dress she was still wearing from the wedding reception.

It didn't take too long for the oddly dressed pair to find an apothecary that was open late, Victoire was very efficient from the concentration potion she had swallowed, despite the fact that her blood alcohol level was probably too high and she needed to be careful so she wouldn't get picked up for public intoxication. They entered the apothecary and Victoire went straight to the corresponding aisle where she knew she'd find the right item. The labels were in both Spanish and English so they found what they were looking for very quickly. Victoire grabbed one of the upright cardboard boxes off the shelf and frowned at it.

"Is there something wrong with it?" Sandra asked restlessly.

"No, it's just all the ones here are generic and I'd prefer for you to get a better brand name one for something this important," Victoire explained.

"Why don't we get one of those then?"

Victoire pointed to an empty spot on the shelves in front of them, "There are none left. I'd like to go ask the person working at the counter though, there might be some in the stockroom."

Sandra just nodded her head and followed her determined friend towards the pharmaceutical counter where a youngish looking man was standing in a blue robes and looking very board, and rather tired considering it was the middle of the night.

"Hi there," Victoire greeted the employee brightly, not because she was trying to flirt with him, but because she was still rather intoxicated, "I was wondering if you could help us?"

"Hello, what can I do?" The man replied in rather good English.

Victoire held out the box she had grabbed from the aisle and asked, "This was the only brand available in the aisle, and I was wondering if you have one of the name brand one's left? Perhaps in the stockroom?"

The man took the box from her and glanced at it and then looked between Victoire and Sandra, probably trying to figure out who the item was for, "If the shelf is empty then it is because the new stock hasn't been emptied yet. But that won't happen until the twenty-eighth."

"Um," Victoire began slowly, "Today is the twenty-eighth."

The man rolled his eyes, "The stock boys won't be in until ten today."

"But there are full boxes sitting in the storeroom right now? Can't you just go open one and pull one out?" Victoire asked.

The man scoffed, "That's below my pay grade."

Victoire sighed, opened up her clutch, and placed some galleons on the counter, "Does that cover the wage discrepancy?"

The man pursed his lips and then quickly scooped up the coins. He put them straight into his pocket, and then left to go to the storeroom. In the short time that the man was gone, Sandra glanced suspiciously at her friend, "You do realize that what you just did is technically illegal, right?"

Victoire reached out and patted Sandra's hand, "I'd do anything for you. Besides, it worked. Also, it's not the first time I've ever done something technically illegal, and most likely it won't be the last."

"Are you sure that it's smart of you to marry an auror then?" Sandra queried.

Her friend just shrugged in reply and their conversation had ended just in time for the man to come back. He had another small box in his hand, the same size as the one Victoire had given him, but with brighter colours than the other one.

"I take it that since you knew what you were looking for that you've used this before?" The man asked Victoire directly after glancing at her and Sandra's left hands again. He seemed to decide to speak to the woman who only had an engagement ring, and not a wedding band.

"I know how it's supposed to work," Victoire replied a little testily. She grabbed some more galleons and set them on the counter. She shared a glance with Sandra and they both turned their backs and left the apothecary.

Victoire handed Sandra the box, and her friend opened it up and was confused to see something that looked like a tube of salve.

"I thought this was going to be a potion? How am I supposed to drink this?" Sandra asked confusedly as she rolled the tube around in her hands.

"You're not supposed to drink it," Victoire clarified slowly, "You're supposed to put it on you. Or more accurately _in_ you, it needs to go-"

"I get the picture," Sandra replied hurriedly, a blush blooming over her face along with a very uncomfortable expression.

Just looking at her friend made Victoire feel slightly embarrassed by proxy, "If you're unsure about how it works I can help you with it."

Sandra's face went even redder, " _God_. Thanks but no thanks. I know that we're close, but I don't think we need to be _that_ close."

"I agree," Victoire assented gently, "But does your sudden uncertainty have to do with more than just the salve? Are you certain that you and Kyle don't want to get pregnant right now?"

"I'm certain that I'm not ready to have a child, and Kyle wouldn't push me on an issue like this," Was Sandra's rushed reply.

Victoire's eyebrows fell heavily over her eyes, "That sounds different from what you told me a few months ago at your wedding about _both_ you and Kyle agreeing that you're not ready for parenthood yet."

Sandra swallowed thickly, "Both of our mothers have been very vocal in their wishes to have a grandchild soon, and they've made Kyle's position waver . . . but he would never try to convince me to have one when he knows how I feel about the matter right now."

"Of course," Victoire replied in agreement before trying to change the tone of the conversation, "And if you need something to tell your mother and Kyle's to keep them at bay, remind them that you promised not to have a child before I do because they need to grow up together. That will buy you some time."

The corners of Sandra's lips turned up into a smile, "I'll try, but I wouldn't put it past them to team up with your mother and then start badgering you about children."

"I can handle my mother," Victoire replied confidently.

"And yet you haven't told her about your plans for when you want to have your wedding, because you're afraid that she'll disapprove," Sandra retorted.

"I'm not afraid that she'll disapprove," Victoire muttered, "I _know_ that she'll disapprove."

Sandra rolled her eyes but then figured that she couldn't exactly give advice about mother issues, "Let's just go back to the hotel it's really late and that concentration potion you took is going to wear off soon."

Victoire nodded, "Yes, but we need to go across the street first."

"There's a muggle drugstore across the street, we've already got what we came out for, so why do we need to go there?" Sandra questioned bewilderedly.

Victoire grabbed her friend's hand and towed her across the street to said muggle drugstore, "You said that you're out of your birth control potion, and you probably won't be able to fill your prescription until you get home from France. And since you and Kyle don't like to use the spell for whatever reason, I think you may need some muggle contraception."

Sandra glanced at her friend's still dressed-clad form, "You're going to buy me muggle prophylactics dressed like _that_? You really would do anything for me, wouldn't you?"

Victoire smiled in response and then they walked through the sliding mechanical doors.

* * *

 **Sunday, August 28** **th** **2022**

 **10:42 AM France**

"I bet you a galleon that James and Freddie won't make it today for the run," Ally offered up to Xavier as she stretched her hamstrings.

She, Xavier, and Cecilia were standing in the middle of the Quiberon Quafflepunchers' professional Quidditch pitch. Other Quidditch pitches in the country were to host that day's scheduled games and skill competition for seekers, so Xavier had been offered the use of Quiberon's pitch by the team's owners, one of whom was an old friend of Katie's from her Quidditch years.

"I wouldn't take that bet if I were you Xav," Cecilia commented as she rolled her shoulders, "James seemed pretty excited to get a run in when he first heard about it."

Xavier opened his mouth to voice his decision on whether or not he was going to take Ally's bet, when they were distracted by Clark and Mark's arrival.

"See, I told you that we wouldn't be the last ones here," Clark gloated to Mark as they wandered into the middle of the pitch.

Mark rolled his eyes and took in the three who were already there, "I think we missed the dress code memo Clark."

"It seems we did," Clark replied with a smirk as he took in the Gryffindor Quidditch jerseys that all three of them were wearing.

"And what's this?" Mark asked gesturing to the 'C' stitched onto Ally's jersey, "Your girlfriend made captain when you were only an assistant?"

Xavier rolled his eyes, "Ally got captain the year after I graduated, it's not like she beat me out of the running for it or anything."

"But you _did_ lose the running to Victoire for two years," Freddie Weasley commented as he and James made their presence known. Both were wearing Gryffindor Quidditch jerseys also, James sporting a 'C' of his own on his.

Clark and Mark glanced at the small group, all of them wearing Gryffindor shirts, "Merlin that's a lot of red and gold. Do all Gryffindors get one of those?"

"Nope," Malcolm called loudly, drawing everyone's attention to his and Nadia's sudden appearance on the pitch, "Some of us didn't fancy getting up at dawn on weekends to attend practice with a drill sergeant."

"Not that I understand why anyone wouldn't want that," Nadia added with an eye roll towards her boyfriend. Malcolm replied by sticking out his tongue.

Ally reached above her head, she and some of the others were still doing warm-up stretches as they conversed, and she noted that while Nadia was wearing training gear in Puddlemere's colours, Malcolm was in jeans and a polo, "I take it you're not joining us this morning then Malcolm?"

"Do I look crazy to you? No, I'm just going to sit back and enjoy the show. You lot are all too competitive for your own good," Malcolm commented idly as he tried not to look too obvious as he stared at Nadia's arse when she bent to stretch her calves.

"Looks like you're going to have some company in the peanut gallery," Cecilia said as she pointed out to the group the two figures that were walking towards them.

"You know," The confident voice of Colton Knott drawled when he and Anastasia were within speaking distance, "I don't know why I agreed to come today in the first place, but I know for sure that I failed to consider how much ghastly scarlet I'd be subjecting my eyes to."

Xavier grinned at Colton in response, he had mentioned the run to him and Anastasia last night when they were out, and Colton's wife had convinced him to join them, "I think you're confused Colton, it's your shirt that's ghastly."

"I agree," James and Freddie added swiftly and at the same time. They made faces at the green Slytherin Quidditch jersey Colton was wearing.

Ally then did the job of introducing Clark and Mark to Colton and Anastasia, and the two beaters found a way to irritate Xavier again.

"Another 'C' on a Hogwarts Quidditch jersey I see," Mark mused as he took note of the letter stitched onto the fabric of Colton's jersey.

Clark continued the comment, "And on your Slytherin enemy too. Do you feel inferior now?"

Xavier sighed heavily at their teasing, "First, why would I feel inferior? I'm the only professional Quidditch player here who's in a Hogwarts jersey, even if it does lack a captain's patch. Second, it's not like they were just handing out Gryffindor jerseys with captain's patches on them like they were candy."

Mark glanced around at the group, and his gaze noted two more figures who were on their way to join them, "Are you sure about that?"

"Hi everyone!" Victoire called cheerily as she and Teddy joined the group, they were walking hand in hand and both were wearing their Gryffindor Quidditch jerseys with 'C's on the shoulders.

Ally ran to give Victoire a cheery hug hello while Teddy and Xavier did one of those man handshake-turned into hugs things. When Ally let go of her, Clark and Mark grabbed her into a bear hug.

When they let go, Victoire looked around at everyone, took in all of the red, and immediately glanced back at Clark and Mark, "Have you two been harassing Xavier over the fact that he doesn't have a captain's patch again?"

"Yes," Xavier complained petulantly while Clark and Mark smirked at him.

Victoire rolled her eyes affectionately at the beaters, "I don't know why you'd harass Xavier over his choice of clothes when there's a perfectly good target standing right next to you in a hideous Slytherin jersey."

"Starting with the trash talk already Weasley?" Colton asked Victoire with a raised brow, "You only do that when you're afraid that you're going to lose."

"I've never been afraid to lose to you Colton, Gryffindor did beat Slytherin for the House Cup, how many years in a row again was it?" Victoire asked turning to Teddy beside her.

Teddy put a faux-contemplative look on his face, "Well, there were those two years that I was captain . . ."

"And then the year after that when it was _my_ first year as captain," Victoire continued.

"Let's not forgot your last year as captain Vic, I do believe you even socked Colton in the stomach during a game and then snatched the snitch before he could," Xavier added.

Victoire's smile was huge, "That was a good game. And, it sounds like that was four years in a row of Gryffindor beating Slytherin." She held her hand out to Teddy without looking in his direction, and they high-fived.

Colton rolled his eyes at Victoire but she discerned that he wasn't exactly vexed by her words.

The conversation slowed at that point as everyone began stretching in earnest so that they wouldn't be in danger of pulling anything, and Victoire was just stretching her hamstrings when she heard Clark make a disgusted sound.

"Ugh, I don't care what you Gryffindors and Slytherin have to say, but that is definitely the ugliest shirt here," Clark exclaimed pointing in the direction of where Louis and Dom were ambling towards them.

Everyone turned to stare at Louis, who was the main attraction not Dom, as he was wearing a bright orange Chudley Cannons t-shirt.

"Seriously Louis?" Freddie questioned his cousin, asking what everyone else was thinking.

Cecilia had skipped over to Louis side and kissed his cheek, Louis pulling her in for a hug as he replied to Freddie, "What?"

"You're wearing a Cannons t-shirt Babe," Cecilia explained.

He looked down at his shirt, "So? Uncle Ron gave it to me for my birthday. It's not like I could throw on a Hogwarts Quidditch jersey like the rest of you lot."

"Fair enough," James agreed.

"So," Clark began as he walked over to where Dom was standing, "Are you joining us for this run?"

Dom snorted, "Yeah no. There's only one type of activity that I like that involves getting sweating, and jogging isn't it."

Clark smiled wolfishly, "By your description it sounds like this other activity is something I'd enjoy with you too."

"Godric people, if you're going to flirt get off the Quidditch pitch," Freddie complained loudly as he chose the wrong time to walk by Dom and Clark.

Dom rolled her eyes at her cousin and told Clark, "I only came here to keep Stasia company, we both know how fun it's going to be to watch Vic and Colton duke it out."

While Clark continued to try to flirt with Dom, Victoire glanced at her brother, "So I'm going to assume that you decided to put on some basketball shorts for a reason other than to show off your calves?"

"What? Showing off my calves isn't a good enough reason?" Louis asked innocently as he gave his sister a hug.

"Good enough reason for me," Cecilia mumbled as she eyed her boyfriend's toned legs.

Louis chuckled and then explained to his sister, "Cecilia mentioned Xavier's run and I said that I'd like to join. Gotta stay in shape for MLE training after all."

"Good call," Teddy agreed approvingly.

Xavier and Malcolm then called Teddy away, and Louis and Cecilia wandered over to James and Freddie, leaving Victoire by herself as she stretched. She looked around and was a little surprised to see that Colton was the closest person to her.

"So what made you decide to join in today, in spite of all the Gryffindor red?" Victoire asked him and she pulled one of her legs behind her to stretch the muscles on the front of her leg.

Colton was stretching his arms, "My wife said that the exercise wouldn't kill me, and that going for a run would be better than sitting around on my arse and getting fat."

Victoire snorted and moved to hold her opposite leg to stretch the muscles there. With both of her hands holding one leg behind her, she had to focus on staying upright as she balanced on one foot, "So even your wife thinks that spending your days sitting behind your big fancy desk is making you a chubby hubby?"

"Says the woman who had to get a new maid of honour dress because she couldn't fit into her old one," Colton commented with both a smirk and a sardonic raise of his eyebrows.

She stuck her tongue out at him, rather childishly, in response and Colton leaned forward and poked her in the forehead. He pushed her head backwards with his index finger until it was far enough back to make her lose her balance. Victoire let go of her foot and pulled her arms out to swing them to try to help regain her balance, but in her haste she didn't remember to put her other foot back down to help her get steady.

Thankfully for Victoire, James had wandered behind her at the same moment and he caught her before she could hit the ground.

"Saved you in the nick of time there Vic," James chirped into her ear as he helped her back onto her feet, "No wonder I'm your favourite cousin."

"You're not my favourite cousin," Victoire argued with an eye roll as she pushed his hands away from her.

James grabbed her again, this time in a tight hug, and chuckled, "Yes I am, stop denying it."

"James let me go!" She yelled in faux-anger, "I'm serious!"

He let go of her but gave her a toothy grin, "No Vic, I'm Sirius. James Sirius."

Victoire rolled her eyes again, "That hasn't been funny since you were eight."

"You liar, people tell me I'm always funny."

She scoffed, "Mélanie doesn't count."

James stuck his tongue out at his cousin, but before their light-hearted argument could continue, something caught Colton's attention across the pitch and he mumbled, "Well this just got more interesting."

Victoire and James glanced towards where Colton was staring, and Victoire felt her stomach constrict, "Just what I need."

While they had been doing their stretches a few more people joined the pitch. Victoire recognized all of them: one was a chaser who played on Puddlemere's starting team; one was Katie Bell, she was speaking with a woman who Victoire recognized as one of the owner's of Quiberon Quafflepunchers; one was Garrick Tracey, owner of Puddlemere United; one was Giavanna Tracey, Garrick Tracey's daughter; and the last person was Puddlemere's own reserve team seeker, Christopher Mullin.

"Looks like some more of Xavier's teammates have decided to join us today," Colton said derisively as he observed the workout clothes Chris was wearing.

"Did Xavier know about this?" Victoire asked Colton as she saw Xavier and Nadia converge to where Katie was standing with both team owners, Giavanna, and Chris.

Colton shook his head, "I don't think Xavier would invite Mullin to this run on purpose. Especially since he knew that you or Ted might end up killing the bloke."

"I wouldn't mind having a go at Mullin myself," James muttered as he shot Chris's distant figure a glare.

"Nothing says love like your cousin offering to beat up a guy for you," Colton remarked dryly.

They continued to watch Xavier's interaction with Chris at a distance, but they couldn't quite tell what Xavier was saying to him in the presence of their team's owner. Nadia's reaction to Giavanna on the other hand, was written all over both women's faces. As they tried to figure out what was going on, the others who were planning on running joined Victoire, Colton, and James. Ally had joined them with Freddie, Cecilia, and Louis, while Teddy had come with Clark and Mark on his heels.

"You okay?" Teddy asked Victoire as he slid up to her side, she didn't need to ask to know that he was referring to Chris.

"I'm fine, I can act like an adult," Victoire told him reassuringly, even though she was wishing that she hadn't put on her short black practice shorts for the run.

The last time she had seen either Chris Mullin or his girlfriend Giavanna Tracey, was in June when they ran into them the day after Sandra and Kyle's wedding. Victoire and Teddy had been having brunch with Colton and Anastasia when the other couple popped up. Chris found out that day about Victoire and Teddy's engagement, and his reaction was not something that she liked to remember.

The group had been so intent on trying to figure out what was going on across the pitch that they barely noticed the arrival of the last person they had been waiting for.

"Did I miss something?" Albus Potter asked everyone as he suddenly appeared on their border.

Half of the group jumped, Al had been very quiet in his entrance, and Freddie answered his question, "Nah, I think the main event is just starting."

"Why are you late anyway?" James asked as he glanced down at his watch. Xavier had told everyone that the run would start at eleven, it was almost a quarter after.

"I was on my way here, with Rose, Hugo, and Lily because they wanted to watch, but when we got to the lobby we ran into the Longbottoms. They're here for England's game tomorrow, and Rose went off right away somewhere with Alice, while Lily and Hugo decided to do something with Frankie," Al explained.

"Who needs 'em?" Freddie replied enthusiastically, "We're glad to see that you got the memo about wearing your Gryffindor jersey though."

Al was of course, wearing his own Gryffindor Quidditch jersey along with a long pair of black track pants.

Victoire pointed out to the others that Xavier and Nadia were making their way over to the group, Garrick Tracey and Chris Mullin a few steps behind them. Xavier's expression practically screamed how apologetic he was about what was about to happen.

"Well there certainly is a lot of Gryffindor scarlet here," Mr. Tracey commented jovially as his eyes scanned everybody who was wearing a red and gold jersey, "There's enough of you for a whole Quidditch team."

"The only thing stopping that from working is that fact that both Vic and Al play seeker, and one of them would have to condescend to play chaser instead," Ally said forcing some cheer into her tone so that Mr. Tracey wouldn't realize how awkward everyone felt with Chris's silent presence.

Both Cecilia and Teddy readily rejected Ally's statement, "There's nothing wrong with being a chaser."

Victoire forced a laugh, "Of course not, but it's not the position for me. Al could do a good attempt at chaser, but I think that we can both agree that I'm the best seeker out of the two of us. I did teach Al everything he knows after all."

Al rolled his eyes at his eldest cousin, "You didn't teach me _everything_ I know. Besides, someone had to teach everything _you_ know too."

"Yeah, that's was either your dad or Uncle Charlie, they like to argue over who's protégé I technically was," Victoire explained to Al.

"I see a lot of captians' badges too," Mr. Tracey commented conversationally as his gaze swept over all of the 'C's, the line ended with Xavier and his 'A' for assistant captain, "I see you scrounged up some friends to join you for you run Wood. I take it this is going to get very competitive."

Xavier looked around at everyone, his gaze skipping over Chris as quickly as it could, "Yeah, it's going to get rather competitive."

"Probably violent too," Colton joined in with a pointed look in Victoire's direction.

"If you can't handle the heat then stay out of the kitchen Knott," Victoire replied with a smirk.

Colton replied in kind, with a smile of his own, and just when they finished making a bet over who would win, Mr. Tracey asked Xavier to introduce him to the people he didn't know. Xavier and Cecilia introduced Freddie, Louis, Al, James, and Teddy; Mr. Tracey already familiar with Colton, Ally, and Victoire.

"If everyone's finished with their stretches," Xavier said after they finished with the introductions, "We should probably start this run."

* * *

Despite the awkwardness of Chris joining the group, Xavier didn't want to reject him right in front of the owner of the team, especially since Chris was dating the owner's daughter, everyone else went away from it thinking that they had fun. The beginning of the run was neck-and-neck as everyone had a competitive streak to them and no one wanted to end up being the caboose. Halfway through the run though, some people pulled ahead, others fell behind, and small groups began to form.

Bring up the rear were Clark and Mark (who could run well but did not want to put the effort in on a Sunday), and Ally and Louis. Ally had tried her best to keep pace with Victoire at the beginning, and Louis had tried to stick with Cecilia, but halfway through they both decided that they needed to slow their pace if they wanted to finish all of the laps. Neither Ally nor Louis felt bad about not keeping pace with the other two though, as they were still keeping pace with two professional Quidditch players.

Not too far ahead of them was a solo Al, and a few paces in front of him were Chris, and the other Puddlemere chaser who wasn't Nadia. Roughly a quarter of the pitch ahead of them was Cecilia, James and Freddie, all three of them trying their best to outstrip the others even by just a few short feet of distance, and about the same distance away was Nadia. She wasn't running full tilt, but she preferred to stay back of the race that was going on in front of her between Xavier, Victoire, Teddy, and Colton.

The four were in a heated battle for the lead and had been since the very beginning of the run. Victoire and Colton had ran out of breath about five laps in and had to stop trading insults, but they were still able to give each other looks every once in a while that did the trick. It wasn't until the second last lap that Victoire and Colton fell back, the two still competing with each other; with Teddy and Xavier still in the lead.

The professional Quidditch player ended up being the first to finish, but the auror was not too far behind him, and the two hadn't even had the chance to catch their breath before Victoire and Colton finished after them. All four collapsed onto the ground in varying states of exhaustion, Victoire taking the time to lay fully on her back.

It took some time for them to catch their breaths, and Victoire was still panting when she huffed out, "Merlin. I. Don't know. Why I. Agreed to this."

"It wasn't. That bad," Teddy puffed, "I. Imagined. That it would. Be worse."

"Personally," Xavier said trying to both catch his breath and start some cool down stretches, "I'm. Impressed. Teddy. You must be. In pretty. Good shape."

Colton, who had just been sitting on the ground, flopped the rest of the way down so that he was lying prone like Victoire was, "I for one. Wouldn't want. To be chased by him. If I did something illegal."

"Thanks. I think," Teddy responded.

"Why would you run. If you could just send. A trip jinx. At them?" Victoire questioned.

Teddy patted her leg, and his breathing had finally gone back to normal, "Can't use magic if you're chasing someone through a crowd of muggles."

"True," Victoire agreed before letting out a big breath of air. It came out more of a groan as she felt her calves starting to burn from a buildup of lactic acid, "Godric that was almost as bad as the time Teddy made me do eighty bleacher sprints."

Colton snorted, "Eighty?"

Teddy sighed and rolled his eyes at his fiancée, "That was six years ago Vic. Are you ever going to get over it?"

"Eighty," Victoire enunciated clearly, "I wouldn't make my worst enemy do eighty bleacher sprints."

"Good to know," Colton replied sarcastically. Then he glanced at Teddy, "You should know better than anyone that she doesn't let stuff go easily."

Teddy grudgingly nodded and then Nadia crossed the makeshift finish line. She came to a stop around the other four, and since the runners were starting to trickle in the spectators started to join them. Malcolm, Dom, and Anastasia were the first ones over.

"Dom!" Victoire called cheerily to her younger sister, "Who finished first? Me or Colton?"

"I'm going to plead the fifth. If I reply you, Colton may fire me, and if I answer Colton, you'll kill me," Dom replied diplomatically.

Victoire scoffed, "That's such a lawyer's answer."

Anastasia laughed, "You two are going to be insufferable until a winner's announced." She glanced at her husband, "I'm sorry Dear, but Victoire won by one shoe length."

"Yes!" Victoire cheered, going so far as to pump her fist.

The rest of the runners then slowly made their way across the finish. Cecilia, James, and Freddie came in still tightly grouped, by it seemed that Freddie had a burst of speed near the end and crossed a few feet before the other two. Chris and the other chaser came in shortly after, with Al was on their tails, and because of the more leisurely pace he had taken, he didn't feel the need to collapse onto the ground like the front runners had. Crossing the finish line at the very end were Ally, Louis, Clark, and Mark.

"Losing your touch there Ally?" Victoire teased her cousin who was bent over and bracing herself on her knees, "Back at Hogwarts you'd be right behind me and Xavier."

"Back. At Hogwarts. You'd be. In front of. Or right beside. Xavier. Not behind him," Ally badgered back as well as she could through her panting.

Victoire laughed, "And he's spent the last four years training as a professional Quidditch player, whereas I was in healing school learning how to save people's lives."

"And let's not forget that she still hasn't been able to lose those last five pounds of that baby fat yet," Malcolm threw out carelessly.

Nadia punched him in the shoulder before Victoire could ask her to, "You've been beating that dead horse since June. It's not funny anymore."

"I beg to differ," Malcolm argued, "The look on Freckles's face every time I mention it is priceless."

Victoire stood up and rolled her eyes, and when Cecilia and James started to complain that Freddie had cheated somehow to take the lead, she suddenly got the strangest feeling. As if someone was looking at her. She turned her head and jumped a little when she spotted Chris only a few feet away from her and the rest of the group. He wasn't directly facing them, but he was most likely close enough to hear them. She swallowed a little thickly, and turned away when she saw Giavanna Tracey run to him and gave him a kiss.

"That was rather impressive," Mr. Tracey commented loudly as he walked over to the larger group, he stood near Teddy and Xavier, and was addressing the former, "There aren't many people who can keep up with Mr. Wood here like you did."

"Thank you, but it was a little easier back at Hogwarts when he wasn't so well trained," Teddy responded.

Mr. Tracey was called away then by his rather demanding sounding daughter, even though he seemed like he wanted to say more.

"Vic!" An excited voice yelled happily while a small shape came barrelling straight into her legs.

Victoire glanced down and smiled brightly, "Hey there Baby Boy!"

Brogan smiled back and held his arms out, "Lift me up?"

"I don't know," Victoire deliberated as she put her hands on her hips, "You've gotten _so_ much bigger than the last time I did that."

" _Please_?" Brogan asked with the world's most endearing pout.

He must have known that Victoire couldn't say no to a face like that, and his pout switched to a perky smile when she lifted him up into her arms and rested him on her hip, "Did you watch our race?"

Brogan nodded his head, causing his dirty-blonde fringe to slip into his eyes, "Yup. Xav won, but Teddy got really close."

"Thanks Bud," Teddy replied with a laugh as he reached out and ruffled the four-year-old's hair.

Brogan glanced back at Victoire, "Can I ask you something?"

"Of course," She responded readily.

"When are you getting married?"

The question was posed very innocently with wide naïve brown eyes, but Victoire still looked at him suspiciously, "Did my mother put you up to this?"

"Huh?" Was the confused little boy's reply.

Katie walked over and took her youngest child off of Victoire's hands, "I promise that I've never left him alone with Fleur."

"You need to get use to people asking that Vic," Dom commented with a laugh, "You're going to get it from everyone at the family reunion on Wednesday after all."

Victoire groaned, "Ugh, don't remind me."

"Dom's right, everyone's going to be all over you asking about your plans for the wedding," Louis added.

"Everyone but Gisèle that is," Dom muttered.

"Who's Gisèle?" Malcolm asked the group at large.

Victoire, Dom, and Louis all made faces and Teddy chose to answer, "Their cousin."

"Step cousin," The three siblings replied loudly, each visibly shuddering.

Everyone looked at Teddy for more of an explanation, "They don't exactly get along with her."

"I'm gonna vomit if we keep talking about her," Dom said acerbically and with a tone that spoke of finality.

"Well not all of your cousins can be fabulous like us," James spoke up as if it were obvious.

Victoire rolled her eyes, and then she heard a buzzing noise like that of a mobile phone. She almost patted the non-existent pockets of her shorts before realizing that she didn't bring her phone with her. Dom opened up the purse she had on her shoulder, and dug through it until she pulled out a plain black phone. She glanced at the screen and handed it to Louis as it was his phone and she was only holding it for him for the duration of the run.

"The caller ID says it's Baxter."

Louis pressed a button and held it up to his ear, "Hey-" He paused there and waited to hear what Baxter was saying on the other end.

"Baxter, do you think you could repeat the last part? I missed it."

There was a briefer pause, then, "Are you alright? You're slurring your words."

Victoire's head snapped around her eyes narrowed on her brother and his phone conversation.

"Baxter," Louis said his name slowly and with tangible concern, "Where exactly are you?"

Victoire opened her mouth to say something, but Louis was ahead of her and he held a finger out to gesture that she be quiet, "I don't care about that right now– I just need you to repeat where you are."

"Baxter-" Louis tried again before the other end of the line went dead. He sighed heavily and put down his phone, when he looked up from it he noticed the worried faces of his family staring back.

"What was that about?" Ally asked, her tone more worried than the one Victoire probably would have used.

Louis didn't respond, instead he glanced at Freddie and James, "Did you guys see Baxter last night before going to sleep?"

"Yes," Freddie replied, but then James added, "But we didn't exactly see him in person. When we came back from meeting Mel and her friends around eleven-thirty, the door to his room was shut. The three of us share a hotel room, and inside the room is a separate bedroom with two beds, and then a pull-out bed in the couch. I sleep on the one in the couch, and Baxter and Freddie have the two beds in the separate room. The door to that room was closed, and because Freddie said some _things_ to Baxter during dinner that he later regretted, Freddie wanted to avoid a potential argument again and he slept in one of the armchairs."

"But you saw him this morning?" Louis questioned.

James and Freddie shared a look, "Well . . . no. He was gone before we woke up at nine-thirty. Or we assumed that he left, when Freddie got the courage to enter the bedroom, he wasn't there or anywhere else in the hotel room."

Louis sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, "I don't think Baxter ever went back to your hotel room last night."

Freddie, James, Al, Dom, and Ally all had the same despondent expressions, while Victoire's hardened, "Where is he right now? And is he alright?"

"He just sounds rundown-"

"Is that code for hung-over or is he still sloshed?" Victoire retorted.

Louis didn't reply.

"I'm going to kill him," Victoire muttered crossly, actually moving to take a step forward. Both Teddy and James, who were on either side of her, reached out and grabbed one of her arms to stop her from doing something rash.

"Whoa there Victoire, if you're going to kill someone you should at least wait until your sister has the chance to brush up on her criminal law, because I for one don't want to be representing you for a murder trial," Colton said in a level tone, his calm voice breaking through Victoire's angry inner monologue about what she wanted to do to Baxter when she saw him next.

She pulled her arms out of Teddy and James's grips and crossed them over her chest, "And where did he end up last night?"

"He said something about 'bored ohs'. I think he meant Bordeaux," Louis explained.

Victoire's mouth popped open in surprise, "He ended up all the way over there?"

Her brother nodded, "I'm going to go get him."

"I'll go with you," Teddy volunteered. Louis nodded at him, and Teddy turned to Victoire.

He pressed a kiss to her forehead in an attempt to smooth out the worry lines on the skin above her eyes, "We'll find him."

"And bring him back in one piece so that I can kill him?" She ventured in as innocent of a tone as she could.

He sighed and pressed a kiss to the tip of her nose, "Legally, I can't let you kill him. You can scare him to death with a lecture on the perils of alcohol and drug abuse though."

Victoire pouted and crossed her arms over her chest, " _Fine_."

* * *

 **A/N:** So . . . what do we think of this chapter? Lotsa stuff happened, so let me know what you think of it please. Feel free to ask me any questions or comments that you may have!

You should all know by now that I like to write realistically even if it's slightly uncomfortable, but this topic just popped up and I thought hey, this story is about awkward adult things, so hence the awkward adult midnight run to a pharmacy.

 **Next Update** : I have reading week next week so I will be updating! Also, this way you won't have to wait so long for this cliffie.

 **Next Chapter** : Teddy and Louis do a bit of investigating to find Baxter, and Vic finally has a chance to have a chat with the Hufflepuff in question. And Cecilia has a hard discussion **about** Eliza.

Teaser for Next Chapter:

 **""I don't know what Baxter was thinking-" Victoire cried. She had the intention to begin her tirade again, but Dom stopped her.**

 **"You more than anyone should know that people sometimes don't make the best decisions in the heat of the moment Vic," her younger sister said in an even, if not gentle, tone."**

I want to thank everyone who has followed, favourited, read, and especially reviewed!

A great BIG thank you to:

 **B. arendes, rosesnlilies, SoccerDiva, 1 fan, 1999bookworm, Rosie loves pi, TheSlytherinQueenbee, WishIWasAMarauder07, NicoleTheSmith, Break This Spell626, no cure for crazy, Autumn, loverofthetwins, Guest1, PrettyLittleWinchester26, MuggleCreator, Jennifer Jules, WolfGirl, Seher Syed, crumer, silverlover02,** and **kawaiiotaku**.

 **1999bookworm** : It will have a lot of Vic/Teddy since they're main characters, but I purposely meant for this to have a bit of everyone since we're looking at things that come up in adulthood, and I thought it would be best to show it through multiple people instead of the same two people with unrealistically every single problem. The next few chapters will seem like a big mishmash of people because of all the Weasleys going to so many events together, but once school starts and the summer is over, things will settle down a bit more and it will seem like more Vic/Teddy. There will be some Eliza and Benjamin and Baxter later on, but since everyone's in France right now, that's who we're going to be focusing on for the next few chapters. I'll tell you right now that Baxter will be a big character in the next chapter, and he's not going to disappear after that, but I wouldn't say he's in the top 3 characters for this story. He'll be about even probably with Louis and Cecilia, maybe a little less as the story grows.

 **Rosie loves pi** : We'll just have to keep reading for overprotective Oliver (but between you and me it doesn't seem like he's going anywhere anytime soon), and as for more Tasha/Vic, I think we're done there, unless they get thrown together again later on which could or could not happen because really, sometimes a lot of stuff happens in these stories that I didn't exactly have planned out from the beginning, so we'll just have to wait and see. Tasha won't be around in the next half a dozen chapters I have written though.

 **NicoleTheSmith** : It wasn't corny, and thank you so much!

 **Break This Spell626** : They were a little tame, but they were also in public, so it was for the best.

 **loverofthetwins:** I'm glad you liked the mention of Al, but I had that already written before you requested it. If you liked it, you will love upcoming chapter 9.

 **WoldGirl** : She has a hard time getting drunk, meaning she has to drink a lot to get drunk, so in the last chapter, she drank a lot.

 **kawaiiotaku** : No, they didn't have a fight . . .

 **I hope everyone liked this chapter,**

 **Again, anything you'd like to ask or say to me, feel free to leave me a review or PM,**

 **I promise to update next week,**

 **Until next time, DFTBA!**


	7. Family Intervention

**A/N:** Hello everyone! I am posting so yes, I did survive the 50cm of snow over 24 hours that we got here in Ontario, all I can say is thank goodness it happened during reading week when I didn't have to go to class, I was watching the news and the bus system in Ottawa was a wreck, I couldn't imagine if I had had class or even a midterm on that day.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own _Harry Potter_. I will take credit for Cecilia though.

* * *

 **Family Intervention**

 **Sunday, August 28** **th** **2022**

 **1:23 PM**

"Did Baxter say anything about exactly where he is here?" Teddy asked Louis as he looked around at the large buildings that they had apparated next to. Bordeaux was a starting point, but it was still a very large city that included both suburbs and satellite towns around the main hub.

Louis sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose in irritation, "Not really, you heard how short the conversation was. We can assume however, that he is in the main city and not one of the surrounding suburbs, they all have different names. I think we can also assume that he didn't go out last night and get drunk at one of the fancy restaurants that only serves specialty wines. We can probably also rule out any pubs in the historically preserved district because he would have been too rowdy for it."

"Are we thinking that he stuck to wizarding clubs and bars?" Teddy questioned.

"He usually starts out that way, but he also would have started out closer to where we actually were, and who knows how sloshed he was when he ended up here. He could have been switching back and forth between wizarding ones and muggle ones."

Teddy exhaled heavily, "Got anything of his on you? It seems like our best bet would be a tracking spell."

Louis dug around in his pockets and pulled out a sickle, "This was his change from yesterday. But I thought you needed specific permission to do a tracking spell on someone?"

"Only the stronger and more specific spells need permission. And that's only actually for MLE, _I_ can cast one without needing authorization," Teddy explained.

"Go for it then."

The pair went into an alley to make sure that no one would be able to see them, and it only took a few minutes for Teddy to do the spell. He used a simpler spell, one that wouldn't be quite as accurate, but was really the best he could do with the item he had. They followed the spell and ended up in the more prominent wizarding section of the city. Because of the minimalism of the spell, they were only able to narrow down the area to roughly three city blocks.

They went to the first bar in their search block, and even though the sign of the door said closed, they could see a few people moving around inside it. Louis reached out, found that the door was unlocked, and then let himself and Teddy in.

There was a woman in her mid-twenties standing behind the bar and she looked at them and then spoke in rapid French.

Teddy sent Louis a questioning look.

"She said that their bar doesn't open until two o'clock," Louis explained. He turned back to the woman and began speaking to her in softer French, and at some point he pulled out his muggle mobile and held it up for her to see. Teddy assumed that he was showing her a photo Baxter, and after a few more quick minutes, Louis turned back to Teddy.

"She said that he was in here last night for about two hours before the bar had to close at three o'clock. She did say that he was with a group of about eight others, and that they weren't ready to end their night with the close of the bar."

Teddy glanced out the windows of the bar and saw another bar across the street, "Most of the bars around here would usually all close around three o'clock also. Clubs would stay open longer, but there aren't any within the three block radius."

Louis nodded, thanked the woman at the bar, and then they left, "So where would they have gone to keep up their party?"

"Someone's flat?" Teddy suggested as he noted a few apartment buildings in between the bars and shops.

"That would make sense, but he doesn't know anyone from here so that won't help us narrow down where he is," Louis said with a frown.

Teddy glanced at the street across from them again and narrowed in on a pair of men who were climbing out of a car that had parked on the street while they were in the restaurant, "Perhaps they could help us."

Louis followed Teddy's gaze and considered the two uniformed police officers who were slowly making their way to the apartment building closest to where they had parked their police cruiser, "If there were a bunch of rowdy drunks in a flat near mine I might call muggle law enforcement also."

The two nodded and briskly crossed the street to catch up to the officers before they could enter the apartment building. Louis called out to them in French to get their attention, and even though Teddy wasn't entirely sure what he was saying to them, he did figure out his part when one of the officers said ' _pièce d'identité_ ' and stared at Teddy, whom Louis had gestured towards quickly. Teddy pulled out his auror badge and flashed it, knowing that the spell on it would cause the muggle police officers to see what it was they needed to see. Louis didn't even have an MLE badge of his own because he'd just started training, but Teddy's badge and Louis's perfect French was enough to appease them.

The police officers started nodding their head at Louis's words, one of them gesturing to the building of flats behind them and the other pointing to their patrol car for some reason. After a few moments Louis was giving the two police officers dazzling smiles and shaking each of their hands in turn before saying in English to Teddy.

"They heard about a noise complaint and were just going to warn the occupants of the flat to be quieter. Routine stuff, no arrests. Since I mentioned that we are looking for a certain person that may be up there, they told us that if we don't mind, we can do their job for them and give the warning while we look for our mark."

The metamorphmagus nodded and then said one of the few French sentences he had could say without too much of an English accent, " _Merci messieurs_."

He and Louis then walked into the apartment building and they only had to go up two flights of stairs before getting to the flat that the police officers had told Louis they got the noise complaint about. They knocked on the door, no sound coming out of the flat at the moment, and when no one answered, Louis tested the doorknob and found that it was unlocked. After slowly opening the door, the two men found the small flat a mess of both empty alcohol bottles and rubbish, as well as seemingly unconscious people who littered every flat space, and some not so horizontal ones.

Teddy and Louis shared a look and then decided to divide and conquer the space as it were. There were about a dozen drunk and/or passed out people around the flat, some by themselves, some in heaps, and Teddy's frown deepened as he took in all of the alcohol bottles, the rolled up papers that sat in the ash trays and definitely weren't filled with tobacco, the glass pipes that sat next to the joints, and the residue of white and green powders that sat on a small flat mirror that was on a coffee table.

He tried not to catalogue all of the different laws that it seemed were being broken in the flat, but he found that he couldn't help himself. Right after he finished conjuring up a blanket for a scantily clad young lady who was passed out next to the coffee table, he heard Louis call his name.

On the other side of the apartment Teddy found Louis trying to wake up an unconscious Baxter Weasley, who was lying on a coach, his red hair a complete mess and a rather impressive five o'clock shadow on his face. He was still fully clothed and he didn't seem to have any dirt or vomit on his clothes, so he had that going for him.

"Let's wake him up and get him out of here then."

* * *

 **2:08 PM**

Victoire stared out the window as she silently fumed. She didn't understand what was taking her fiancée and her brother so long. All they had to do was find Baxter and drag his arse back to the hotel. They didn't even have to be gentle about it, although Victoire figured that they probably would be. Teddy was a rather surprising softy considering that he was an auror, and Baxter was Louis's best mate and she doubted her brother would have it in him to be too rough on their cousin.

"If you stare any harder at that window I think you may actually melt the glass pane," Ally said sarcastically to her.

The blonde turned around and sighed in frustration; she, Ally, Dom, Molly, Freddie, James, and Cecilia were all scattered around the hotel room that Freddie, James, and Baxter shared. They had come straight there from after the run at the Quidditch stadium, the others deciding to go their own ways to previous commitments, or in Xavier's case, trying to get out of the family's way. Ally had tried to convince Victoire to go back to her parents' beach house and do some unpacking while they waited to hear news of Baxter. However, Victoire had quickly shut down the idea, and even though Dom tried to convince her otherwise, it didn't help.

"I don't know what Baxter was thinking-" Victoire cried. She had the intention to begin her tirade again, but Dom stopped her.

"You more than anyone should know that people sometimes don't make the best decisions in the heat of the moment Vic," her younger sister said in an even, if not gentle, tone.

Freddie, who was sitting quietly on a couch with James, said, "It's all my fault, I goaded him and said things that I knew would upset him."

"He's an adult," Cecilia pointed out unfeelingly from her perch on the armchair Molly was sitting in, "He knew what he was doing when he made the decision to go off and get plastered."

"None of us are in his shoes so I don't think we're in any place to judge," James said hoping to quell some of the tension in the room.

Dom nodded along with her younger cousin's surprisingly mature words, "I've definitely gotten sloshed after a broken heart once or twice before. Or what felt like a broken heart."

No one pointed out that Dom had never really had disappointed hopes to the extent of what Baxter was dealing with, and Molly spoke up, also on her brother's behalf, "It's more than just a broken heart. Dad's been a right tosser lately when it comes to Baxter. He's pretty much said that Baxter can't do anything right, not in exactly those words mind you, and he thinks that he's got absolutely no ambition and that he's going to be stuck in his job as a shopkeeper's assistant forever. The argument they had at the beginning of the summer is still going strong, and even though Baxter moved out in July Dad's still in a right state about it. If I wasn't the only kid left at home I'd probably try harder to leave too, he's making living at home so depressing."

"It is important to remember that Baxter's been acting the way he has because he's trying to make himself feel better and to forget about how miserable he's been," Ally pointed out softly.

"Trust me, I get that," Victoire argued, "But there's better ways of coping with stress, preferably ones that won't lead to a long hard road of addiction."

Before anyone else had the chance to throw any more of their two knuts worth into the conversation, the door to the hotel room slowly opened, and Teddy and Louis awkwardly shuffled in, helping a hung-over looking Baxter into the room with them.

Everyone went silent and watched as the three men entered and closed the door behind them. Baxter was conscious and upright, but if he looked like he was in pain as he stumbled into the room, it was nothing compared to the look that came over his face when he saw everyone –especially Victoire– standing in the room expectantly.

Ally noticed that Baxter's face turned a further shade of green when he locked his gaze on Victoire, and she stepped up towards him, "I've got a potion that will help you."

"Um, thanks Ally, but I don't think-"

"It'll be fine Baxter," Ally interrupted at she pushed Baxter towards the bathroom, "Vic will help us, won't you Vic?"

Victoire nodded her head and the two girls disappeared into the bathroom with the hung-over redhead, shutting the door tightly behind them. Ally had a hangover cure for Baxter to drink, a rather strong one at that, but he wouldn't accept it, quietly muttering that he couldn't take it because of the other drugs in his system. They all heard Victoire's sharp intake of breath, yet she didn't say a word as Ally asked Baxter exactly what drugs were in his system. He ashamedly told them that what he remembered taking was muggle marijuana mixed with a drug that was pretty much the most popular equivalent among magical youth those days.

Ally nodded non-judgementally, and Victoire silently cast a series of detoxification spells that would make it possible for him to take Ally's hangover cure, after a little while that is. The detoxification spells were complicated, which is why it was almost impossible for someone who wasn't a healer to perform them, as well as very dangerous. One wrong wrist movement and a person would be much worse off than if they had accidentally overdosed. As it were, the side effects of detoxification spells were harsh, with excruciating headaches, agonising nausea, and dehydration that would border on the extreme if she didn't make sure that he got some fluids in him quickly.

The side effects weren't of much concern however, as Ally's hangover cure would pretty much do the same thing as it had a sobering potion mixed in just in case it hadn't all passed through his system yet.

Baxter drank it, and when he knelt in front of the toilet several seconds later and began vomiting violently, Ally and Victoire both summarized that he must have still be a bit intoxicated. If the toxins were already mostly out of his system he wouldn't have started throwing up, but since he was, the sobering potion had to active first, before the hangover cure, and it forced him to get rid of any of the toxins left in his system.

Victoire knelt next to Baxter on the bathroom floor to soothingly rub his back and make sure that he didn't choke. As she did so she asked Ally if she could double, or even triple, the speed of a hydration potion, to give to him when he finally finished retching.

What seemed like an endless amount of time later, Baxter was finally finished with vomiting and Victoire and Ally hastily poured the hydration potion down his throat. He had lost a lot of fluids with both detoxification and the sobering potion and they needed to make sure that they would be replaced. With that done the trio slowly left the bathroom and entered the main part of the hotel room again.

It seemed that Dom and Molly had left while Victoire and Ally were sobering Baxter up, but everyone else was still in the room. James was speaking quietly to Teddy on the couch; Cecilia and Louis were standing next to the room's large windows, the former hugging the latter around the waist and leaning her head against his chest; and Freddie was pacing back and forth just outside the bathroom's entrance.

They all looked up when the bathroom door opened.

"Baxter I am so sorry about what I said, I didn't mean to make you feel-," Freddie tried to apologize, only to be interrupted by the cousin he was trying to apologize to.

"Freddie," Baxter said in a gravelly voice, "Can we just not talk about this right now? I'm dead tired."

Ally pushed Baxter towards an empty reclining chair as gently as she could, "It's probably a good idea for you to have a seat and rest a little."

"Yes, a great idea," Victoire repeated in a voice that used the opposite of the caring tone Ally had. She titled her head and then leaned forward and flicked Baxter hard on the ear.

"Ow!"

She put her hands on her hips, "Don't act like you don't deserve that and much more."

"Vic," Teddy said warningly as he walked up behind her and put a hand on her arm. He along with everyone else had moved closer in to see what was going to happen between the two cousins.

"No Teddy," Victoire told him not even sparing him a glance, "Baxter and I need to have a chat about the things he's been getting up to at night."

Baxter sighed and rubbed his hands down his face, "I don't go out with the intention to get smashed Vic. Besides there's nothing wrong with a few drinks now and then, or even a smoke if it will calm me down."

"There's a difference between having a few drinks and guzzling down half a bar's menu Baxter! And don't even get me _started_ on the drugs you've been taking."

"It's just a little weed Victoire," Baxter told her even though he didn't sound as though he believed his own words.

She gritted her teeth and tried very hard not to let her temper get away with her, "The drugs you remember taking were just a little bit of weed. Who knows what you could have taken when you were already blitzed."

Her words caused Teddy to start worrying even more, "Baxter please tell me that you didn't have anything else that I saw lying around that flat."

Victoire turned and glared at Teddy and Louis, " _What_ other drugs did you see?"

"Vic, I think you're making a slightly bigger deal of this than you need to be," Freddie said, he must have felt the need to come to Baxter's aid to ease the guilt of having prompted him to go off drinking in the first place.

The part-veela turned her scowl to Freddie next, "Not a big deal? Do I really need to remind you and Baxter about the dangers of abusing drugs and alcohol? Weakening of the immune system, cardiovascular issues, liver problems, seizures, strokes, potential brain damage, cancers, cirrhosis, not to mention getting STIS while you're blitzed out of your mind or-"

Baxter's face went green again, "I get the point Victoire."

"Apparently not, because if you did you would stop this," She argued sternly.

"I just want to stop thinking about how horrible things in my life are right now. Is that so bad?"

Victoire's anger had dissipated by the time he said that, or the majority of it had in any case. His words make her heart ache, and she just wanted to scoop him up in her arms, hug him, and promise him that everything was going to be okay. But she couldn't, she didn't know what the future was going to hold and it wasn't within her power to do anything to tip it in his favour. The only thing _she_ could do to make his future better would be to put an end to his partying before it turned into an alcohol or drug addiction; she had to nip the problem in the bud.

Baxter looked at her in surprise when she gently sat herself on the arm of his chair. She lightly rested her hand on his head and began running her fingers through his hair, "I know that things are really hard for you right now Baxter, I'm not disputing that . . . but you do know why I'm being so hard on you, don't you?"

"Because you expect better of me," He said quietly. If he was being truthful even he knew that he expected better of himself.

She patted his head gently, "It's not just that Baxter; I'm so worried for you. What you've been doing is different from having a glass of wine or a beer to help you relax after a hard day. You realize that don't you? You've been engaging in something that is literally defined as binge drinking, it's occurring at least once a week if not more. You're doing it in the middle of the week whenever you feel like it, you're going out by yourself to places that you aren't familiar with, and you drink to such an excess that you're engaging in potentially dangerous activities while under the influence. You've started doing drugs once you're drunk, I wouldn't be surprised if you've risked apparating more than once while under the influence, you're interacting with people who you've never met before and who could take advantage of you, and you're doing all of it on a week day when you know that you have work and other responsibilities in the morning."

"I know all of that, I do. But I don't know what else to do, drinking helps me feel better."

Victoire tried to say her next lecture in a soft tone, "And that's what worries me the most Baxter. You're using alcohol and drugs to help you cope and that's what's going to lead you to a dependency, and then an addiction. I know that you're not there yet, but if you keep using these as your go-to methods for coping, it's going to happen. As for them helping you feel better, you and I both know that the relief they give is temporary at best, and that you feel even worse once you're sober again."

He nodded and began to wring his hands together, "What I've been doing is stupid, I know that. And I know how worried you've all been about me but I don't know what else to do. I feel like my life is falling apart and I don't know how to stop it."

"For starters you could always talk to us when you feel overwhelmed instead of going off to a bar," Louis said taking a step forward and kneeling on the ground so that he and Baxter were eye to eye, "You can talk to me about anything Baxter. I'm perfectly content with sitting around and listening to you complain about Uncle Percy."

His cousin's words caused a tentative smile to flash across Baxter's face, but they faded quickly, "But I can't talk about Eliza with you."

Louis glanced over his shoulder and caught Cecilia's gaze before looking back at his cousin, "I know that things are really awkward right now, especially since Cecilia and Eliza have gotten so close, but I can be friends with Eliza and your sounding board at the same time. You're my cousin Baxter, and my best mate, I'm always going have your interests at heart. I want you to be happy, and its obvious right now that you're not."

"It's not all about what's going on with Eliza, I'm just so stressed right now. I don't know what I want to do in my future or what I'm going to do to achieve it."

"You're only eighteen Baxter," Teddy told him sympathetically, "It's normal to have these doubts, these fears."

Baxter frowned and looked down at his hands, "To hear my dad say it I'm just lazy with no ambition."

"I think we all know Uncle Percy's track record when it comes to making decisions and generalizations that are based on ambition, which end up causing rifts within the family," James pointed out.

"And if history tells us anything," Victoire added, "Then it's that Uncle Percy will realize his mistakes and apologize, eventually."

Baxter sighed heavily, "But what if he's right? What if the decision I made not to take the job he got for me at the ministry was a mistake? What if I've ruined my life with that one decision?"

The reply came from Ally as she sat down on the other arm of his chair, "You know, I used to wonder the same thing in my more immediate miserable moments after I broke up with Xavier last year. I would worry that my choice to break up with him would be one decision that would end up ruining my life. I still hate myself for what I put Xavier through, but I've also realized that I needed that time apart. Even now it doesn't always make sense to me why, but I do know that wasting your time thinking back to your decisions and wondering if you should have made a different one isn't healthy. You can't go back in time Baxter, I know it's hard but you need to look forward instead."

He grabbed Ally's hand and gave it a squeeze, he knew that it was probably hard for her to bring up such a personal topic, especially since Cecilia was in the room, "Thank you."

From his other side Victoire ran a hand through his hair again.

"We don't expect you to be okay all of a sudden, but we want you to know that we're here for you and that we'll do anything we can to help," Victoire told him earnestly.

"And I'd like to take this opportunity to apologize again for being a gigantic prat last night; I am so sorry. And even though I know that you probably hate me right now, and that I haven't done anything to help, and that I've actually made things worse, I'm here for you too," Freddie told his cousin in a tone that still sounded rather guilty.

James hastily added on to his partner-in-crime's somewhat awkwardly phrased statement, "I'm here for you too Baxter, you know, in the capacity that we can be since we're going back to school in a few days."

Baxter had a small but steady smile on his face at their words, "Thanks guys." He meant what he said, but everyone could tell that he looked rather tired, so Victoire, Teddy, and Ally excused themselves from the room as Freddie and James suggested that Baxter go to the bedroom portion of their hotel room and get some sleep. He agreed and lumbered off to the bedroom.

He had the foresight to change into a pair of pyjama pants before taking his nap, and had just pulled the shirt he was still wearing from the night before over his head, when the closed door to the room slowly opened. He turned around and froze when he saw Cecilia standing silently in the doorway.

"Can we talk for a moment? I'd like to get this over with before you go to sleep," Cecilia said timidly as she took a hesitant step inside the room.

"Is this going to be painful?" Baxter asked as he tiredly sat down on the edge of his bed. He knew that no matter what her response was that they'd end up talking, there was no talking Cecilia Wood out of anything she had set her mind to doing, no matter how small.

She took a few more steps forward and crossed her arms over her chest, "I just feel as though there's been a miscommunication between us. I know that you're probably sick and tired of it, but I think we need to talk about Eliza."

"I know that you're going to do whatever you want with or without my input, so go for it," Baxter told her with a dismissive wave of his hand.

Cecilia cautiously sat down next to him on the bed, leaving a few feet of space between them, "Bax, I really care about Eliza. I know I haven't been friends with her for very long, but she's sweet and kind and a good friend to me, who deserves for me to be a good friend to her in return."

"Holy Hufflepuff Cecilia I know alright? Trust, it would be so much easier to get over her if she wasn't so great. Merlin why couldn't she be a bitch?" Baxter mumbled.

Cecilia let out a small chuckle, "You wouldn't like her so much if she was a bitch."

"Not entirely true, I fancied Danielle when we were younger and she turned out to be a bitch."

"She turned into a bitch way after you stopped liking her, personally I think the change occurred somewhere between fifth and sixth year," Cecilia mused.

Baxter blushed. Cecilia assumed he was remembering something awkward concerning Danielle, perhaps the last day of school when he and Louis had to keep running interference so she wouldn't end up clobbering Danielle for the horrible things her ex-friend was saying about her.

"Anyway," Cecilia continued, "We got off track. Baxter, I only want what's best for Eliza; what will make her happy. But I don't want you to think that that doesn't mean that I'm trying to work against you, or that I don't care about you."

He snapped his head up quickly and his brown eyes bore into hers as she continued.

"We've been friends for years Baxter, I've known you as long as I've known Louis and the other Weasleys. I care about you and I want you to be happy too, and I need you to know that even though it may seem like it, I'm not choosing Eliza over you. I want what's best for the _both_ of you."

Baxter took a jagged breath, "And right now what's best for Eliza is Benjamin."

Cecilia's expression darkened, "Not necessarily."

"What?" He asked in surprise, he definitely did not think that Cecilia would say that.

"Eliza needs Benjamin to be there for Rowan, and he's doing a rather good job of that so far. However, that doesn't make up for the fact that he's doing a horrible job where _just_ Eliza is concerned. I mean I don't know what he thinks he's doing by allowing his parents and his fiancée to be so ghastly to her, but I doubt it's going to win him any brownie points," Cecilia said, the last part coming out as more of a complaint.

His eyebrows lowered in confusion, "So if you're not on Benjamin's side or _my_ side-"

She shook her head and put her hand on his shoulder, ignoring for the moment that it was bare because he didn't have a shirt on, "Both Victoire and I are on Eliza's side, we want to stay out of whatever tug-o-war is going on and just be there for Eliza whenever she needs us. She doesn't have that many people that are truly in her corner, not as many as you do. I've been trying so hard to let her know that I'm there for her, that I guess I didn't realize that my support of her might seem as though I'm working against you."

"I get that," Baxter told her, "I really do. I'm not going to lie, I might have had some hard feelings before, but I know where you're coming from now."

"Well then I'm glad we've got that out of the way, but it's probably a good idea if we just agree not to talk about Eliza with each other. You can feel free to complain about your dad though, heck I'd like to join you in complaining," Cecilia said, the last part coming out with a sigh.

"You want to join me in complaining about my father?" He asked with a raised brow.

She sighed, "I was rather thinking about complaining about mine."

Baxter's expression looked quite sardonic, "Has yours also gone and told you that you fancy the wrong person, and criticized your career choice too?"

"Not in so many words but he's expressed displeasure on similar areas of my life."

"Can you repeat what you're trying to say in English this time?"

Cecilia rolled her eyes, "We were talking about _you_."

"I'm sick of talking about me," Baxter argued, "I think I'd like to talk about someone else's troubles right now."

"Aren't you tired? You did come in here to get some sleep after all," Cecilia argued as she stood up from her perch on his bed.

Baxter frowned at her, "Cecilia."

She ran a hand through her hair, "I'm not in a mood to go through it all again, and you look dead on your feet. I'll tell you later."

He nodded and laid down on his back.

She walked over to the door and smirked at him as she cracked it open, "Oh and Baxter, I know that we just agreed not to really talk about Eliza, but I think it's fair to let you know that I'm going to have to tell her _exactly_ how good you look without a shirt on. You know, to help even the score up between you and Benjamin."

Cecilia gave him a wink as she opened the door wider and his red face was the last thing she saw before she left the room.

* * *

 **4:31 PM**

"I take it that Baxter's catching up on some sleep from last night?" Dom asked with a wry grin before taking a sip of her espressino.

Victoire sent her sister a glare, and it was so heated that Teddy felt the need to throw his arm around her shoulders and whisper into her ear that she probably didn't want to make a scene in the middle of the hotel's outdoor café.

"A little too soon for jokes there Dom," Ally commented dryly as she took a taste of her black tea. She had barely swallowed it before she made an adorably puckered face.

"Too bitter?" Xavier asked his girlfriend with a knowing smirk before sliding the pot of sugar closer to her.

Ally sent him an expression that was as close to a glare as she could get, "I think they steeped it too long."

"I told you that your first taste of black tea shouldn't be in France," Xavier told her as he watched her dump spoonful after spoonful of sugar into her cup.

"And I told all of you that coffee should probably be your drink of choice while you're in France," Dom reminded them from behind the rim of her porcelain espresso cup.

Xavier, Victoire, and Teddy had also all chosen different types of tea to drink from the café's menu, only they didn't seem to have a problem with theirs as Ally had.

"You're right Dom," Victoire replied in a tone that was dripping of sarcasm, "Louis and Cecilia took your suggestion of coffee, and they seem to be enjoying it."

The five of them turned their heads to a table for two just next to theirs, where the aforementioned coffee ordering couple were sitting. They had accepted Dom's recommendation, and they seemed to be enjoying their coffee. Probably, Victoire mused, because they hadn't actually touched their own cups or tasted it yet. The two eighteen year olds looked more concerned with flirting, rather nauseatingly, over their drinks than actually attempting to ingest them.

Normally Victoire wouldn't care about what they did since they were adults and allowed to do whatever they wanted to do. But she had to admit that they did look like they were seconds away from starting a snog over the sugar bowl.

"Someone should really tell them that this isn't Madam Puddifoot's," Xavier said with a frown in his sister's direction.

"How would you know?" Ally asked with a raised brow, "I didn't think you'd ever been there before."

Xavier's ears went red and he traced his index finger around the lip of his teacup, "I haven't – I just – I mean-"

Ally laughed and reached out to touch Xavier's cheek, "I'm just teasing you Baby."

He put his hand over hers and smiled, his eyes catching hers.

"Maybe someone should remind _them_ that this isn't Madam Puddifoot's," Dom whispered to Victoire and Teddy while Ally and Xavier stayed in their moment.

Victoire shrugged and picked up her teacup, "Did you ever go to Madam Puddifoot's Dom?"

"Once or twice," Her sister replied with a laugh, "It was really helpful actually, any boy that took me there was immediately chucked."

"Because it proved that they had bad taste?" Teddy questioned between chuckles.

Dom rolled her blue eyes, "No, because it showed that they were unimaginative. If the best snogging place they could come up with was waiting for a Hogsmeade weekend to take me to Puddifoot's then they really didn't deserve to be snogging me in the first place. I mean really, if they can't handle the danger of being caught snogging in a broom cupboard then they're really not my type."

Teddy and Victoire both laughed, that was such a Dom thing to think and say.

"Rowena Ravenclaw Louis do you really think that's appropriate behaviour for public?"

Victoire automatically rolled her eyes, she recognized the person just by their voice, and without having to look at her.

Louis's apparent inappropriate public behaviour was snogging Cecilia, which he had only just started, and he had to pull himself away from his blushing girlfriend so that he could defend his actions, "Maybe not in boring and conservative ol' England, but I think you'll find that here in France it is perfectly acceptable behaviour."

"Casanova has a point Lucy," Dom pointed out as she lazily swept her hand to gesture towards the other people clustered around the little tables at the outdoor café. There were only about a dozen people sitting around them at the tables, and about half of the isolated couples were kissing or sitting closely in a manner that screamed intimacy.

Lucy huffed and shared an exasperated look with her boyfriend, Austin Pennington, before pressing her lips into a thin line and crossing her arms over her chest.

"Don't just stand around there Luce, have a seat. How was your trip here?" Ally asked in a friendly tone as she waved her hand and magiked two chairs from an empty table to join the one she, Xavier, Dom, Victoire, and Teddy were sitting at.

Victoire tried not to make a face as Austin sat down in the free chair beside hers, Lucy sitting down in between him and Xavier.

"It went rather flawlessly, most likely due to the fact that we thought ahead to get a verified portkey weeks ago. It seemed that everybody was at the ministry yesterday trying to get last minute verification. I really cannot stand it when people leave things to the last minute," Lucy complained to the table in general even though Ally was the only one who looked like she cared.

"I didn't realize you were coming with Lucy today Austin," Victoire said to her cousin's boyfriend. Austin Pennington was a Ravenclaw who had been a contemporary of hers while they were in school, and she really did not like him, for several reasons. Her cousin Lucy had started dating him several months ago, and Victoire and Teddy both were trying their best to be civil with him.

Austin turned his head so that he could face her and drawled, "My employer gave me a few days off since I've been doing such a spectacular job and I knew that Lucy was headed here for England's game tomorrow, so I offered to come and keep her company."

"Because she doesn't have enough family members to keep her occupied?" Victoire muttered under her breath. Unfortunately, she didn't say it quite quiet enough, and Lucy shot her a glare while Dom snickered, Ally sending her a glance that was both exasperated and reproachful.

"Where is the rest of our lovely family anyway? You lot are only five of fourteen," Lucy questioned only sounding partially interested.

Victoire took a drink of her tea while Teddy explained, "The adults are either in their hotel rooms or off doing something, Hugo and Lily are hanging out with Frankie Longbottom, Rose and Alice Longbottom went shopping, Al said something about going to a different hotel to find Scorpius Malfoy, James has a date with Mélanie, and Louis was trying to snog Cecilia before you interrupted them."

Cecilia, whose face had only just returned to its natural colour, went red again at Teddy's words. Louis chuckled and wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her head to rest on his chest.

"And what about my lovely siblings?" Lucy enquired.

"Molly thought she'd pop into a store to find a book she was looking for to do some research for work," Ally explained.

Lucy nodded approvingly, "Good idea for her to have, just because she's on vacation doesn't mean that she can't get some work done."

Dom snorted, "That's exactly what a vacation's supposed to be. A break from work."

Lucy rolled her eyes, "And where's my little brother?"

"He and Freddie are hanging out in their hotel room, just laying low before our family thing tonight," Victoire replied in a tone that said that she was trying to play it off as a non-important tidbit of information.

"What family thing?" Lucy questioned as she tilted her head to the side with interest.

Dom rolled her eyes, "Since Grandmum and Grandpa are arriving today, we made the mistake of allowing they to choose where we go out to dinner tonight. Apparently Grandmum didn't like the idea of going to a fancy restaurant only to get small portions of exotic French food that she doesn't particularly want to try. Grandpa then did some research and suggested a muggle place where we can all go and learn how to cook new recipes in groups and then all have dinner together. She absolutely loved the idea of all of us cooking together, even though we won't be able to use magic, so that's what we're going to do."

"We have to cook our own meals without magic?" Lucy repeated incredulously.

"It'll be fun," Ally defended in her signature enthusiastic tone, "There are lots of us so there will be a ton of help on hand. We'll break up into smaller groups and each group will work on one dish at a different station."

Lucy sighed and ran a hand through her shoulder length red hair that was looking a little frizzy after the length of the rather warm day, "And this place will have enough room for all thirty-one of us?"

Victoire shrugged, "We reserved room for thirty, because Mélanie is going to join us to spend time with James of course. We didn't know that you were bringing Austin with you, but I'm sure we can squeeze one more in to make the count thirty-one."

"We can still keep to groups of five, with just one group of six," Teddy pointed out.

* * *

 **A/N:** And there we are, how'd you like the chapter? Do you think I've done Baxter's intervention justice? And who's excited for the next up and coming Weasley family dinner? Please leave me any questions, comments, and concerns you have about this chapter in a review!

 **Next Update:** I start midterms next week, so you'll probably have to wait until the week after for an update. Sowwy.

 **Next Chapter:** I'll be worth the wait though, we get to see another Weasley family dinner, only this one will now have all of the Weasleys. We'll hear an adorable story about some of Victoire's misdeeds as a teenager, see how all of these wizards and witches handle cooking without magic, the women in the family find out that Charlie has been hiding a girlfriend from them, Fleur tries to convince Oliver to allow Cecilia to stay with them and come to her family reunion ( **How do we think over-protective Oliver is going to respond to that?** ), and of course because there has to be drama, Victoire has a slight breakdown at the end of the night.

Teaser for Next Chap:

 **""I didn't exactly expect to have to deal with Baxter this afternoon, but I think it went okay. Besides that, nothing horrible happened today, I don't know why I feel so emotionally exhausted."**

 **Teddy tried to catch her gaze, up to that point she had been looking indirectly at him, "I think we both know why you feel that way. We should talk about the call you got from Spencer.""**

I just got to over 200 reviews, from 6 chapters, which it completely awesome! So thank you so much and keep them coming please!

A big thank you of course to everyone who has followed, favourited, read and especially reviewed!

Biggest THANK YOUs to:

 **TheProphetBVB, B. arendes, Autumn, NicoleTheSmith, rosesnlilies, handrews553, Seher Syed, loverofthetwins, Jennifer Jules, MegsLovesToRead, WishIWasAMarauder07, MuggleCreator, LunaRose95, Last Ride Of The Valkyries, GryffindorsRock, emeraldeyes0731, ntlpurpolia,** **SoccerDiva,** **DaughterOfTerpsichore, kIMaYa,** and **silverlover02**.

 **TheProphetBVB** : It stands for Don't Forget To Be Awesome. It's an internet thing that relates to Hank and John Green, you can google the words for more info if you want.

 **B. arendes** : Don't worry, we will see LOTS of the family in the next chapter, and the few after that, I'm trying to cram them in before the youngest six have to go back to Hogwarts at the beginning of September.

 **Autumn** : Aw, thank you, I'm glad you like them!

 **NicoleTheSmith** : Thanks for letting me know, it's not a real word so my spellcheck doesn't really distinguish when it's spelt wrong. I've changed it on my original word docx, but I won't be able to change it on the website unless I re-upload the entire chapter, and I don't have time to do that right now. And Baxter eating Veritaserum laced ice cream would make a fantastic one-shot, however I don't have the time to write it right now, but it'll be on my topics list for when I do decided to get a one-shot done.

 **Jennifer Jules** : How do you feel about how Baxter's situation was handled?

 **handrews553** : Thank you, it's nice to hear from readers who haven't reviewed before! I'm glad you and your sister enjoy them!

 **MegsLovesToRead** : Thank you! :)

 **Rosie loves pi** : No Sandra's not actually pregnant, Victoire explained that she probably wasn't ovulating. We might see more Chris later. And I don't think Vic was too harsh on Baxter.

 **Last Ride Of The Valkyries** : Vic and Teddy would understand it for the same reasons as Dom as they were introduced to a lot of muggle culture as they grew up. As for Colton, he has spent the past six months with Dom as an intern and I like to think that she forces her knowledge of muggle legals systems onto him so that he can understand it when she makes lame jokes about them. If that makes sense.

 **GryffindorsRock** : The reunion will be in a few chapters time, we still have to go through Xavier's game and some other chapters that kinda popped out of nowhere, but that will be important, and don't worry, you'll find out then why they dislike her.

 **emeraldeyes0731** : We're not going to see major conflict between Teddy and Vic anytime soon, mostly because they're on vacation and they kinda go into the 'Honeymoom' phase when they're on vacation, but I can promise you that the whole story isn't going to be them seeing eye-to-eye, and that they do have daily little arguments even if I don't write about every second of their days.

 **ntlpurpolia** : Nice to see that you've caught up!

 **kIMaYa:** Sandra is not, Vic already explained that she probably wasn't ovulating.

 **I hope you liked this chapter,**

 **Please leave me a review and tell me what you thought about it!**

 **I hope everyone in Canada and the US who got hit with that huge snowstorm Monday night/Tuesday is keeping warm,**

 **Until next time, DFTBA!**


	8. Impatience

**A/N:** Hello everyone! Thank you so much for being so patient (ironic considering the title of this chapter) for this update. My midterms are done, so now all I need to do is work on papers.

Anyhoo, I hope this chapter is worth the wait, because it's a lot of fun.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own _Harry Potter_.

* * *

 **Last Chapter:** The cousins had a bit of a family intervention for Baxter's 'partying' problems and promised that they would support him. Lucy and Austin arrived in France, and Vic explained that they were all going out that evening for a family dinner in which they have to cook it themselves the muggle way.

* * *

 **Impatience**

 **Sunday, August 28th 2022**

 **7:02 PM**

"Remind me again why we allowed Lily to be in the group that's was working on desert?" Victoire asked Teddy. They were side-by-side at their cooking station chopping vegetables by hand.

Teddy smirked at her and grabbed another onion to chop, "Because we thought she'd be better off potentially burning melted chocolate than potentially undercooking the chicken?"

"Fair point."

"I also think we weighed the pros and cons and figured Lily spending the cooking period snacking on the desert ingredients would be better than her giving all of us Salmonella," Louis added with a chuckle as he glanced at the cooking station to their left where Lily _was_ chewing on a piece of semi-sweet cooking chocolate.

Victoire took her cutting board, filled with chopped vegetables, and walked over to Cecilia's side and dumped them into the pan that she was currently sautéing other vegetables in, "You're doing a really good job."

Cecilia shrugged and added a mix of spices and oil to the chopped vegetables, "It's not too difficult."

"The action itself isn't, but I don't know how you've gone on this long without accidentally burning yourself."

"Not everyone needs a splashguard charm when using a frying pan like you do Vic," Baxter pointed out as he reached around her and into a drawer for a measuring cup.

Victoire would have put her hands on her hips if she wasn't still holding her cutting board and knife, "There's nothing wrong with using spells for safety. Now shut up Baxter and start measuring out the quinoa."

"Why are we using quinoa instead of regular old rice again?" Louis asked from where he was bent in front of the oven and poking the chicken that was cooking in it in an attempt to look like he knew what he was doing.

"Because this fancy French recipe told us to?" Teddy suggested as he joined Louis near the oven and tossed in the onions he had chopped into very fine pieces.

Victoire walked over to the sink of their cooking area and began to wash the cutting board and knife she had used, as well as the few dishes and cutlery they had already managed to dirty. She frowned as she saw a sticky burnt residue on a smaller sauce pan that had been Louis and Baxter's shared first attempt at lightly sautéing garlic about twenty minutes ago.

"Do you have a thicker scouring pad I can borrow Maman?" Victoire asked as she looked up from the soap bubbled filled sink to the cooking station directly across from theirs where her mother and her 'team' were cooking.

All thirty-one of the Weasleys' party were separated between the six cooking stations. Victoire was working with Teddy, Louis, Cecilia, and Baxter at their station, while Fleur was at the station across from them with Bill, Charlie, George, and Angelina.

"Zere must be one somewhere around 'ere," Fleur replied with a grimace as she opened every drawer within the vicinity of her station's sink.

After a few more minutes she sighed and whispered to her daughter, "Zis would be so much easier weeth mageec." Victoire nodded in agreement just as her mother found the scouring pad in question and tossed it to her.

"Thanks," She replied, "How's your end of the meal going on?"

"Once we all agreed zat George and Charlie were not allowed near ze spicees we started to get on well," Fleur explained as she rinsed out a measuring cup.

Victoire had just finished cleaning the few dished and cutlery in front of her when her father walked over to her with a bottle of wine in his hand, "Anyone fancy a drink?"

"Isn't that supposed to be used for cooking?" Victoire questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"They gave us way more bottles than we needed," Bill explained as he slightly jiggled the bottle, "So who wants a glass?"

His question was addressed to everyone in general even though Victoire's group was in front of him. Baxter replied to his uncle's offer first.

"No thanks."

"None for me either," Louis added quickly but not awkwardly, "I need to watch what I eat and drink for training."

Cecilia wandered over with a spatula that needed cleaning, also having heard the conversation, "I'm good also, I still need to do a rough edit on my article later tonight."

Bill nodded, "Anyone else?"

To Victoire's right Dom, Molly, Ally, Xavier, Lucy, and Austin were working in a group at their station. Dom wandered over when she saw her father holding out the wine bottle.

She took a glance at the label and made a face, "Ugh, definitely not if it's that brand."

"No thank-you Uncle Bill," Molly added as she walked over to take a bowl from Dom, "I'm still regretting letting Dom get me drunk last night."

Dom snickered and handed the bowl off while giving the others members of her group a glance, "I doubt the others will want any either. Lucy and Austin are taking this way too seriously, and Xavier has his game tomorrow so he's not going to drink, and Ally won't drink as some lame show of solidarity or something like that."

"I'm good," Teddy said without feeling the need to expand as he walked over to help Baxter measure the absurd amount of quinoa they needed to feed the thirty-one of them.

"Vic?" Her father asked her, still holding the wine bottle.

"No thanks."

For some reason, her response got her an odd look from her father, and from her mother and Uncle Charlie who were standing near him.

"What?"

The three adults answered quickly and at the same time, "Nothing."

Victoire put her hands on her hips, "Don't give me those looks, it's not like I drink every chance I can or anything."

"That's not what we're implying," Bill said hastily while Charlie held his hands up in an open gesture that said 'don't-blame-me-for-anything'.

Fleur on the other hand just folded her arms across her chest and eyed her eldest very speculatively. Victoire didn't miss the slight narrowing of her mother's eyes as her gaze swept past her, focusing specifically it seemed on her stomach.

" _Maman_ ," Victoire said in a warning tone, giving her mother a specific glance of her own.

" _Quoi, mon chéri_?" Fleur asked in a wide-eyed innocent tone of her own.

Louis and Dom both stopped what they were doing and stared at their mother and oldest sister when they heard Fleur starting in on their French. Victoire spared the time to send a glare in both of her siblings' direction before quietly telling her mother in French to drop the issue.

Fleur shrugged elegantly and gave her daughter a sly smile before grabbing a chopping knife from a drawer and walking towards a different part of their group's kitchen set.

There probably would have been an extremely awkward pause in the room if Lily, who was working in a group with Freddie, James, Mélanie, Hugo, Al, and Rose at the cooking station to Victoire's left, hadn't decided to break it.

"I'll take some wine Uncle Bill!"

"You're fourteen Lil," Harry called to his youngest from several stations away, "It's not going to happen until you turn seventeen!"

Lily put her hands on her hips, "Seventeen? So are we just going to forget about that time when Vic was fifteen and Teddy took her to a party and brought her back to our house to sleep the alcohol off so that Uncle Bill wouldn't know how sloshed she got?"

Victoire almost dropped the spoon into the large pot of quinoa she was stirring and gaped at Lily, "How in the world do you know about that? You were seven at the time!"

"I have my ways," Was the youngest Potter's cryptic reply.

Bill spoke next, not giving Victoire a chance to further question Lily about her _ways,_ as he decided that he wanted to interrogate the main players in the story, "I think the better question is: why haven't I heard about this before?"

"Keeping it from you was probably the reason why Teddy chose to hide out at Harry and Ginny's in the first place," Ron pointed out needlessly.

Bill didn't even bother to send his youngest brother a glare, sending a glare at his brother-in-law instead, "Why didn't you send her home?"

Harry shrugged, "She was _that_ plastered that a floo or side-along-apparation probably would have caused her vomit more than if she'd eaten a puking pastille."

Bill's glare turned to Teddy, "Why'd you let her drink so much?"

"I didn't _let_ her drink that much, I left her with Sandra Collins for a half an hour and when I came back neither of them could walk straight," Teddy explained, "I decided to side-along her away from the party, and Harry and Ginny's house was closest."

Victoire knew that she was going to be questioned next so she decided to defend herself before her father could go there, "For the record, I didn't intend to get completely wasted that night. I think Sandra should be partially to blame since that was the night she introduced me to both muggle tequila and Jägermeister shots, which for the record, are worse coming back up than firewhiskey."

"Merlin am I glad that I'm only finding out about this six years later," Bill replied as he rubbed a hand tiredly down his face.

Lily decided that she wanted to make herself heard again, "So it's okay that Vic got drunk when she was fifteen, but I'm fourteen –practically fifteen actually– and I can't have one glass of wine?"

"You're _six_ months shy of fifteen Lily," Victoire pointed out, "Whereas I was only two weeks away from sixteen during the indecent in question."

In reality, Victoire had already turned sixteen at the time of the party they were discussing –as she was a May baby and the party had been in June– but all of her cousins and friends were under the impression that her birthday was in July and since she hadn't told them the truth about it yet, she needed to keep the charade going.

Lily pouted and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Lily don't be so morose, you're too young to drink at that's it," The original Weasley matriarch scolded as she decided to enter the conversation. Molly then turned to her eldest son and sent Bill a look with a perfectly raised eyebrow, "And _you_ , don't be so high and mighty with Victoire, I seem to recall you and Charlie drinking a full bottle of firewhiskey when you were fifteen and thirteen respectively and then trying to pass off your endless vomiting later that night as food poisoning."

Victoire found it very humorous that her father and uncle had to look down at their feet after being chastised by their mother. Grandmum Molly nodded to herself and then told everyone that if they wanted to eat before midnight that they'd all need to get back to their dishes.

With everyone firmly back on track, it only took roughly another half hour before all the dishes were complete. Surprisingly, the six groups had coordinated their dishes to finish cooking around the same time, so the whole meal was ready in short order. There were relieved sighs all around as everyone finally sat down at the large table, and the first several moments of the meal was filled with he sounds of platters being passed around, cutlery clinking, and light-hearted moaning of how inconvenient it was to do all of the cooking the muggle way.

"I for one was shocked at the state of the potatoes Hermione _tried_ to peel," Ginny said with a laugh as she dodged said sister-in-law's attempt to jab her with her fork to gain retribution, "I thought you out of anyone would be able to use a potato peeler."

Hermione rolled her eyes while Ally let out an amused giggle of her own, "Don't feel bad Aunt Hermione, Dom thought the garlic press was some sort of peppercorn grinder and almost accidentally melted it in frustration when it wouldn't work."

"That's nothing, Freddie almost put two cups of salt into the pot instead of sugar," Al added from further down the table.

Almost at the other end of the long table, Fleur was enjoying drilling questions by James's girlfriend.

"So where exactly eez your fameely from Mélanie?" Fleur asked in-between delicate sips of French onion soup.

Mélanie looked down at her own bowl rather shyly, "Marseille eez where we are originally from, 'owever, ma Maman grew up een Saint-Étienne."

Fleur's eyes brightened with interest and she began questioning Mélanie in even more detail, in French, about some of her favourite places in both the towns that she mentioned. Mélanie answered all of them good-naturedly but when Victoire noticed ten minutes later that the young redhead was starting to look uncomfortable, she interrupted.

"Maman give Mélanie a chance to breathe," Victoire reprimanded in as casual of a tone as she could, "By the way, how'd your group carve the radishes into little roses without using magic?"

"Your _Oncle_ Charlie eez surpriseengly arteestec w'en eet comes to vegetables," Fleur replied, knowing that Victoire was changing the conversation but allowing her to do so anyway.

Victoire glanced at the uncle that was sitting next to George and raised her voice so that he would hear her, "Vegetable flowers Uncle Charlie?"

"I learned it in a class," Charlie said a little defensively to his eldest niece.

Baxter, having heard most of the conversation as he was one of the people in the middle of it, asked curiously, "You took a cooking class?"

"No he learned it in a class to help him seduce unsuspecting witches with a fancy for veg into his bed," George cut-in with a devious smirk.

Victoire took the wrong moment to take a drink of water and started to choke at the visual image that George's words had unwilling conjured into her mind. Teddy took pity on her and thumped her heavily on the back while Charlie glowered at his brother and tried to defend himself.

"I didn't take cooking classes to meet women."

"So you took them to impress a _certain_ woman then?" Baxter asked innocently but with a puckish glint in his eyes.

Charlie's ears went red and all of a sudden half the woman at the table were now in on the conversation.

"You met someone?"

"What's her name?"

"Is it serious?"

"When was this?"

"How long has it been?"

"Where did you meet her?"

"Does she have wide, child-bearing hips?"

The last question came from George, and he went so far as to say it in a higher-pitched tone of voice as to try to slip the question into the swarm without being noticed. It didn't help.

Charlie rubbed his hands down his face and groaned, "You're all way off base."

"So it's a bloke and not a bird then?" Ron asked his brother only minutes before a spoonful of quinoa and veggie were flung at him.

The matriarch of the Weasley family cut in again, "George do not try that again, this is not going to turn into a food-fight as you are no longer a child." She turned to her second eldest next, "And you, you have a girlfriend and you didn't tell me about it?"

"Someone's in trouble," Victoire muttered under her breath as the rest of the table went quiet and stared at Charlie and Mrs. Arthur Weasley.

"She's not exactly my girlfriend-"

"Have you been dating for longer than two months?"

"Yeah but it's still rather new-"

"Are you seeing anyone else while you see her?"

"No but-"

"Is she seeing anybody else?"

"Not that I know of-"

"Is she older than twenty-five?"

"Of course, I'm not a cradle robber Mu-"

"Are you having _sleepovers_ with her?"

"Mum!" Charlie yelled, his entire face a colour of red that was only a shade lighter than his hair.

"Then she's your girlfriend," Molly stated succinctly while Victoire stared wide-eyed at Ally across the table. Neither girl looked like they believed that their sweet, traditional grandmother just implied what she did about their uncle's love life.

Charlie hid his face and finally mumbled out, "Her name's Daria."

Victoire watched her grandmum smile smugly, and then her grandfather oh-so-casually asked, "And how come you didn't bring her to meet us over the summer, let alone tell us about her?"

"Because you lot are brutal," Charlie muttered only to be slapped on the arm by Ginny who was sitting next to him, "See!"

"You're not ashamed of us, are you Uncle Charlie?" Lily pouted, her eyes big and innocent looking.

Charlie sighed in defeat, "Bloody Hell I'm sorry alright? I should have known better than to try to keep my private life private in this family."

"You really should know better," Victoire agreed with a superior nod of her head.

Her uncle sent her a glare that wasn't quite as frightening as she remembered it being from her childhood.

"You're going to bring her round during Christmas," Molly-the-matriarch told her only single son in a tone that left no room for debate.

"And we're going to start a bet on who's going to get engaged next, Uncle Charlie with his mystery woman, or Ally and Mr. On-Again-Off-Again," Freddie said with a gesture between him and a surprised looking James.

Ally pinched the bridge of her nose tiredly, and then sent her brother a sharp kick from underneath the table.

"Ow! And to think I was going to put my money on you."

"How about dessert?" Cecilia asked as she suddenly got to her feet. She could tell that Ally and Xavier were very thoroughly embarrassed, and she wanted to change the direction of the conversation for their sake. Mélanie, Rose, and Al all got up to help her bring in the different desserts that the younger of the kids made.

Ally's cheeks and Xavier's ears were still red as they all tucked into their pudding, but on the bright side, most of the embarrassing conversations about relationships had ended. On the gloomier side of things though, it gave Austin a quiet audience and a chance to could blather on about whatever the pompous git wanted.

". . . So then I told the assistant that they picked the wrong form and that they now needed to get it signed by _three_ more members of the Wizengamot . . ."

Victoire leaned into Teddy and attempted to covertly whisper, "I think I got lost, what form is he talking about now?"

"I have no idea," Teddy whispered back as he stretched an arm out and placed it along the back of her chair, "I don't even understand all of the forms that I have to fill out for the Auror Office."

She giggled. Victoire knew that he was joking, but his explanation sounded like something she would expect to hear from Kurt Williamson.

Austin finally paused, whether because he was finished with his story or because he needed to take a breath, and Freddie figured that it was his chance to finally make the conversation more interesting.

"Lovely story mate. Now Teddy, maybe you can offer up a story from work that's actually interesting."

Lucy glared at Freddie but Austin shook it off, he along with most of the others around them also looked at Teddy.

The metamorphmagus pursed his lips, "I work for the Auror Department Freddie, you do realize what happens there is confidential, right?"

"C'mon," Freddie pouted.

"How come you don't ask me for anecdotes about my work?" Ally asked her brother suspiciously.

Freddie considered her, "Have you created a potion yet that can allow a person to write O level papers and tests without the person needing to study or even be awake?"

Ally rolled her eyes, "Um no, no I haven't."

"Well until you do, I'll be honest and say that I really don't care."

"So you're telling me that if I told you that I found a way to shave 15% off the time it takes for a hysteria draught to simmer before bottling, that you wouldn't care?" Ally enquired of her brother.

Freddie snorted, "Ally nobody cares about that."

"Did you say 15%?" Victoire asked Ally from across the table, "That's a whole half hour of time. How'd you do it?"

Her cousin perked up happily, "You add half of the firecrab scales at the beginning of the potion and the other half, half-way through simmering instead of a quarter of the scales every two and a half hours."

"But aren't the scales added in those intervals because adding them in too soon doesn't allow for the serotonin and dopamine extracts to be absorbed in the proper amounts after the excess keratin has been boiled off?" Victoire inquired as she thought through Ally's declaration.

"Yes, but I found out that if the scales are chopped finer, the keratin boils off more quickly, thus allowing for the scales to be added at closer intervals, which cuts down on simmering time," The other woman explained.

Victoire's eyes widened as she heard her cousin's justification, "That's genius!"

Ally blushed while Dom scoffed, "It's a good thing you two are pretty."

"Why?" Victoire and Ally asked at the same time.

"Because you're both nerds."

Victoire rolled her eyes at her sister while Teddy chuckled and pressed a kiss to her temple. Across the table from them Xavier was doing basically the same thing with Ally.

The rest of dinner went by rather quickly, the younger kids had done a rather good job on the deserts, and they were all cheery as they stood up to leave. All of the Weasleys (and Potters) except for Bill's family were staying in the same hotel. Victoire and her parents and siblings were staying at their beach house, so they were trading hugs and 'goodnights' as they all slowly meandered out of the building where they had cooked their own meal.

While getting a tight hug from her grandmother, Victoire heard her mobile phone start to vibrate and she had to cut the goodbye a little short so that she wouldn't miss whoever was calling.

"Hello?" She asked into the phone, plugging one ear so that she could hear the deep voice on the other side of the line better.

"I'm fine Spence, how're you?"

Victoire rolled her eyes at the question he asked her along with his response, "How am I supposed to know what you got in the mail today? The newest copy of _Hottest Hunks of the Highlands_?"

Spencer replied on the other end.

"No it's a real magazine, Teddy sent a subscription of it to one of his auror mates as a joke gift for his birthday last year." She automatically looked over to her fiancé and saw him standing near her shaking Uncle Charlie's hand. He wasn't looking at her, but she could tell by the smirk on his face that he had heard at least that part of her phone conversation.

"Well obviously you didn't get a copy of that magazine, you'd sound much more excited if you did, and you probably would have called Dom about it instead of me," She pointed out with an eye roll that she _did_ know that he couldn't see.

She looked down at the nails on her free-hand as Spencer kept talking to her. Her hand dropped when his voice became _very_ excited, "Really Spence? That's brilliant! Congratulations."

"Yes," Victoire agreed with a laugh, "You are rather brilliant too."

The bright smile on her face slowly slipped as he sincerely asked her a question, "No I haven't got anything yet."

"Yeah, we'll definitely do that when I get back from France, I've got to go. Talk to you later? And congratulations again," She hung up and her fist automatically clenched around the phone. After closing her eyes she took a deep breath and tried to center herself.

"Sweetheart?" Teddy voice called worriedly from her side.

Victoire opened her eyes and was rather impressed to see that his face seemed even more worried than his voice had sounded.

"Hmm?"

He reached out and grabbed her hand, easing the mobile phone out of her tight grip, "What did Spencer want to tell you?"

She swallowed thickly, "He got his acceptance letter for his residency today. As of September 5th he will officially be a healer-in-training in St. Mungo's Magical Bugs and Illness Ward."

"He must be very excited," Teddy remarked.

Victoire nodded, "He is."

"I'm assuming that he then in turn asked you if-"

She interrupted him, "I don't want to talk about it."

"Vic-"

"Not here Teddy, please," Victoire whispered, giving the people around them a concerned glance.

He nodded after looking around at their family members. None of them were close enough to have heard them talking, but Angelina was giving Victoire a look that was rather expectant.

Once all the goodbyes were said, Dom, Victoire, and Teddy apparated to the beach house, while Fleur and Bill went with Louis and Cecilia to the latter's hotel so that Louis's parents could extend a more formal offer to invite Cecilia to stay with them at their house after the Woods left to go back to England on Tuesday, so that she could join Louis for the family reunion with Fleur's side.

* * *

 **9:10 PM**

"Do you have a lot of family on your side Fleur?" Oliver asked conversationally as he and Katie sat across from her and Bill in the living room part of their hotel room. At that moment Brogan was already in bed and asleep in his room, and Cecilia and Louis were in her room –with the door almost obnoxiously open– because she wanted his opinion on the first draft of her article.

Fleur had cleverly worked into the conversation, which had only started out as pleasantries, about the family reunion that they were all going to on Wednesday, and Oliver was slowly playing into her hands by continuing that specific vein of conversation.

"Well there's less people than on my side, but that's not really all that difficult to imagine," Bill replied with a grin.

His wife rolled her eyes, "We are not as maneey as ze Weasleys zat is true, but zere ees steell a large amount on my side."

Katie smiled at Fleur, "You have one sister right?"

" _Oui_ , one seebleeng, but I do 'ave a lot of couseens. _Ma mère_ 'as several seebleengs of 'er own and none of zeir families like to meess our yearly _réunion_ ," Fleur explained.

"Do you only see them once a year?" Oliver enquired curiously.

Bill and Fleur shared a look, "Once a year is usually enough for everyone involved . . ."

The edges of Katie's lips turned up into a smirk, "I take it that the kids aren't as close with their cousins on Fleur's side as they are with the other Weasleys?"

"You'd be very close to correct," Bill said with a smile of his own, "I like to think that the kids are just closer to my side because of their proximity physically and in age. Vic and Ally have always been thick as thieves, Dom was always closer to Lucy and Molly, and of course Louis and Baxter are best mates."

Fleur frowned at Bill, "Ze age deeference between ze cheeldren and my couseens ees not zat large."

"No, but to be fair to Louis they are all female so you have to expect him to be closer to the side where he actually has cousins of the same gender," Bill said.

"Are they all girls on Fleur's side?" Oliver questioned.

Fleur nodded, " _Oui_."

"That must be fun."

"Lot's of fun," Louis agreed in a thoroughly sarcastic tone as he and Cecilia walked out of her room and entered the living room.

Katie smiled at him, "You must be quite the trooper then."

"It's not too bad now that _Tante_ Gabrielle's twins are past the age where they thought it was fun to dress me up like a princess," Louis replied with an indulgent eye roll.

Cecilia and Katie giggled at just the idea of Louis allowing his younger cousins to dress him up, while Oliver and Bill made sympathetic faces.

"At least you'll have Ted at the reunion with you," Katie pointed out helpfully.

"He'll be stuck at Vic's side the whole time answering questions about the engagement and wedding though, something I do not envy whatsoever," Louis added.

Katie and Fleur shared a quick look, so swift that Cecilia barely caught it, and then Katie slyly mused, "It's too bad then that Louis doesn't have someone his own age that he can spend time with at the reunion."

Fleur smiled brightly and then let her gaze freely wander to Cecilia. She made a show of narrowing her eyes thoughtfully in the younger girl's direction, "W'en are you next eekspecteed back een ze offeece Cecilia?"

"Oh, my article isn't due until Friday so I don't have to be back into the office until then," Cecilia replied casually.

"Well zat ees convenient," Fleur said with another sunny smile, she looked directly at Katie and Oliver, "Eef Cecilia does not 'ave to be back een Eengland unteel zen, maybe you could spare 'er for a few extra days and she could stay weeth us and come to ze _réunion_? I am sure zat Louis would be vairy grateful for 'er company."

Oliver's eyes narrowed while Katie's expression brightened, "That's a fantastic idea! We can definitely get by without her this week, and of course I'm sure Cecilia would love to join you."

Her mother's words were punctuated with a specific look to her daughter, and Cecilia took that as her cue, "I really appreciate the offer."

"But Cecilia _does_ have her first article due on Friday," Oliver pointed out in his 'stern father' voice.

Katie gave her husband a _look_ , and Cecilia hastily said, "My rough copy is done, all that's left are edits so the actual bulk of the writing is all finished. It shouldn't take me that long to get it ready for publishing."

Oliver pursed his lips as he considered his daughter, he glanced hastily between her and Louis before turning to Bill and Fleur, "We wouldn't want Cecilia to be an imposition, I'm sure with all of the kids there wouldn't be much room for her-"

"Nonsense, Cecilia can share a room weeth Dominique. 'Er room steell 'as two beds from w'en she and Victoire used to share eet," Fleur said with an air that was meant to ensure that her words were the end of the conversation.

Katie nodded and then glanced at her husband, "Well it sounds like everything's settled, unless you can think of anything else that needs addressing."

Oliver did look like he wanted to say something else, but the look his wife gave him caused him to hold his tongue, he seemed to settle with a slight huff and a cross of his arms over his chest.

"That's settled then," Katie said with a smile.

The Weasleys stood up a few minutes later to take their leave, and while Bill and Fleur said goodbye to Oliver and Katie, Cecilia tried to construct a minute or two of relative privacy for her and Louis.

Louis grabbed his girlfriend's hands and looked down into her eyes, "That went rather painlessly."

She frowned, "That's only because Dad was on his best behaviour."

"Is everything alright between you and your father?" He asked her worriedly as he moved one of his hands up to cup her cheek.

Cecilia sighed, "He's just been . . . prickly lately. We've always gotten along but all of a sudden we're . . . clashing or something. I don't know."

Louis let go of her hands and pulled her towards him for a tight hug, "Maybe a few days apart will be good, you went back to living at home after we graduated so you've seen your parents pretty much every day for the past two months. Perhaps you both just need a breather."

"Why do you have to be such a peacemaker?" She asked him with an amused raise of her eyebrow.

He gave her a charming smile, "Victoire and Dom are my older sisters, one of us had to be a mediator growing up and it definitely wasn't going to be one of them."

She smiled slightly and buried her head in his chest. They were quiet for a few moments, but Cecilia could feel their time slipping away, "I don't want to say goodbye."

"I'll see you tomorrow," Louis reminded her with a chuckle as he ran a hand through her dark hair.

She stretched up onto her tiptoes and slid her arms around his neck, "That's not soon enough."

He grinned at her and leaned down to plant a quick kiss on her pouting lips, "I think you'll live."

Cecilia sent Louis a faux scowl and he backtracked with a smirk, "I however will be counting the minutes until I get to see you again."

She giggled and tried to pull his head down to kiss him again. He leaned forward and closed the distance between their lips. Their kiss was sweet, and too short for Cecilia's liking as her lips turned down into another pout when Louis straightened up.

"I need to go now, I can almost feel your father's glare through the wall of the room that's in-between us," Louis told her with a self-deprecating smile. She was still pouting so he pressed a kiss to her forehead to make her smile and grabbed her hand, "C'mon, you're going to walk me to the door."

* * *

 **9:30 PM**

Victoire was lying face down on the bed when Teddy came out of the bathroom. While they were plating up dinner earlier that night, James had accidentally spilled half his bowl of French onion soup onto him. Teddy had used a wandless cleaning charm to deal with the mess, but he still felt sticky enough that he wanted to have a shower when they got back to the house.

The Weasleys' beach house had four bedrooms; one for Bill and Fleur, one that Victoire and Dom shared when they were younger, one bedroom that was considered to be Louis's, and the last being a guest bedroom that had its own separate bathroom. Victoire and Teddy got the guest bedroom, which was nice because it was on a different floor from the other bedrooms.

"You're not trying to suffocate yourself are you?" He asked her curiously as he sat down on the edge of the bed.

"Nah, I could think of easier ways to kill myself," She mumbled into the fabric of the bedspread.

He patted the back of her calf, "I was hoping that your reply would take away my worry but it seems you've done the opposite."

"Merlin I'm just so tired," Victoire told him as she finally shifted her face away from the blankets so that she could look at her fiancé.

Teddy laid down on his side and looked at her, only about a foot of space between their faces, "It _was_ a rather physically and emotionally exhausting day."

Victoire's eyes flashed with surprise. She'd honestly almost forgotten that they'd gone running with Xavier that morning, as it had paled in comparison to the accidental and impromptu intervention they gave Baxter. Adding spending their whole evening in a rather limited space with her entire family, and she was about ready to throw in the towel and call it quits for the night.

"I didn't exactly expect to have to deal with Baxter this afternoon, but I think it went okay. Besides that, nothing horrible happened today, I don't know why I feel so emotionally exhausted."

Teddy tried to catch her gaze, up to that point she had been looking indirectly at him, "I think we both know why you feel that way. We should talk about the call you got from Spencer."

She rolled onto her back, "I have nothing to say about it."

"Really?" Teddy asked sceptically, "You have nothing to say about it?"

"What could I possibly have to say about finally Spencer receiving his offer from the Magical Bugs and Illness ward? I mean besides that fact that now I'm the only one who hasn't gotten one yet as Cassidy, Sarah, and Donnie all got their offers weeks ago while Spencer and I were still waiting on the marks from the exam we had last Tuesday-"

He interrupted her spiraling monologue, "Vic, you're _going_ to get your offer."

She rolled back onto her side and stared into his eyes, "I'm not so sure."

"Well _I_ am," He told her as he put a hand on her waist and pulled her body towards him.

Victoire looked away from his eyes again and looked at the neck of his white t-shirt instead, "I'm not."

"Why do you think that?" He knew better than to tell her that her fears were baseless. She didn't want him to tell her that she was being ridiculous and that she needed to calm down. What she needed was for him to listen to hear and to make her feel validated. She needed support, not someone to wave off fears that she considered very real.

"Residency spots in the D. A. R. ward are very competitive, you know that. It's even harder to get a residency spot than it is to get a position as an intern. There's only four residency spots Teddy. Cassidy already has one, which means there are three left for the roughly seventy people who will apply for them," She told him, still not meeting his eyes.

He rubbed his hand gently up and down her back, "You can compete Love. You're brilliant and your test scores will show that, you got pretty much triple the number of internship hours you needed, you have great recommendations from Claudia, Steven, and McGonagall, and your interview with Healer Rhee went off without a hitch."

"The D. A. R. ward had ten interns when Cassidy was there, including her. All of those ten interns who have experience in that ward applied for those four spots. The head healers already know them, how they work, and that they're dependable; they'll all have an edge over me," Victoire said, her voice breaking at the end.

"I think you should allow them everything they can get, because even with their experience they're nothing compared to you."

She looked up at him and opened her mouth to argue, but he continued.

"You're book smart, and so is everyone else who's graduating from healing school, but you've got something else. You've proven that you can work under pressure, that you can handle several cases at once, that you understand how healing magic and potions work and how to tweak them to work for specialized cases, you've shown them your determination and that you don't give up, you've proven that you will do everything within your power to heal someone. They'd be crazy not to give you an offer," Teddy told her explicitly.

"Then why haven't I gotten one yet?"

He sighed, "It's a Sunday Vic. You and about fifty other people wrote an exam on Tuesday that needed to be marked. Obviously the marks are in as Spencer was able to get his offer, and if we assume that they just got in, then we can also assume that it's left up to the head healers on the wards to send out the offers. I think therefore, it is also safe to assume that the healers might want to wait until Monday, the start of the administrative work week, to handle the rest of the offers."

"But Spencer has his."

Teddy rolled his eyes, "And the head of the Magical Bugs and Illness ward is Angelina. Who we know from Ally missed part of the skills competition yesterday because she was at work. I think now we can assume that she was working on some of the offers, probably because she didn't want all of her new residents to be impatiently freaking out like you are."

Victoire frowned.

"Just wait a few more days for Healer Rhee to get all of the administrative stuff out of the way, and _then_ if you don't have an offer you can flip out, alright?"

She took a deep breath and looked him in the eye again, "Alright."

He smiled at her and pressed a kiss to her forehead, "Yeah?"

"Yeah."

They shared a sweet smile, but nothing more because Dom decided that she wanted to burst into their room without knocking on the door.

"Can I borrow your bathroom? Mum, Dad, and Louis are back and our dear little brother is using the full bath we share upstairs."

Victoire turned away from her fiancé and sat up on the bed, "I only lend my bathroom to sisters who actually knock on the door instead of barging in."

Dom rolled her eyes and started towards the bathroom anyway, "Don't get your knickers in a twist, I could hear you talking so I knew that it was _safe_ to come in."

"You could hear us talking so you figured it was _safe_?" Victoire repeated incredulously.

Dom winked at her and said before going into the bathroom, "If it wasn't safe for me to come I would have known because there would be silencing spells on the door."

* * *

 **A/N:** So, what did you think? Personally, I know that a lot of people have mixed opinions and feelings on Fleur's character (not specifically mine but the one of her in general) but I like her, and in here you can obviously see which parent Vic and Dom inherited their ability to handle people from.

I think Victoire's reaction was justified in the end bit here because it's very hard to wait to hear if you're going to be accepted to do something that you've worked very hard on and have been dreaming for, for a long time.

However, I would like your opinions to see if **_you_ ** guys think that her **reaction was realistic or if she was overreacting**. Let me know in a review what you think! Also, let me know **which character in this chapter was you fav!**

 **Next Update:** Should be next week, unless something pops up and delays it.

 **Next Chapter:** It's finally time to watch Xavier's quidditch game and it is an absolutely **fantastic** chapter if I do say so myself. You will all love it, because it has so many characters and ships.

Teaser for Next Chapter:

 **"Be more assertive Alice, just go for it," Al told her even though he knew full well that she was trying her best; he was purposely trying to annoy her now. He debated whether he should use his own hands to guide hers, but he figured that she'd prefer the chance to try on her own first.**

 **Alice glared at the green-eyed seeker and responded with a bit of a pout, "Oh shut up Al."**

 **He just smirked in reply.**

Thank-you to everyone who has followed, favourtied, read, and especially reviewed!

As always, a BIG thank-you to:

 **B. arendes, Jilly98, Slytherin Mischief, Rosie00xx, emeraldeyes0731, GryffindorsRock, no cure for crazy, TedandVic4ever, jml2002, klMaYa, zvc56, Rosie Loves Pi, The Awesome One, rosesnlilies, 1999bookworm, loverofthetwins, WishIWasAMarauder07, MuggleCreator, silverlover02, Jennifer Jules, Katia0203, unofficial potterhead,** and **Devi2509!**

 **Jilly98** : There was more bickering cousins in this one, so I hope you like it here too.

 **Slytherin Mischief** : I'm only planning this story to encompass at the most a year (of their time) so I don't think Sandra will be ready for a baby before this story ends.

 **GryffindorsRock** : I take it if you had been at the dinner you would have asked Charlie questions about his girlfriend also? ;) And you were very close to how the situation went down between Fleur and Oliver.

 **no cure for crazy** : No, Oliver was most definitely not happy, but it's hard to argue with the combined forces of Fleur and Katie.

 **jml2002** : I'm so glad that you like my stories so much :)

 **zvc56** : Molly's job is kind of a researcher, but I haven't filly decided the details yet.

 **MuggleCreator** : Why were you hoping that I was talking euphemistically?

 **Rosie Loves Pi** : Oh, don't worry, there was a lot of banter in this chapter, and there will be a lot more in the next. And there are a few smack downs, only they're not all between the Weasleys, Ally dishes some out to Malcolm.

 **The Awesome One** : We will see them eventually when their time in France is over with, but right now I'm just fitting in as much of the younger Weasleys as I can before they go off to school. When that happens we will see more of Teddy's colleagues.

 **rosesnlilies** : I'm not sure if Ally and Xavier have a ship name, you can make one if you'd like.

 **1999bookworm** : I do short summaries when it's been a while since updates, but I don't think I'm going to do a snippet of how the last chapter ended because you can always just look at the last chapter if you need to, but also because sometimes the end of the last chapter doesn't directly connect to the beginning of the next, or relate to it at all, and I don't want to highlight it in case it confuses people and it doesn't completely relate to the next chapter, so that's my reasoning, sorry.

 **loverofthetwins** : Sorry, no Victoire and Austin confrontation in **_this_** chapter. ;)

 **Katia0203** : Now, now, saying anything about Rose and Scorpius would be telling. I will tell you though, that they _will_ both be in the next chapter. So, do with that what you will ;)

 **unofficial potterhead** : Thank you!

 **I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter,**

 **Let me know your thoughts about it in a review,**

 **Until next time, DFTBA!**


	9. Fun and Games

**A/N:** Hey everyone! I'm updating early because I need a little pick-me-up and I figured maybe some of you do to, so here you go! Xavier's quidditch came is upon us!

 **Fun Game:** There are a lot of characters in this chapter, and I've thrown a lot of different ships in here, so I want you lot to read it, and then review and tell me how many you could catch ;)

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own _Harry Potter_.

* * *

 **Fun and Games**

 **Monday, August 29** **th** **2022**

 **11:35 AM**

"So where are you and your parents sitting?" Al Potter asked his best mate excitedly when he ran into him at the Quidditch stadiumjust before the Britain and Italy game.

Scorpius Malfoy gave his Gryffindor friend a small smile, "Section 5G row 54."

"Well don't sound so excited about it," Al replied with a sarcastic roll of his eyes. The Gryffindor seeker was obviously enthusiastic and wearing a vibrant Britain jersey, while the Slytherin seeker was wearing a simple and understated royal blue t-shirt with the British flag in the middle of it.

"I'm excited to see the game, sitting with my parents and their friends is a whole other matter though," Scorpius explained, taking a moment to look behind him to make sure that his parents weren't within hearing distance, "They're using this game as some sort of connection creating social situation."

Al pursed his lips and thought seriously for a moment before slowly suggesting, "You know, between all of my family we've got like two boxes, I'm sure we could squeeze you in too."

"I don't want to impose," His best friend responded quickly and a little uncomfortably. Scorpius had been friends with Al since second year, but he still shrank away from joining him in activities where he would be around a lot of members of his friend's family –which in all honesty was quite crazy and intimidating in its size.

"It won't be an imposition, we've got lots of space. C'mon, it's not like anyone's going to bite," Al's voice trailed off a little at the end when he thought back to when his sister Lily was sixteen months old a went through a phase where she bit pretty much everyone she came in contact with.

His friend still looked hesitant, so Al threw his arm around his shoulder and spoke in a much more jovial tone, "You worry too much, yes all of my family will be there, but I promise that you won't have to do much more than sit and watch the game with me, Rose, and Alice. Oh, and you'll need to support England of course, which you have covered, and cheer for Xavier lest you want to get lectured by Ally or Cecilia."

A calculating look came into his friend's eyes and he finally agreed to join the Weasleys/Potters for the game. Al smiled brightly, and bounced on his toes while Scorpius told his parents where he was going. They nodded their heads at him and the friends had barely made it a few metres away before one of Al's many family members caught up with them.

"Hello boys!" Rose Weasley called happily as she and Alice Longbottom skipped arm-in-arm up to the two best friends.

The two seekers smiled at the girls, Al's big and bright while Scorpius's was more subdued. Both smiles were still very genuine and sincere though.

"Hey there, where'd you get the face paint?" Al asked curiously as he took in both girls' red, blue, and white coloured faces. Each girl had a miniature copy of the British flag on their left cheek, and on Rose's right one was an intricate design of Xavier's Quidditch number, while Alice's right cheek was covered in a picture of a miniature snitch.

"It was Vic's idea," Rose explained as the four began to walk in the direction of where their box was located.

Al raised a sardonic eyebrow as he glanced once more at the beautifully crafted snitch on Alice's cheek and the steady number painted on Rose's, "Vic did those? The woman who has perfected a healer's chicken scratch writing and who has less artistic talent than a hippogriff?

A sardonic blonde brow rose up on Scorpius's face when he heard the hippogriff comparison, and Rose chuckled at both her cousin's words and Scorpius's expression, "Vic suggested it, but Ally and Molly were the ones who painted them on."

"Ah, that makes more sense," Al replied with another smile. He slowly moved closer to Alice so he could see the snitch on her cheek better, "That's really quite good."

Alice smirked and poked Al gently on his spotless cheek, "Want one of your own? I'm sure Molly would paint one on there for you."

Al pushed her hand away playfully and said, "I'd do that but I'm afraid Scorp would spend the rest of the afternoon trying to grab it off my face."

Scorpius rolled his eyes at his friend.

"Are you joining us in our box today Scorpius?" Rose asked sweetly as they got closer to their seats.

The blonde nodded his head and quietly replied, "Al was kind enough to invite me."

"And you agreed to brave the storm?" She questioned, her eyes sparkling mischievously.

He nodded silently again, but gave her a small smile in return.

The four sixth years just made their way to the connecting boxes that all of the Weasleys were going to be sitting in for the game, and Al was just about to open the door to let them in when it smacked open before he could.

"I told you I had it Austin!"

"Take a calming draught Victoire, I was just trying to help!"

"Now you were just trying to be a-"

"Perhaps we should avoid swearing in front of the kids?" Teddy's calming voice suggested as he suddenly stepped in between the two twenty-two year olds who were arguing just in the entranceway of the box.

Austin and Victoire were glaring angrily at each other, which was very reminiscent to anybody who knew them during their Hogwarts years, and the four sixteen-year-olds stood around awkwardly as all they wanted was to get through the door.

Victoire tore her glower away from Austin and scanned the four teens in front of her. She sighed and then sent Austin another scowl, " _T'es rien qu'un petit connard_."

Teddy pinched the bridge of his nose with one hand and grabbed Victoire's hand with the other, "Come on, I think you need some space from each other."

He didn't allow her to reply as he towed her out of the room, the sixteen-year-olds parting so that the couple could get through. When they left, the group slowly slipped inside, and as they did, they saw Austin turn to James and Mélanie who happened to be passing by behind him.

"What did Victoire just say to me?"

James turned expectantly to his girlfriend, who quickly went red, "I do not zeenk zat eet would be polite to repeat eet."

Austin scowled again and stomped off to the far side of the room where Lucy was speaking with Molly and Dom.

While Al, Rose, Alice, and Scorpius found themselves a spot for four in the box, in another area of the stadium Cecilia and Louis were trying to find a concession stand with a short line. Between the two of them they were also trying to keep Brogan entertained as they waited to order the four-year-old the soft pretzel that his older sister had promised him that morning when she was trying to stop him from screaming into her ear as she worked on another edit of her article.

"Can I hear it again?" Brogan asked Louis cheerily. The little boy stood in-between the two eighteen-year-olds and wanted his sister's boyfriend to repeat the French rhyme that he had been reciting to him.

Louis smiled at him, "Are you going to help me say it?"

Brogan nodded his head enthusiastically, his dirty-blonde hair flying everywhere, "Ok!"

Cecilia smiled sweetly as she watched the two amuse themselves. Louis was very good at subtly correcting her brother's pronunciation while still encouraging him to learn the new words.

When Brogan tried to recite the rhyme by himself, in a very loud voice, Cecilia brought her head close to Louis's and whispered, "You're not teaching him any swear words right?"

Louis smirked, "No, I'd say that that would be more in Malcolm's purview."

She giggled, Malcolm did know a little of several popular languages since he was known to travel a lot for work, and she figured that besides knowing how to order alcohol in every language, her cousin probably also knew swear words in several dialects.

"How was that?" Brogan asked once he'd finished with his recitation.

Cecilia and Louis swiftly began to praise him, and Brogan smiled proudly before announcing that he needed to use the loo. His sister sighed tiredly and was about to ask Louis if he would mind staying in line while she took him, when her boyfriend beat her to the offer.

"I'll take him."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course," Louis replied with a smile, "C'mon Bro, let's see if we can go and get back before Cee-Cee makes it to the front of the line."

Brogan, like every Wood Louis had ever met, perked right up at hearing the excursion presented as a competition. He would have taken off running if Louis hadn't made sure to grab tightly onto the little boy's hand so that he wouldn't lose him in the crowd.

It seemed as though once the boys were gone, the concession queue picked up. Only five minutes after they left Cecilia found herself trading one sickle and five knuts for a rather large soft pretzel that she was certain her littlest brother wouldn't be able to finish. She stood off to the side of the concession stand, no longer in the queue, and waited for Louis and Brogan to find her again.

To her surprise, a different part-veela found her first.

"Waiting for someone?" Victoire asked the younger girl curiously as she and Teddy strolled up to her. They were holding each other's hands and wearing matching Britain jerseys. Victoire had Xavier's number painted on her cheek whereas Teddy had a paint-free face, but his hair was a rather supportive and striking mix of blue, red, and white.

"Louis took Brogan to the loo while I bought this," Cecilia said as she held up the wax paper bag that held the lightly salted pretzel.

Victoire looked at the pretzel and then at her fiancé, "Do you know what I'm going to say now?"

"That you want a pretzel?" Teddy asked already heading to the shortest looking line.

"Get me two _s'il vous plait_!" Victoire called to him. He held his hand up in a thumbs-up gesture to let her know that he heard her.

The glance Cecilia gave Victoire next was thoroughly impressed, "You've got him trained well."

"It only took twenty-two years," Victoire replied with a laugh, "You've just got to make sure that they have the _proper_ incentive to do what you ask."

Cecilia pursed her lips thoughtfully, an action Victoire observed, "Is there something wrong?"

"No," Cecilia replied, "I was just . . . I-I'm just wondering when Louis and Brogan will be back. The game's supposed to start in less than half an hour."

Victoire shrugged her shoulders, "You know Bro, he probably took his pants off and probably doesn't want to put them back on and is giving Louis a hard time about it."

The shorter girl nodded, her brother did prefer to run around with less clothes on than what would usually be considered proper for public. The two continued to share suggestions of what was taking the boys so long –the suggestions getting wilder and crazier as the time passed– but Cecilia didn't start to worry until Teddy joined them again, his hands filled with giant pretzels to prove that he had succeeded in navigating the concession stands.

"Okay, I think I need to go find them now," Cecilia said starting to move away from the concession area. Victoire and Teddy joined her, the latter pointing them towards the bathrooms that were closest to where they were standing.

They were just within sight of the bathrooms when the trio discovered the reason why it was taking Louis and Brogan so long to get back to Cecilia.

"Victoire, how do you say 'you've got to be bloody fricking kidding me' in French?" Cecilia asked as she scowled at the scene a few metres away from her that was making her blood boil.

Victoire folded her arms across her chest and said, "It's not exactly a word for word translation, but ' _c'est quoi ce bordel_?' expresses the same sentiments."

Cecilia nodded her head, closed her eyes, and attempted to take a deep breath to calm herself. When she opened them back up, the scene hadn't changed much. Louis was still standing awkwardly around with Brogan shyly hugging his hip, and on either side of him was a screeching harpy that Cecilia hated to admit that she used to attend Hogwarts with.

The fact that both girls were outrageously flirting with Louis was pissing her off to start with, but what pushed her over the edge was the fact that her little brother was caught in the middle and looking extremely uncomfortable with what was going on. She was grateful that her brother was too young to understand exactly what the girls were hinting at when they spoke to Louis.

Victoire put her hand on Cecilia's shoulder before she could move towards the group in front of them, "I don't think you should go in there wands a-blazing."

"Then wha-"

She didn't have the chance to finish her question as she watched Victoire twisted her wrist in a circular motion and conjure up a brilliant gold butterfly with white tipped wings that looked amazingly similar to a golden snitch. Next she flicked the butterfly away and it flew straight towards Brogan. The little boy noticed the butterfly right away and his eyes followed it as it flew in circles before fluttering back towards where Victoire, Teddy, and Cecilia stood.

Brogan smiled brilliantly when he saw where the butterfly flapped back to, abruptly let go of Louis's leg, and then ran off towards them while yelling, "Vic!"

Kneeling down to catch him in a tight hug, Victoire let out a giggle at his enthusiasm.

"Hello Baby Boy."

Without so much as a segue he launched into a recitation off the rhyme Louis had taught him when they were waiting in line. While Victoire and Teddy were busy giving Brogan the attention he was demanding, Cecilia slowly walked over to Louis and the harpies. Brogan had efficiently stopped whatever roll the two girls were on when he ran away, and created a silence that only seemed awkward to said harpies as they just realized that they got caught in the act.

Louis, who just two minutes ago looked like he was in the middle of being burnt at the stake, seemed to calm a little at the sight of his girlfriend.

"Danielle, Gloria, how nice to see you again," Cecilia told the two girls as evenly as she could.

Neither Danielle Reed nor Gloria Dustin looked as guilty as they should have, considering that they had been caught trying to chat up Cecilia's boyfriend. Danielle Reed was Cecilia's ex-best mate from Hogwarts, who pretty much threw away their entire friendship when she suddenly decided in their seventh year that she wanted to steal Louis away from the girl who had been her best friend since she was eleven. Gloria Dustin on the other hand, had never been a friend of Cecilia's but was still a pain in her arse from third year onwards as the older Ravenclaw had also tried to flirt with Louis every chance she got until she graduated from Hogwarts two years ago.

Gloria nodded her head briefly in Cecilia's direction, "Wood."

Danielle, the ex-best mate, gave her a smile that was more fitted to a sneaky Slytherin than the loyal Gryffindor she was _supposed_ to be, "Hi Cee-Cee!"

It took a lot of willpower, but Cecilia somehow abstained from gritting her teeth at hearing Danielle call her by the intimate nickname that she really had no right to use anymore, "Are you two here together to watch the game?"

Both girls _were_ wearing t-shirts with the British flag on them, even if Danielle's looked a size or two too small.

"No," Danielle replied hastily as she shot a glare at Gloria, "We just ran into each other when we both came over to say hello to Louis."

Cecilia plastered a fake smile onto her face as she scathingly wondered if both girls somehow had a 'Louis radar'.

"How nice," She replied only a little flatly.

Louis heard the strain in her voice and slipped out of the grip of the two harpies. He quickly paced towards Cecilia and wrapped an arm around her waist, in her ear he whispered, "I guess you won and Brogan and I lost the previous competition we were supposed to have."

The teasing tone in his voice forced a smile onto her face, and she whispered back, "What do I get for winning?"

He pressed a kiss to her temple and breathed against her skin, "I think I'll let you decide."

"I like the sound of that," She told him as she unintentionally bit her lip.

His blue eyes fixated on the sight of her teeth digging into the skin of her plump bottom lip and she could tell from the darkening of his gaze that he was _oh-so-very-close_ to kissing her.

"A-hem," Danielle fake-coughed as she very obnoxiously interrupted Cecilia and Louis's moment.

"Yes Danielle?" Cecilia retorted pointedly.

Danielle smirked, "I just wanted to say that's it nice to see that you haven't changed Cecilia. Some people really transform when they get older, you know? Their attitudes and looks change and they can turn into someone you could swear you've never met before. But not you, Cee-Cee. You still seem like the same little girl I met on the first day of school seven years ago."

Gloria could see what Danielle was doing and an evil smirk crept onto her face as well, "I agree Danielle, you know, it's probably her child-like stature and figure that helps."

Louis's arms tightened around Cecilia waist and he was afraid that he'd have to restrain her if the other two said one more word to her.

"Cecilia and Louis, we've got to get going or I'm going to end up having to sit next to Colton bloody Knott!" Victoire yelled to the two from where she stood next to Teddy, who was holding his hands over Brogan's ears so that he wouldn't hear Victoire swearing.

"My dear older sister does have a point," Louis told the two harpies, "So _au revoir_!"

He didn't wait for the others to leave, deciding to use his grip on Cecilia's waist to maneuver her until they had their backs to the other two girls and were walking away.

When they were back with Victoire, Teddy, and Brogan, Louis stared at his sister, "Are they still watching us?"

"Yes," Victoire replied with a snort and an eye roll.

"Excellent," Louis replied, "Vic, keep an eye out of Cecilia's dad alright?"

An eyebrow rose up on the blonde's forehead in confusion at her brother's words, but she gave him a nod anyway.

Cecilia looked a little perplexed with his question also, but she soon figured out why he said it when he tightened his grip on her waist and dipped her down a little so that he could plant a solid kiss on her lips. While the kiss and the intentions behind it were very much appreciated by Cecilia, she was a little upset that it couldn't escalate the level of snog that she really wanted.

As it was, Louis was the one that had to put an end to it. Cecilia would have pouted if the expression on her boyfriend's face hadn't screamed that they would continue what they started at a later time.

* * *

 **1:37 PM**

The Italy versus Britain game was one of the main attractions of the Quidditch All Star Tournament, and if the first half hour of the game was anything to go by, it was definitely living up to the hype. Even with the brilliant Xavier Wood as keeper for the British team, the Italian team was close to giving their opponent a run for their money. The score stayed low, only 80-70 for Britain by the time a half-hour break was issued for both teams, and it was obvious to everyone in the stadium that a major component of the game was going to be which team would end up catching the snitch. Normal Quidditch games did not involve breaks or time-outs over five minutes, but since the All Star game was for fun and for charity, a break was scheduled an hour and a half in to give the players a chance to rest up, and the attendees a chance to buy more food, drinks, and merchandise.

Victoire very much enjoyed the first half of the game, even though she did end up sitting next to Colton because both were seekers during their Hogwarts years and they wanted to see who could spot the snitch first. And even though all of the Weasleys were packed into the large open spaced box that was actually the size of two together, they all got on rather well during the first bit of the game.

When Victoire and Teddy got back to the box, with Cecilia, Louis, and Brogan in tow, Victoire apologized to Austin in a very grown-up matter and then gave him one of the pretzels she had Teddy buy. Later when Teddy asked her why she decided to apologize, she claimed that he was still Lucy's boyfriend and that she should treat him with the respect that she would have wanted her family to treat Teddy when they started dating, if he hadn't practically already been part of the family that is.

Everybody really seemed to be enjoying the progress of the game so far.

"I'm really afraid that his face is going to crack if he keeps smiling like that," Victoire stage whispered to Sandra, her eyes focused on Colton next to her who was chatting with Kyle and Teddy during the break in the middle of the game.

The roll of Colton's eyes told her that he'd heard her comment, but he didn't pause in his conversation with the other two.

Sandra played along with her best mate, "You know I don't think I've ever seen him smile for that long either."

Colton's smile widened slightly but he still pretended to ignore them.

"You may not have ever seen him smile like that; but trust me, if you give him the right incentive, he can keep a smile on his face for _quite_ a long time," Anastasia told them with a wicked smirk, she was in front of the two best friends, and had been leaning on the back of a seat and talking to Ally.

Her reply had caused a mix reaction within the group: Victoire put on an overly-disgusted face, Ally giggled, and Sandra snickered and said to Anastasia, "You're dreadful."

Anastasia smirked in reply, knowing full well that Sandra meant it as some sort of twisted compliment. The men could still hear their conversation, and Colton's smile had finally fell, his face taking on an embarrassed look with a twinge of red in his cheeks that proved that he heard what his wife said about him.

The women giggled again and Kyle clapped Colton on the shoulder good-naturedly, "You're allowed to enjoy the game mate. Everyone else seems to be enjoying it." He looked around at the group of people around them and they all gave varying degrees of nods.

"The game's great, the only thing I have to complain about is that there's TOO MANY BLOODY ITALY JERSEYS IN THIS BOX!" Ally stated, the end purposely coming out much louder so the person she turned to glare at could hear her.

Behind her Malcolm Wood stopped his conversation with Ginny Weasley so he could roll his eyes and address his cousin's girlfriend, "Godric Gryffindor Alexandra, we went through this when I showed up."

The use of her full first name got him even more of a glare than the one she had originally sent the shirt he was wearing that had an Italian flag on it. When he and Nadia had showed up to get their seats for the game, they were both wearing clothing that supported the Italian team. It was completely expected of Nadia, seeing as it was her home country and that she actually knew a few players that were on the team, so in Ally's mind she got a pass. Malcolm on the other hand, should have been wearing British merchandise to support his cousin, and it bugged Ally that he wasn't. In truth, she got over it after the first twenty minutes because she wasn't exactly the type of person to hold a grudge. That didn't mean that she was going to pass up on the chance to take the piss out of Malcolm when she could though.

"And your excuse still doesn't make sense, where's your family loyalty?" Ally asked the only Wood in an Italy shirt.

Malcolm looked at Ally beseechingly, "I need all the help I can get Ally. I'm meeting Nadia's best friend from childhood who plays on the Italy team at the end of the game, and I need to make a bloody good first impression!"

"If you want to make the best first impression, you would need Teddy to morph to look like you and then pretend to be you," Victoire announced airily from where she sat near Ally.

"Shut up Freckles."

As Victoire and Malcolm traded friendly insults, the former keeping it going so to give latter a chance to calm down; on the other side of the box the younger Weasleys and Potters were also making use of the break to chat with each other.

"Osborne is doing amazingly today," Rose commented conversationally as she sat in a group with Alice, Al, Scorpius, Freddie, James, and Mélanie.

"You would say that," Freddie retorted with an eye roll. The player on the British team that Rose was talking about was the only player on the charity team who was drafted from the Chudley Cannons professional Quidditch team.

Rose crossed her arms over her chest huffily, she had obviously inherited a love of the Cannons from her father; "He is. He's gotten four goals already."

"He has gotten more than any other of the chasers on either team," Scorpius supplemented with a vague nod towards the pitch.

"Exactly!" Rose exclaimed with a bright smile, "Thank you Scorpius."

The blonde Slytherin gave her a slight smile.

"Xavier ees doeeng vairy well too," Mélanie added. She wasn't exactly the biggest fan of Quidditch, but she knew that James pretty much lived and breathed it so she always did her best to get involved in it.

"True, his save percentage for the game so far is insane. The only way it could be better would be if the other team's keeper wasn't so good because their save percentages are now almost even," Scorpius replied again, this time rather analytically.

James nodded his head, "It's a good thing he's doing well, or else I think Ally would kick his arse."

Rose, Al, and Freddie snorted.

"So how do you think the–What in the world?" Freddie spluttered as he started to swat at a rather large bug that had started to flutter around his head. He hit it away and Scorpius reached out and grabbed it using his seeker reflexes.

Scorpius loosened his hand slightly and looked down at it in surprise, "It's a snitch?"

"Look," Alice called as she requested everyone's attention and pointed towards the stadium in general, "They've let out some snitches to fly around the stadium."

Scorpius let go of the snitch in his hand and beside him Al quickly snatched it out of the air, "Hmmm, I think they're training snitches, they're slightly slower than regulation ones."

Al then let go of the snitch and it slowly fluttered away to where Alice and Rose were sitting. Alice laughed as she tried to grab it, but she was too slow and only felt her fingers brush past wings. Al reached out lighting quick and captured it in his hand again.

"You needed to close your fingers around it just a little faster; and you need a firmer grip," Al instructed her in a tone that sounded both helpful and teasing.

She rolled her eyes in response, but tried to do as he said and was able to get a more solid touch on the snitch before it slipped out of her grasp again. Al told her with a straight face that she did better that time, but Alice sensed that he was still teasing her somewhat and she slapped his arm.

James chuckled at the look on his younger brother's face as he reached out and grabbed the snitch that had eluded Alice, "You need to squeeze harder Longbottom."

"Sod off Potter," Alice replied with a roll of her eyes. She motioned for him to let go of it, and once it was in the air again she reached widely for it.

"Be more assertive Alice, just go for it," Al told her even though he knew full well that she was trying her best; he was purposely trying to annoy her now. He debated whether he should use his own hands to guide hers, but he figured that she'd prefer the chance to try on her own first.

Alice glared at the green-eyed seeker and responded with a bit of a pout, "Oh shut up Al."

He just smirked in reply.

"What's going on over here?" Lily Potter asked in a sing-song tone as she wandered over to the group a few moments later.

"Your brothers are trying to teach Alice how to catch a snitch," Scorpius explained succinctly and with a little smirk on his own.

Lily frowned, "Why? It's not that hard to catch a snitch." And to put her money where her mouth was, she reached out and easily scooped the snitch up in her hand.

"See?"

Alice sighed heavily, "You Potters are bloody show-offs."

The youngest Potter just grinned and let go of the snitch to allow Alice another attempt at catching it. While the dark haired and eldest Longbottom tried to catch the snitch again, Lily decided to badger her with a series of random and disjoined questions.

"Frankie said that you lot went to Boyne Valley in Ireland on a family trip?"

Alice nodded as her eyes followed the tiny snitch that was slowly flying around her; it was definitely teasing her, "We did."

"Was it fun?"

The raven-haired girl shrugged, "Probably would have been better if we didn't take Great-Gran with us, nothing pleases her."

Lily nodded and waited until Alice was tensing, a sign that she was getting ready to reach out, and then asked, "How's Kieran Chang?"

Alice fumbled with the snitch, having been distracted by Lily's sudden question about her boyfriend, "He's fine I guess. I haven't seen him in three weeks because we just got back from our holiday."

Lily smiled brightly and mused, "Interesting."

"Huh?" Alice questioned, not fully hearing the other girl's quiet statement.

"Nothing," Lily answered quickly, "Alice the snitch is right in front-"

Alice had noticed the snitch as well and her hands shot out to grab it. Next to her, Al reached out at the same time and helped her close her grip on the winged ball before it could escape.

"I got it!" Alice exclaimed happily as she loosened her grip a little so she could finally get a good look at the snitch.

Al smiled at her and didn't even point out that actually _they_ got it.

"Now let's see you try it on your own," Lily suggested to Alice with a smirk.

Alice rolled her eyes, let the snitch go, and then stood up, "I've had enough abuse for one afternoon I think. I'm going to get a drink."

Rose looked like she was going to get up to go with her, but Al stood up first, "I'll go with you."

After Alice had finally caught the snitch, the little gold ball flew further back in the seating area and everyone who it fluttered past tried to catch it. Near the back of the room Harry had a smile on his face as he reached above him and snatched the snitch. He smiled at it before letting it go, and it fluttered past Hermione, Angelina, and Audrey, all of whom were unsuccessful when they tried to grab it. After their several good attempts, Charlie reached out and plucked the snitch out of the air, and his sisters-in-law all teased him that it seemed that he hadn't lost his touch after all.

When Charlie let go of the snitch it flew away and flapped over to where Victoire was sitting with her friends, and Brogan Wood who had decided that he wanted to sit on her lap.

Victoire let out a chuckle as the snitch unexpectedly flew out from around her head, and Brogan's eyes widened with surprise and laughter. With Brogan sitting on her lap, she didn't have the chance to stretch out and seize the flying ball. It didn't get too far away though, because a few seats down from Victoire and Brogan, Colton easily reached out and snatched it out of the air. He walked over to where his ex-Gryffindor Quidditch nemesis sat and smirked at her as he rolled the gold ball around the fingers of his hand.

"Looks like I've caught the snitch before you once again Weasley."

She raised an eyebrow at him, "You do realize that saying 'once again' implies that you've done it before, right Knott?"

Colton rolled his eyes and then knelt down in front of her. He looked directly at Brogan and asked, "Do you want to see the snitch?"

"Yes please!"

Both adults chuckled at his excited tone and Colton opened his hand and held it out so that the four-year-old could gaze at the little gold ball.

"Do you want to try to catch it?" Victoire questioned the little boy when she saw him reverently touch the winged object.

Brogan nodded his head excitedly and Colton moved his hand lower down so that when he let go of it, Brogan would have a bit more room to reach around for it. When he opened his hand up, the little ball flew up and away; Victoire told Brogan some pointers that would help, and he even got a little close to doing so before Victoire had to capture it to stop if from flying away. They did several quick and successive attempts until Brogan, with Victoire's help of course, closed his tiny fist around the snitch for the first time.

"Awesome job!" Colton complimented excitedly.

Brogan laughed and looked up at Victoire with the biggest smile on his face.

"Victoire Weasley, what have I told you about trying to turn my son into a seeker?"

The Weasley in question turned around to look at a British jersey clad Oliver Wood –whom Victoire had to admit looked dashing in any Quidditch paraphernalia– who had an eyebrow raised on his handsome face. As usual, she was stunned into silence for a few minutes as she gazed at the cheeky Scotsman's expression, but soon she kicked herself into gear and gave the man a bright smile.

"But he's totally got the reflexes for it."

"He definitely does," Colton agreed as he took the snitch from Brogan and set it up again so the young boy could reach for it again.

Victoire's hands hovered around Brogan's and guided him towards the snitch, helping him grasp it again. Once it was in his fist once more, she winked at Oliver and then looked at Brogan, "Bro, show Daddy what you've done."

"LookDaddyIcaughtit!" Brogan called out, his words getting mushed together in his enthusiasm.

Oliver nodded approvingly at his son while giving Victoire and Colton a look. "Leave it to you two to only agree on Quidditch."

She sent the Puddlemere United coach another grin and then the pair went back to teaching Brogan how to catch the snitch. Oliver watched for a few more minutes with a small smile on his face and then wandered away. After Brogan did a particularly good catch without needing much of her help, Victoire looked up and saw that standing a few feet away, Anastasia was watching them. A smile lit up her face as she watched her husband high-five Brogan after a particularly good grab, and Victoire caught the other woman's eyes and sent her a wink. Anastasia beamed back.

Brogan had just caught the snitch one last time without needing much help, when the commentator's voice came back on and announced that anyone who was sitting as of that moment with a snitch in their hand could bring it to one of the merchandise stands and receive a free Britain or Italy jersey.

Colton and Victoire glanced at the perfect little Britain jersey with the name 'Wood' printed on the back that Brogan was wearing, and knew right away that he was not in need of one. Therefore, Victoire gently took the snitch out of his hand and turned to chuck it a Malcolm, who was standing a few metres away talking with Teddy.

The snitch pegged him right on the left eyebrow, exactly where Victoire was aiming, and he caught it after it bounced off his face, "What in the world was that for Freckles?"

"You can take that down and get a new jersey that won't cause Ally to want to strangle you," She replied with a puckish smirk.

The announcer's voice warning everybody that the game was about to start again, interrupted Malcolm before he could send Victoire a rude hand gesture.

* * *

 **4:07 PM**

"Go, go, go, go, GO!" Ally screamed excitedly two hours later when both teams' seekers were racing for the snitch.

From behind her, Victoire could hear Dom move in her seat and then whisper beside her ear, "I can see it already, Ally's going to be one of _those_ Quidditch Mums."

Watching her cousin practically jumping up and down in her seat, Victoire found herself agreeing with her younger sister.

Perhaps sensing that Ally would have a fit if Britain didn't win the _friendly_ game that was for _charity_ , the British seeker shot forward at the last second and closed her hand around the snitch. The entire stadium, including the boxes the Weasleys were in, broke out in loud cheers as the commentator officially announced that Britain won the game.

As the players touched down onto the ground and lined up to shake hands, Brogan jumped up from his seat and loudly proclaimed to anyone within hearing distance that he wanted to go down to the pitch to see his big brother. Ally, Victoire, Teddy, Sandra, Kyle, and even Colton and Anastasia promised to take him. Nadia and Malcolm joined them on the way down as she thought it was the perfect time to introduce her boyfriend to her friends and acquaintances on the Italian team.

Xavier was standing with some of the players from the British team when the group made it to the pitch, and Brogan let go of Ally's hand to run towards his brother. The eldest Wood stopped mid conversation, and laughing picked his brother up in a tight hug. When the rest of the group meandered over to Xavier, at a slightly slower pace, he was introducing Brogan to the other players standing with him.

"You were fantastic Xav," Ally told him readily as she moved to his side and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

The keeper smiled sweetly at her and thanked her before looking at the rest of his friends.

"You were really great," Sandra agreed.

"Brill," Kyle added with a nod.

Teddy congratulated him next, "You played a good game."

"It was really fun to watch," Anastasia added kindly.

Xavier looked at Victoire next, and she gave him a shrug and a 'meh'. He rolled his eyes and used his free hand to reach forward and mess up the top of her hair.

"Hey!"

"You deserved that," Xavier bantered back as he let her swat his hand away.

Everyone looked at Colton next as he had yet to say anything.

"I'd rather you not mess up my hair as well, so I'm going to abstain from replying," Was the former Slytherin's artful reply. Victoire snorted after hearing it, while Xavier just rolled his eyes.

As the group started to chat about how they found the game, Victoire slyly looked around and spotted Malcolm and Nadia standing next to a very large man in an Italy team jersey. Is wasn't until Victoire watched Nadia hug the Italian tightly that she began to wonder exactly who her so-called 'best friend from childhood' was.

"Do you know who the friend is that Nadia wanted to introduce Malcolm to?" Victoire whispered to Teddy.

Her fiancé followed her gaze and nodded, "It's that bloke that she's hugging over there. I think Malcolm said he's a beater, his name's Dante Azzarà."

"I didn't realize that it was a guy," Victoire explained, although when she thought about it, it didn't surprise her much to see that Nadia's best friend from childhood was male.

"From what Malcolm told me, he's Nadia's Xavier," Teddy expounded.

Victoire pursed her lips, "As long as he's not her Teddy."

"Why?" He asked her curiously.

She sent him a raised eyebrow, "Because I'm marrying _my_ Teddy."

"Fair point," He agreed with a rather smug nod of his head.

Several more of the players' friends and families made their way onto the pitch, and while everyone mingled around, some of Xavier's Puddlemere teammates found themselves on the grounds. Clark and Mark both came forward and told Xavier that he did a good job, but their conversation was short as they needed to return to Clark's sister Tabitha and nephew Zach. The beaters had watched the game with them and Clark had promised his sister and nephew that he'd buy them ice cream when the game ended.

"Great game Xavier!" Dom called happily as she grabbed the slightly surprised keeper into a hug, Lucy and Austin were only a few paces behind her.

"Thank you Dom," He replied as he gently patted her back.

Clark, who had only take a few steps away with Mark, stopped where he was and spun around, " _Hello_ Dom."

Mark rolled his eyes and grabbed his partner's arm, "Not now Clark, we need to meet up with Tabitha and Zach."

"But-"

"No buts," Mark interrupted, "Now we need to get going before your little sister comes down here and drags you away by the ear."

Victoire heard that part of the conversation and slightly raised her hand as if she had a question, "Would his sister really do that?"

Clark's face slipped into a pout and Mark nodded.

That settled it, "I need to meet this woman some time."

Mark smirked as he pulled Clark away, a wide-eyed look on the latter's face as he imagined the trouble Victoire and his sister could get into together.

At one point Colton walked over to Victoire and smirked at her. He glanced around, his eyes pausing on Austin, and Xavier in turn and said, "This is starting to look like a bloody Heads reunion from Hogwarts."

Victoire cracked a slight smile, "All we need is your best mate Shelley Alexander and we would have the _band_ back together."

She expected him to roll his eyes at the mention of the student who was Head Girl for Hufflepuff when they were in their seventh year, but instead he let out a sigh, "I think I might have been a little too hard on that girl when we were at school."

"That's an understatement," Victoire told him, she would have rolled her eyes but they were still rather wide with surprise at his admission, "It's a good thing Shelley was never the type to care what an obnoxious Slytherin like you said about her."

Colton was quiet for a moment, "Was I really that much of a plank when we were at school?"

"Yes, but I think everybody's probably a plank when they're seventeen. It's whether you can grow out of it that shows a real measure of your worth," She told him.

"Listen to you there Weasley, that was almost philosophical," He teased her.

She rolled her eyes, "Forget what I said, you're definitely still a plank."

Colton chuckled, and he would have retorted if Teddy hadn't chosen that moment to come up to them and pull Victoire away. She soon found herself quite a distance down the pitch, standing in front of Malcolm, Nadia, and the Italian beater.

Nadia smiled brightly at them when they strolled over, "Hey guys." She turned to the man in the Italy jersey, a man that was _definitely_ built like a professional Quidditch beater in Victoire's opinion, and said, "Dante this is Ted Lupin, Malcolm's best mate, and his fiancée Victoire Weasley."

She turned to Teddy and Victoire next, "Guys, this is Dante Azzarà, he's a beater for Ragni Ravenna and has been my _buoni amici_ since we were ten."

"Wow, that's a long time," Victoire observed with a smile, "You must know all of her deep dark secrets then."

"Only the ones she wouldn't want _Signora_ Cassano to know about," He replied with a very charming smile.

Nadia rolled her eyes at him, "Because you haven't done anything that you've ever wanted to hide from your _madre_. _Cough_ Annalisa and your _padre_ 's best bottle of Brachetto _cough_."

Dante just smirked at his childhood friend, "Go ahead and tell her Nadia, _Madre_ wouldn't care anymore since I've put a ring on it."

"I still can't believe you convinced Annalisa to marry you four years ago," Nadia harassed him good-naturedly.

"It wasn't that hard, all I needed to do was get her a really shiny ring and promise to do absolutely everything she ever asks me to, for the rest of my life, until the day that I die," Dante replied with a grin, he was clearly besotted with his wife.

Victoire narrowed her eyes at Teddy, "I don't recall hearing that promise in _your_ proposal."

"It'll be in the vows," Teddy assured her as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

Dante smiled at them, "Some friendly advice, make sure she doesn't get her hands on your copy of your vows the day before the wedding. If she does she might end up adding to it and before you know it you've made an unbreakable vow to buy her jewelry for every anniversary, increasing the carats each year that you're married."

Victoire laughed, "That's brilliant."

Teddy smiled and pointed to Victoire, "Thanks for the heads up, this one wouldn't write in jewelry, but she'd probably sneak something in there about going to a Quidditch game every year for our anniversary."

"Because you'd be _so_ against that," His fiancée scoffed. He smirked in reply and pressed a kiss to the top of her head.

Dante glanced at Nadia, "I like them."

"What about me?" Malcolm asked his girlfriend's best friend with a light smile.

The other man gave Malcolm a very long and considering glance, "Well, considering that you're shagging my _migliori amici_ –best friend– on principle, I'd say no."

Malcolm looked worriedly at Nadia, "And without that principle?"

Dante gave him another considering glance that went on so long that it made Malcolm rather uncomfortable, "You're alright."

"From Dante," Nadia told Malcolm as she grabbed his hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze, "That's a glowing recommendation. After all, he is the man that cast a hex on my first boyfriend which caused him to break out in hives any time he went to so much as touch my hand."

Teddy chuckled warmly, "I did something like that to Vic's first boyfriend."

Victoire whipped her head in his direction, "You told me that Kyle did that! I didn't speak to him for nearly a week after I found out!"

Her fiancé just shrugged unrepentantly while Dante started to laugh.

"Aha, I love these guys Nadia, make sure they're with you when you stop by the tournament's post-game party this evening."

Nadia folded her arms over her chest and sent a pointed glare at her friend. He sighed, "Fine, you can bring your Casanova as well."

* * *

 **A/N:** Hey there! How'd you like this chapter? There was a lot of fun stuff in it and since I put a lot of your favourite couples in here, I'd like to know which one was your favourite? Also, how adorable was Brogan?

 _ **Please**_ leave me a review and let me know any of your questions, comments, or concerns! _**As well**_ as how many ships you counted in this chapter!

Also, I apologize if the French swearing I wrote is incorrect or sounds weird when translated. I did a Google search for the phrase, because the French swear words I hear here in Ontario are very different than the ones spoken in French from France and I couldn't use any of the Quebecoise (Quebec French) swear words because they're usually all connected to the Catholic religion and therefore wouldn't make sense if Victoire used them. So again, I'm sorry if the swear words didn't work.

 **Next Update:** Should be next week :)

 **Next Chapter:** Our characters hit the Quidditch after party, Malcolm spends more time with Nadia's childhood friends, we hear a bit more about Teddy's work, Victoire gossips with Clark and Mark, and Dom runs into Konstantin Krum, much to Victoire's chagrin.

Teaser for Next Chapter:

 **"His fiancée frowned, wrapped her arms around him, and gave him a squeeze, "I know that you'd rather that I was exposed to as little of this case with the Holmwoods as possible. So if you want, you can obliviate that last conversation from my memory.""**

Thanks again to everyone who has followed, favourited, read, and especially reviewed!

A HUGE thank you as always to:

 **Jilly98, silverlover02, Venz, B. arendes, Break This Spell626, NicoleTheSmith, bmg20, TheProphetBVB, FairyAngel9, rosesnlilies, no cure for crazy, Jennifer Jules, SilverLining1294, Ann, GryffindorsRock,** and **loverofthetwins**!

 **silverlover02** : Were there enough ships in this chap for you? ;)

 **Venz** : Thank you for catching that. No I did actually mean incident in question, you're not wrong. My spellcheck didn't catch it because indecent is a word, and my brain didn't catch it because I wrote it and knew what it was supposed to say. Thanks again for letting me know.

 **Break This Spell626** : Awesome, definitely what I was going for.

 **NicoleTheSmith** : Maybe Oliver will let it out soon, although knowing that Xavier takes after Oliver, I wouldn't exactly count on it happening too soon.

 **bmg20:** No problem, I don't mind Doctor Who jokes.

 **TheProphetBVB** : Your review made me laugh.

 **FairyAngel9** : I love that you mentioned that Teddy gave Vic validation instead of just the same old platitudes, I was definitely going for that approach and I'm so glad that you picked up on it and appreciate it!

 **Ann** : As hard as Lily apparently ships it?

 **GryffindorsRock** : I hope you enjoy your school trip, safe travels!

 **rosesnlilies** : Xaly's good, that's exactly how I assumed it would be pronounced too, so good job!

 **SilverLining1294** : It's explained in detail in TTA in chapter 82 titled 'Choosing'. So you can look there for the whole story, but the summary is that when Victoire was around 4-6 years old she realized how her family was sad around her birthday and that they'd try to be happy for her even though she could tell they were putting it on for her. She didn't like that, being the centre of attention when everyone was sad, so she told her parents that she wanted to switch her birthday to a few months later so that she wouldn't have to share her birthday (but most importantly for her because she didn't want her family to force themselves to be happy on her account). Teddy was the only one (of the cousins) who was older than her, so he was the only one who noticed.


	10. Career Opportunities

**A/N:** Happy St. Paddy's day everyone! Here's the next chapter! It's lots of fun, and we start off with the waaay too over-protective Oliver.

 **Warning:** Just to remind everyone, I know that I'm horrible at writing accents, so I apologize for what you're about to read.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own _Harry Potter_.

* * *

 **Career Opportunities**

 **Monday, August 29** **th** **2022**

 **8:05 PM**

" . . . Cee-Cee?"

"Cee-Cee?"

"Cecilia?"

"Cecilia Kathryn!"

The eighteen-year-old in question snapped her head around and looked away from where she had been staring at the doorway, and towards her mother who had called her name.

"Hmm?"

Katie Bell-Wood gave her daughter a smile that was both sympathetic and patronizing at the same time, "Darling, I know this party isn't exactly as fun as a young adult like you would want it to be, but you could at least pretend to be interested in it instead of staring longingly at the exit."

They were at a hotel, not the one they were staying at but a different one, that held the post-game cocktail party for members of both teams and VIPs, and the room was already filled with roughly sixty people.

"I wasn't-"

"I know," Her mother replied, not even needing to hear the rest of the sentence. Katie gave Cecilia a softer smile and ran a hand through her daughter's straight long hair, "You weren't planning on leaving. You're just waiting for him. I do feel as though I need to remind you however, that it's only been about three hours since you last saw him."

Cecilia sighed heavily and looked worriedly at her mother, "Am I pathetic?"

"No! Of course not Cee-Cee. You're not pathetic, you're in love," Katie replied gently.

The younger girl looked down at her peep-toe flats for a minute and then back up at her mother, "So when you were young and realized that you were in love with dad, you were a little pathetic too?"

Katie paused for a little too long, "I think everyone can be a little pathetic when they're in love."

"That didn't answer my question Mum," Cecilia told her quietly.

Her mother sighed and reached forward to run her fingers through her daughter's hair again, "You need to remember Cee-Cee, that when I first realized that I was in love with your father, I still wanted to strangle him five times out of ten. We had a very . . . quick and heavy start, and that's how it was from the first time I kissed him straight through to the day we found out I was pregnant with Xavier. Things changed after that, they had to because I had to stop actively playing Quidditch, and we had to grow up pretty quickly with a baby on the way. What I'm getting at Honey, is that everybody's relationship is different, and you can't judge your own in comparison with other people's relationships."

She nodded her head, "I know you're right."

"However, I _will_ admit that when I was no longer practicing Quidditch with your father every day, I _did_ start to miss him," Katie told her with a bright smile. Cecilia smiled back, and then her mother continued, "That was until I hit my third trimester and what felt like every part of my body started to swell. When that happened, the strangle ratio rose from fifty-fifty to eighty-twenty, I didn't even want to _see_ your father unless he had an apology on his lips and a chocolate milkshake in his hand."

The story made Cecilia laugh, but Katie on the other hand looked very pensive as she thought over her own words.

"That is some advice that you should take into consideration though."

"Huh?" Cecilia asked in confusion.

Katie patted Cecilia's hand, "You do _not_ want to get pregnant at nineteen, because if you're anything like me, your feet will swell up two shoe sizes and you'll never be able to fit into your favourite pretty shoes again. So please Cee-Cee, _always_ use protection."

Cecilia's brown eyes went wide, her face went bright red, and at that moment she would have liked nothing more than to melt into the floor and disappear forever instead of finishing the awkward conversation that she mother had just started. She didn't have the chance to dissolve away into nothingness however, because barely a moment had passed before her father called for her and her mother to come over and join him. He was standing a little ways away –thankfully far enough that he hadn't heard their conversation– with a distinguished looking man that looked to be around the same age as him.

"Katie Love, you remember Eli Martell don't you?" Oliver asked his wife enthusiastically as he wrapped an arm around her waist and gestured to the blonde man he was standing with.

"I would hope she would Oliver," The other man replied with an amiable laugh, "We did play on the same team for more than a year after all." He moved forward and leaned in to kiss Katie on the cheek.

She pecked his cheek as he kissed hers, and then leaned into her husband's side as a small smile came across her face, "Of course I remember, hello Eli, how are you?"

"I'm well," He replied with a smile, his green eyes drifted to Cecilia's quiet presence next and he smiled widely, "And this must be your lovely daughter."

"This is Cecilia," Oliver announced, the pride in his voice evident.

Eli reached out to shake Cecilia's hand, and when she stretched hers out to him, he placed a kiss on the back of it, "A beautiful name for a very beautiful young woman."

"It's nice to meet you," Cecilia responded as she slowly pulled her hand back.

She recognized him after her father said his name. Elijah Martell, right wing chaser for the Appleby Arrows, and one of the players in the league with the longest running Quidditch career. From what the man himself had said, and from what she could recall, he had been on Puddlemere United for three years before he made the switch to the Arrows, and that he had at some point during those three years played with both of her parents.

He smiled brightly at her, his eyes pretty much examining her from her head down to her toes, "I'm sure that you get this a lot, but you look just like your mother did at your age." Eli moved his glance from Cecilia over to Katie and Oliver, "It's amazing really, she's like a mini you."

Katie nodded her head, they did both get that observation a lot, "In more ways than just her looks."

"She's a lucky girl then if she didn't inherit anything from Oliver," Eli said in a teasing tone as he smirked at the other man.

Oliver rolled his eyes good-naturedly, "Then I hope for your sake that all of your children are clones of Candace because Merlin knows we don't need any mini Eli's running around."

"Touché," Eli said with a chuckle.

"Where is your wife anyway? Is Candace around here somewhere?" Katie asked her old teammate as she looked around the room a little.

Eli shook his head, "Sadly she couldn't make it on this visit. She's just started her third month of pregnancy and her morning sickness is horrible. She decided to stay home with the children instead."

Oliver nodded understandingly, "Candace is pregnant again? What number is that?"

"This will be number five," Eli said proudly.

Katie's eyes widened, "Merlin bless her. I would have killed Oliver if he got me pregnant five times."

"That's only because you get surprisingly violent when you enter your third trimesters," Oliver told her as he laughingly brushed off her declaration.

"So Cecilia, your father tells me that you just graduated from Hogwarts?"

Cecilia, whose gaze had drifted towards the entrance of the room while her parents were bantering with their old teammate, whipped her head back when she heard Eli Martell directly address her.

"Pardon?"

The Arrow's chaser gave her a curious look, "Are you looking for someone?"

Her cheeks went red and she glanced at her dad out of the corner of her eye so that she could see his expression. His lips were pressed into a firm line, "I'm just looking to see who's arriving." She was rather proud of her answer, it sounded pretty diplomatic, but it seemed that her father didn't exactly agree with her assessment.

"She's waiting for someone to arrive," Oliver corrected a little tersely.

Katie sent her husband a stern look that said 'Oliver-we-talked-about-this', and put a bright smile on her face as she told Eli, "As you can see, Ollie is well fitted to the role of over-protective father. Cecilia's rather patiently waiting for her boyfriend and his family to show up."

Eli nodded understandingly and chuckled, "That doesn't surprise me one bit. So you must at least like the boyfriend and the family if you got them invites to the party."

"They actually got invites on their own, but yes his parents are very good friends of ours. His eldest sister is the same age as Xavier and they've been friends since they could toddle," Katie explained with a smile and another _specific_ look in Oliver's direction as if to remind him that he always had liked the Weasleys.

Oliver nodded his head at Katie's words, but he didn't need to add more to the conversation because Xavier and Ally had just wandered over to them and stopped by to say hello.

"Martell, good to see you again," Xavier said reaching out to the chaser and shaking his hand. Because Eli was still playing professionally, the Puddlemere keeper had played against him several times before.

Eli grinned, "It's nice to see you too, especially since this is one of the rare opportunities that we're not meeting in front of some hoops."

"Yes, it's nice that you're not glaring at me like you usually do, since when we meet I'm usually stopping all of your goals," Xavier replied with a laugh.

The other man shook his head in amusement and then glanced briefly at Ally, who was wearing a very pretty dark blue cocktail dress, and asked Xavier, "And who is your lovely companion?"

Xavier wrapped his hand around Ally's waist and smiled brightly, "This is my girlfriend Ally Weasley."

"It's a pleasure to meet you Ally," Eli told her genially as he reached out and shook her hand.

"It's nice to meet you too."

"Since you're with this one," Eli said jerking his thumb in Xavier's direction, "I take it that you're a Puddlemere fan?"

Ally chuckled, "Both my parents played Quidditch with Katie and Oliver at Hogwarts, so it goes with the territory. I'm pretty sure that I received my first Puddlemere jersey before I was two."

Everyone laughed a little and then Ally glanced towards the entrance to the room and said, "If everyone will excuse me, I need to go speak with one of my cousins."

Cecilia's head twisted around to look at the door so quickly that she was pretty sure she heard something crack, but she didn't really care since standing in the doorway she saw Bill, Fleur, Dom, Victoire, Teddy, and of course, Louis. She was so busy staring at the tall blonde, who had just said something to make his red-headed sister laugh, that she almost missed hearing Ally ask her if she was going to join her.

Almost.

The younger girl quickly made her excuses to her parents and their friend, doing her best to ignore the exasperated look her father was giving her, and followed her brother's girlfriend over to the group of younger Weaselys. Fleur and Bill having already broken away to find Harry and Ginny.

"Hi!" Ally announced excitedly as she grabbed Victoire around the neck and squeezed her into a tight hug.

The force of the hug was enough to cause the blonde half of the cousins to teeter unsteadily on the surprisingly sturdy high-heeled shoes she was wearing, and she was automatically on guard as she replied, "Hello . . . ?"

"So how have you been?" Ally asked her, still using her enthusiastic tone.

Victoire watched her raven-haired cousin carefully. Ally fidgeted with the thick strap on her right shoulder that helped to hold her blue dress up, as the other girl cautiously questioned, "Just as well as I was the last time I saw you, which was only a few hours ago. Why?"

"Just wondering if you had any new news to share," The brunette replied, tone finally falling down to a level that was more appropriate for a calm conversation.

"Almost everyone we know is in France right now, what news could I have to share?" Victoire question.

Ally was a little too late and a little too nonchalant in her reply, "I don't know. Hey, I love your dress, you look fantastic!"

Victoire reflexively glanced down at the plum-coloured strapless lace dress she was wearing before crossing her arms over her chest and giving her favourite cousin a suspicious look, "And you look both very lovely and very keen. The latter making me question whether or not you're a little tipsy."

"I haven't had anything alcoholic to drink tonight," Ally argued quickly, "I'm just in a good mood. Xavier won today!"

"Yes, I was there," The other cousin replied with a laugh.

While the two cousins chatted, Dom and Teddy slowly joining in themselves, Cecilia and Louis stood a little ways away from them, trying to act as conservatively as they could in the very public place.

"You look stunning," Louis told his girlfriend with a besotted smile as he gave her a thorough gaze.

Cecilia was wearing a very simple yet feminine sleeveless dove grey shift dress that cinched at the waist with a belt made out of a shiny crimson material. The peep-toed flats she was wearing were the same colour as the belt, and even though wearing a shoe with at least a bit of a heel would have been smarter because it would have lessened the height difference between her and her boyfriend, she had forgone doing so to make the evening of being on her feet more bearable.

"Thank you, you look rather handsome yourself," She responded as she reached out and grabbed his hands to give them a squeeze.

Louis smiled brightly at her, "I wish I could kiss you."

"Why don't you?"

He smiled at the petulant tone in her voice, sent a glance over her shoulder, and then spoke quietly, "Because your father is staring at us from halfway across the room and he doesn't look very happy to see me."

Cecilia frowned, "That's not true. He just-" She stopped herself from finishing her reply as her mind flashed back to the memory of the conversation she had with her father just before they left for the end-of-the-tournament party.

"He made me promise that I would spend my time at this party making connections to help further my writing career instead of spending all of my time with you."

"That's fair enough, he just wants you to be successful in your work. That's what I want too," Louis told her sweetly as he squeezed her hand.

She pouted again and he lifted one of her hands up to his lips so that he could kiss her palm, "Why don't we compromise? You do your best to mingle and make small talk, and I'll stand quietly by your side and be your arm candy?"

His girlfriend laughed and then let out a slight sigh, "I guess that would work. Although I would prefer for it to just be me and you for the rest of the evening."

"Cheer up," Louis told her as he kissed her hand again, this time her wrist, "If you do a good enough job of ignoring me for the majority of the night, perhaps your father will feel more positively towards me and I'll be able to spirit you away tomorrow for my plan."

Cecilia shot her boyfriend a very curious look, "What plan would this be exactly?"

"I can't tell you, it's a secret."

"Louis-"

"Nope, I'm not going to tell."

"But-"

"Hello Cecilia, Louis."

The pair turned slightly and saw Valentin Krum coming towards them.

Cecilia smiled brightly at the Quidditch player, "Hello Valentin, decided to crash the Britain/Italy party I see."

"Vat I did," Valentin replied with a bright smile as he reached forward to shake Cecilia's hand. She was pleasantly surprised that he gave her a firm shake like he would with a male colleague he was trying to impress instead of a kiss on the back of her hand, "Ve party ve had ve day avter our game vas much less fun. Ve Spanish team vere poor losers."

"Well I can assure you that if Britain had actually lost the game, this party would not have the same atmosphere. And I would also be avoiding my brother and my father at all costs," Cecilia told him with a laugh.

Valentin chuckled with her, "Not ve best losers are vey?"

"Not at all," She responded her face still filled with laughter.

Louis loved the way his girlfriend's face lit up with amusement, but suddenly frowned when he realized that he wasn't the only one who noticed how her brown eyes brightened when she laughed. He eyed Valentin speculatively and then stuck his hand out, deciding to make his presence a little more noticeable, "And how have you been Valentin?"

"I've been vell," Valentin told Louis politely as they shook hands. He had barely replied before turning his gaze back to Cecilia, "How is your article comving?"

Cecilia smiled back, not even noticing the slight tension that was rolling off her boyfriend, "It's going very well, although I can't take all of the credit for it, you did give me a lot to work with."

Valentin smiled brightly back, making only Louis uncomfortable, and the latter then wrapped his arm around Cecilia's waist and pulled her to his side. "So Valentin, you didn't come to this party alone did you?"

"No, actuvally my brother insisted vat I get him into vis party."

Louis tilted his head in confusion, "Konstantin? Why? He doesn't really strike me as the type who would enjoy spending the night in a room full of boasting Quidditch players."

"I am not sure myselv, vat I do know is vat he vas very resolute about vanting to find your sister vhen ve got here," Valentin told him.

"He was looking for Dom?" Louis asked incredulously.

It was Valentin's turn to look confused, "No, he vas looking for Veektoire. Vhy vould he be looking for Dominique?"

"Uh, I don't know," Louis replied hurriedly, "That's why I was asking. It was confusing to me too."

* * *

"Should we go see if we can find Malcolm and Nadia then?" Victoire asked Teddy just after Ally and Dom left the pair to themselves. Ally went off to be at her boyfriend's side again, Dom on the other hand deserting them because she had just spotted Colton and Anastasia and had plans to join her boss in schmoozing some potential new clients.

Teddy put his hand on the small of her back and shrugged, "Why not? We did promise to see them."

They had every intention of keeping that promise too, until a familiar face stepped out of the crowd and planted himself right in front of them, an unfamiliar face at his side.

"Vic! Ted!" Konstantin announced jovially as he leaned forward to press a kiss to the former's cheek and to shake hands with the latter.

Victoire and Teddy were both surprised with the Bulgarian's presence, even though Louis had informed them in passing that he had seen him when he met with Cecilia after her interview. They only got past the very bare minimum of pleasantries before Konstantin decided to address the less than obvious looks Victoire and Teddy (mostly Victoire) were sending his companion.

Konstantin placed his hand delicately on the back on the slim woman standing at his side and smiled, "Vic, Ted, vis is my partner Nikolina Krastev."

"Partner?" Victoire questioned him astutely with a raise of her eyebrow.

The woman next to him was very slim, on the shorter side, and extremely elegant looking. She wore a very stylish black suit jacket that had a rather deep v-neck, no shirt underneath, and nicely tailored and tight black trousers that ended at her ankle. On her feet were a pair of peep-toe black ankle boots made out of firm lace, and a killer heel that Victoire was sure Dom would drool over. The only jewelry she wore was a simple silver necklace that circled closely around her throat before dropping into a thin piece of silver that rested all the way down her sternum. Nikolina, as Konstantin had introduced her, had dark eyes, seemingly darker because of the perfect smoky eye make-up she was wearing, a blood red lipstick staining her lips, high cheekbones, and long dark brown curls that had streaks of bright red and purple throughout.

"We work together at our ministry, and please, call me Niko," The woman told them in perfect English.

Teddy began nodding in understanding, he had read many of Konstantin's reports for the case they were jointly working on, and had noticed that they were also signed by an _N. Krastev_. He had figured that it was probably a co-worker or partner of Konstantin's of sorts, although he was a little ashamed to admit that he had automatically assumed that it was a male. As he finally put the dots together, it seemed that Victoire had decided to introduce herself.

"Victoire Weasley," She told the other woman holding out her hand. Nikolina shook her hand and Victoire continued, "And this is my fiancé Ted Lupin."

Nikolina nodded at him and smirked a little, "Ah, T. Lupin, so you're the one with the legible hand writing?"

Teddy chuckled, "Yes, my partner Hayden Summers's writing can be rather abysmal sometimes."

"As bad as mine?" Victoire asked him curiously.

"Fortunately no," He replied, wrapping his arm a little more tightly around her waist even though he knew that she was pouting at him.

Victoire waited for a moment of silence to pass before asking, "So Konstantin, is there a reason why you and your _partner_ are here at the Britain/Italy after party?"

"Vere is actuvally, we need to talk to Ted," Konstantin said, the smile on his face not fitting the tense tone of his voice.

Teddy automatically frowned, "About what?"

"About ve case."

Victoire could feel her fiancé tense up beside her and she took a small step away from the group, "I should go then and leave you to talk by yourselves."

"No," Konstantin said hurriedly, "You need to stay Vic."

"But I'm not authorized-"

Konstantin still had a bright smile on his face as he spoke firmly through his teeth, "I know but you need to stay Vic, or else vis vill look very suspicious."

"I don't understand, is there something serious going on?" Teddy asked. He reached out to pull Victoire back to his side, and his fingers clamped tightly onto her hip.

Nikolina put a bright smile onto her own face and sent a narrowed expression to Konstantin before saying to the couple, "Konstantin told me that we can trust you two, so first off you're going to have to plaster smiles onto your faces and pretend like we're just enjoying some easy conversation between friends, okay?"

They did as instructed but Teddy said, "I'm definitely worried now, I take it this charade means that we're being watched by someone very suspect?"

"I am not entirely sure on vat score, but I vink it is best to be cautious," Konstantin explained as his hand slide from its rather platonic position on Nikolina's back to a more intimate spot on her lower back.

His partner smiled brightly at him, but her eyes were hard as she warned him, "Just for the record Konstantin, if you move your hand any further down, I _will_ remember and I _will_ hurt you when we get back to Vratsa, okay?"

Konstantin sent his partner a frustrated look and reminded her, "Niko, ve are supposed to be pretending vat you are my date who I am introducing to my friends."

"Well it's no wonder that you don't have a real girlfriend with the way you think it's appropriate to paw at your dates in public," Nikolina fired back as she wrapped her arm around his waist in return and pinched his far side.

Victoire threw her head back and let out a particularly convincing fake laugh, "I thought you wanted to tell Teddy something serious Konstantin."

That seemed to stop the pair's squabbling.

"First, ve need to know vether or not your department has heard anyving new about Danchev's role in ve case," Konstantin said to Teddy.

Teddy loosened his hand on Victoire's hip and started to rub his hand gently up and down her side, "No, I haven't been in the office since Wednesday, but we haven't heard anything more about Danchev's connection to the case besides that he was part of selling the artifacts from Peru."

The auror mission Teddy and Hayden Summers had been on since the previous November was still technically ongoing, and it had only become more complicated as time had shown that it also connected to a case of Jilly Donaldson and Kurt Williamson's (which involved illegally smuggled Peruvian antiquities that seemed to be connected to a Bulgarian dealer), and to a completely separate case that they had stumbled upon that included a hidden underground village of aboriginal Peruvians. All aspects of the case were found out to be connected to the Holmwood organized crime family, and even though they had enough evidence to go towards convicting the major players involved, they didn't have enough to even touch the inner sanctum of the Holmwood family.

"So you haven't heard anything else?" Nikolina asked, her interested tone coming out rather peppy as she tried to play her part.

Konstantin had been working on the Bulgarian end of the antiques smuggling, and had been the first to find the Holmwood connection back in February.

"What else would I have heard?"

Konstantin leaned towards the dark haired woman at his side and pressed a sly kiss to the side of her head before saying to Teddy, "Last veek Niko and I found a report vat a junior colleague of ours wrote to summarize all of ve recent invormation vat our department had vound vat relates to our joint investigation. Ve plan vas for it to be sent out in time vor everyone to get onto the same page bevore ve trial starts in September."

Teddy nodded, Hayden had called him on Friday to inform him that the trial for the investigation had been pushed back almost a week.

"We noticed that there was a part of the report that we didn't recall finding ourselves, or being briefed on before. It was small, easy to miss, but it stood out because it was another possible Holmwood connection that we don't remember bringing in for questioning," Nikolina explained.

Konstantin let out a low faux chuckle and continued the explanation, "Ve vere about to mention it to our supervisors vhen vere vas a little shake up. Somevun from our foreign relations office came in and comvinced vun ov our supervisors vat he needed to be given joint control over our end ov ve investigation."

"They allowed him to do so," Nikolina added as she pretended to snuggle into Konstantin's side, "And then the day that we were going to talk to our supervisor about the report we found out that the writer of the report had been fired and was now being investigated for disseminating classified information to people he shouldn't have."

"Ve knew right avay vat vat vas just a lie, the man in qvestion vould never do such a ving. It vas not until a few days later however, vat ve realized vat vey fired him and took away all of ve copies ov ve report he wrote to cover somevun's tracks. I have been trying to contact you and your partner vrough ve proper channels Ted, but my superiors kept shutting me down and said vat vey vould deal vith handing over ve information."

Nikolina nodded, "One of our supervisors has been controlling the flow of information and they've hidden that one Holmwood angle from coming out in any subsequent reports. Konstantin and I ended up with the original report before anyone else, so we think we're the only ones who saw the original copy before everything became censored. Konstantin told me a few days ago that it felt like he was being followed and watched in his down time, but I thought he was just being paranoid. That was until I found some following me also."

Victoire blinked and looked at Teddy with an unbelievable expression.

"Ve vink vat one ov our supervisors is a mole vor ve Holmvoods and vat vey are vollowing us, me in particular to make sure vat ve do not tell your side our suspicions."

Teddy took a deep breath, pressed a kiss to Victoire's temple, and then asked, "Is this why you've crashed this party and made your partner pretend to be your date? To find me and tell me all of this?"

Nikolina did allow herself an eye roll at that point, "Yes, Genius over here thought that even if he was being followed that we could get away with passing along the information to you here because they wouldn't expect us to be talking about such a sensitive topic at a party when anybody could walk back and listen in."

"Or that you would tell Teddy with me here," Victoire added.

"Exactly."

Teddy squeezed his fiancée tighter to his side, just the mention of the Holmwood family made him want to hold onto her securely and never let her go, "So what was it in the report that your supervisors didn't want you to shar-"

"Vic!"

Teddy's question was cut off by the arrival of a tall redheaded stylish whirlwind who threw her arm around her older sister's shoulder, on the side opposite of Teddy.

"Dom," Victoire retorted in a tone that had a lot less enthusiasm than her sister's had. She opened her mouth to ask her sister what exactly she was doing, but didn't have the chance to before said little sister became distracted by the other people around her.

"Oh, hello Konstantin," Dom greeted the dark haired man saucily. She looked at them like she knew a secret about him that nobody else knew, and Victoire didn't even want to think about what it was that made her smile and look at him like she did.

Konstantin spent a minute too long looking at the statuesque redhead before replying, "Hello Dom."

Beside him Nikolina glanced at her seemingly mesmerized partner and rolled her eyes. She held her hand out sweetly towards Dom, "Hi I'm Nikolina, but please call me Niko. I work with Konstantin."

"You work together? How nice. I'm Dominique, but call me Dom," Dom commented as her blue eyes zeroed in on where Konstantin's hand was resting on the other woman's back.

Konstantin had been staring at Dom, so he noticed where her gaze went and he slowly moved his hand off Nikolina's back and stuffed them uncomfortably into his pockets instead.

"So Dom, you and Victoire are . . . sisters?" Nikolina questioned after her dark eyes narrowed in on the physical similarities of the two women's faces.

Dom chuckled and stuck her head right next to Victoire's, "That we are. I'm her younger, and much more beautiful sister. Right Konstantin?"

The redhead and the brunette turned to look at the man in question and waited for a reply. Once again, he was a few seconds too late.

"Pardon?" He had been too caught up on staring at Dom, who was wearing a long-sleeve black dress that went down to her ankles, to answer. The sleeves and the length were the most modest part of the dress however, as both the back and the front had very deep plunging necklines, with the skirt of the dress having a slit on either side that was thigh-high. She had a stylish pair of stiletto high heels as always, and her long red hair was loosely braided off the side. Her make-up was, naturally, impeccable and the pair of dangly gold earrings she was wearing made her neck look very long and graceful.

Dom giggled, very happy with the attention Konstantin was showing her, and glanced back at Nikolina, "Merlin I love your boots, those are fierce."

"Thanks, they're Csonka's," Nikolina replied with a sincere smile.

"I love that brand, I only wish that they were wizard made instead of muggle because then they would have comfort charms on them," Dom said casually.

Nikolina smirked, "These ones do have comfort charms, and Csonka is actually a wizard, a muggleborn, she just thought it would be easier to break out in the muggle fashion world, less constraints I guess. She's slowly starting to add comfort and stabilizing spells as she gets clearance to do so."

"No way," Dom almost squealed as she put her hands on her hips, "I can't believe that I didn't know that."

Victoire figured that the two had had enough time to gossip about shoes, "As interesting as this conversation is, why don't you tell me why you're here Dom?"

"Oh, I'm supposed to warn you that Christopher Mullin and his prissy girlfriend are here."

The blonde sister sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, "Fantastic."

Dom rolled her eyes, "I know, they walked over to where I was with Stasia and Colton because the cow wanted to gossip with Stasia about something. Colton then forcefully _suggested_ that I leave before I had the chance to tell Mullin to bugger off and die."

"Well that's too bad," Teddy muttered under his breath.

"Great, thanks for the heads up, but you need to leave now," Victoire told her younger sister sternly.

Dom automatically became suspicious, "Why?"

"Because I'm your older sister and I said so."

The younger sister snorted, "Victoire, that didn't work when you were eight, so it's definitely not going to work now."

"Dom, this is one of those situations where you've just got to listen to me."

Dom shrugged, "Whatever, I'm going to go find Ally and Xavier." She smiled at Nikolina and told her that it was nice to meet her, and then she glanced at Konstantin and gave him a sultry smile and a wink, "See you later Konstantin."

Victoire waited until her sister was far enough away before saying, "Does anyone remember where we were in our conversation before hurricane Dom made her entrance?"

Nikolina looked at her partner, noticed that he was still staring in the direction in which Dom had made her exit, and covertly pinched his side, causing him to jump, "Do you remember where we were _Darling_?"

Konstantin frowned at her and slowly put his hand on his partner's hip again, "Ted vas just asking about ve information vat ve are not supposed to know about or share."

"You said it was a connection to the Holmwood side?" Teddy enquired.

"Yes, we're not allowed to follow it as you can imagine, so we'll hand it off to you," Nikolina told him.

Teddy nodded, "What's the name?"

Konstantin let out a laugh and reached forward to high-five Teddy. The metamorphmagus slapped his hand against Konstantin's and then surreptitiously moved the small piece of paper the other man had handed off to him into the pocket of his trousers.

"I'll look into that then."

Nikolina nodded, "That's a load off of our minds then. We're going to keep trying to figure out who the mole is on our end, so this is probably the last time we'll be able to speak openly until the trial begins."

Teddy nodded again, while Victoire sent Nikolina a bright smile, "It was very nice to meet you Niko, and I must say that your English is fantastic, have you been bilingual since birth?"

"My aunt is from England and while my mother was pregnant with me she convinced my parents that they needed to teach me English from very early on to give me a competitive edge when I got older," Nikolina explained.

"Yes, because vat's exactly vat you need, to be more competitive," Konstantin told her sarcastically.

Nikolina sent him a look with a raised eyebrow, "You're calling me competitive Konstantin, really?"

Her partner rolled her eyes and then smiled at Victoire and Teddy, "Ve should probably go, it vill look suspicious if ve spend too much time together."

Victoire nodded and then the four said their goodbyes before Konstantin and Nikolina wandered off in the direction of where there could find some drinks. When they were alone again Victoire said to Teddy, "Wow. That was a little intense for a few moments there."

"Yeah," Teddy agreed, his voice and his facial expression seeming very tired, "It was."

His fiancée frowned, wrapped her arms around him, and gave him a squeeze, "I know that you'd rather that I was exposed to as little of this case with the Holmwoods as possible. So if you want, you can obliviate that last conversation from my memory."

He smiled slightly at her and pressed a kiss to her forehead, "I appreciate it, but I'm not going to obliviate you Love."

"Oh thank goodness," She said with a heavy sigh, "Because even though the sentiment was there, I didn't actually mean it."

"I know," Teddy replied with another smile.

Victoire looked up at him, "You know me so well."

"That I do."

They stayed in their comfortable embrace for a few more moments before a slightly obnoxious voice said both loudly and closely.

"I told you that it'd be easy to find them. Just look for the couple who look like they're off in their own little world in this room full of people."

The pair turned their heads and Teddy felt that he had to smile at his best mate, "We've been found."

They broke apart and then engaged in a flurry of greetings with Malcolm, a beautifully dressed Nadia, Nadia's friend Dante that they had met earlier in the day, and a tall woman with light brown hair and a rather large baby bump that was on Dante's arm.

Nadia worked on introductions, "Annalisa this is Ted Lupin and Victoire Weasley." The two in question gave a little wave.

"Ted, Vic, this is Annalisa, she's Dante's wife," Nadia said as she gestured to the pregnant woman who was wearing a maternity cocktail dress that was obviously designer.

"It's nice to meet you," Victoire said to the woman. She sent Annalisa and Dante a small smile, "Is this your first child?"

Dante laughed, "Oh no, this one with be our fourth."

"Your fourth? Wow, how long have you been together?" Teddy asked them conversationally.

"We've been married for four years, but I haven't actually been pregnant four times. Our first was triplets, and they're almost three years old right now," Annalisa explained.

Victoire thought her eyes were going to pop out of her head, "Triplets! And you're having another one? You my dear are a saint."

Annalisa laughed and then Victoire turned to Teddy, "I think I'd kill you if you got me pregnant with triplets."

"You do realize that I don't have control over whether we have multiples or not, right?" Teddy asked her with a roll of his eyes.

She didn't bother to reply to him, "So what are the gender of the kids?"

"Two girls and a boy, the girls are identical, and this next one is going to be a boy too," Dante told them.

Annalisa hit her husband's arm, "For the last time, you can't go around telling everyone what the gender of the baby is going to be, when we don't know what it is."

"But I have a feeling that it's going to be a boy," Dante argued.

"That's what you said about all three of the triplets."

Dante did his best to wrap an arm around his wife's large stomach, "We did get a boy. I was right for one out of three."

"If your keeper's save percentage was one out of three you wouldn't consider that good," Annalisa pointed out to her husband.

Nadia laughed and looked at Malcolm, Victoire, and Teddy, "One of the only reasons why Dante proposed was because _she_ can relate pretty much anything to Quidditch."

"There's worse reasons to propose," Malcolm mused.

"Like because you're sloshed at a party and a pretty girl took pity on you and conjured you up a bucket before you had the chance to vomit all over your own clothes?" Teddy asked his friend with an evil smirk on his face.

Victoire started to giggle and literally slapped her leg, "Merlin I remember that! You guys were what, seventh-year?"

Despite the fact that Malcolm was making hand motions that screamed 'stop-talking-right-now', Teddy replied to his fiancée's question, "Yes, it was after Gryffindor beat Hufflepuff in the first Quidditch game of the year in October."

"If I remember correctly, the girl he proposed to was a sixth-year Gryffindor, right?" Victoire asked.

Teddy smirked at the irritated pout that was on Malcolm's face, "Yes, it was Sierra Simmons." He glanced at a curious Nadia next, "He spent the rest of the year avoiding her because he was so embarrassed."

Nadia glanced at her boyfriend with a raised eyebrow, "If that's all it takes to get a proposal out of you I'm surprised that it only happened once."

"I learned my lesson quickly, if I had said it to the girl standing next to Sierra Simmons instead of her, I probably would been obligated to date her for at least the next month," Malcolm said with a sigh.

Victoire titled her head to the side, "Why? Who was next to Simmons?"

"She was in your year, Pamela Mace."

The blonde made a gagging sound, "Uh, don't worry I would have killed you before I let that happen. Ugh."

"You know," Dante began with a frown on his face, "Hearing that you have a habit of flirting with random women while drunk doesn't really tip the scales in your favour, in my opinion."

Annalisa and Nadia shared a look. The former rolled her eyes while the latter put her hands on her hips, "Dante, have you forgotten when we sere sixteen and after the end of summer party, you found yourself almost unconscious in Vatican City with Claretta Rossi?"

Dante narrowed his eyes at his friend while his wife laughed at him, "Are you sure that you want to start referencing incidents from our pasts?"

Annalisa glanced apologetically at Victoire and Teddy while Nadia and Dante continued to argue, "I apologize for their behaviour, when they get together they act like they're ten again."

"Don't worry about it, personally, I like a bit of blackmail myself," Victoire told the woman with a laugh.

Nadia and Dante's small argument soon ended and the group of six went back on to conversing about a range of topics. For being part of the losing team, Dante was a surprisingly gracious loser, and only harassed Malcolm for being a cousin of the keeper on the winning team a few times. By the end of their conversation, Victoire found that she really liked Nadia's friends Dante and Annalisa, and that she could see why she was such good friends with them. And despite the fact that Dante was being hard on Malcolm and acting like an over-protective brother, Victoire could tell that he liked Malcolm, even if it was grudgingly.

Victoire and Teddy left the four together after their conversation, wandered away to another part of the room, and were immediately set upon by Clark and Mark.

"Why don't you two look spiffy?" She called to them as she took in both of their rather handsome figures.

Mark smiled at her while Clark just frowned.

"What's wrong with him?" Victoire questioned the happier looking of the beaters.

"He spotted Dom flirting with one of the players from the British team," Mark explained.

Victoire pinched the bridge of her nose in irritation while Clark pouted and crossed his arms over his chest, "I'd understand it if it was a player from the Italian team, but what does that British player have that I don't have? We have the same accent and everything!"

"Don't take it personally," Victoire told Clark consolingly, "She flirts with everyone. Ev-ery-one."

"It's true, she was flirting with Konstantin Krum earlier and he's not even a Quidditch player," Teddy added.

It was Victoire's turn to make a face, "Please don't remind me."

Clark looked a little more mollified, "Alright."

Victoire decided to change the topic slightly, she smirked at Mark, "And I was very serious about you. You look dashing, did you dress up for anyone in particular?"

"No," Mark replied smoothly while Clark decided to take it to another level, "Who would he be trying to look good for? He hasn't had a girlfriend let alone a date in like two years."

Mark glared at his friend, "You're exaggerating."

"Yet I don't think I am," Clark argued.

Teddy rolled his eyes at them, "Perhaps we should discuss something else?"

"Like the rumour we just heard about our main seeker looking into other teams?" Mark suggested with a bit of a frown.

Victoire pursed her lips in curiosity, "That's something new, but trades and changes do occur."

"Yes, but if we lose this seeker that means that the coaches are going to have to give our reserve seeker a chance to try out for the main team," Clark reminded.

Teddy could see where he was going, "Your back up seeker being Chris Mullin of course."

Mark nodded, "I don't really know the bloke all that well besides the fact that Xavier doesn't like him, but I do know that if he gets a starting spot that means that his girlfriend Miss Richie-Rich is going to be sticking her nose into the team's business even more than she already does."

"On the plus side, that means that Nadia and Giavanna will probably end up having a smack down at some point though, which will be very fun to watch," Clark said with a smile.

"There is that."

* * *

 **Tuesday, August 30** **th** **2022**

 **8:32 AM**

Ally woke up the morning after the Italy/Britain game to the feeling of light kisses being trailed across the bare skin of her shoulders and back. Her eyes fluttered open as one warm hand slid onto her hip, another moving her dark hair off her back to uncover more skin to touch.

When she felt the hand on her hip slowly start to slide down her thigh and grab the hemline of the thin material of her nightie. She smirked, rolled over, and found herself face-to-face with a hazel eyed Quidditch keeper.

"I was trying to sleep," She said in a husky voice and with a sideways glace to him.

Xavier grinned brightly at her, wrapped his arms around her waist, and pulled her towards him, "Sleep's over rated."

"Is it now?" Ally asked with a small smile as he leaned forward and started pressing kisses to her neck.

"Mmhmm," He mumbled into her skin, using his nose push away thin strap of her nightie off her shoulder.

She bit her lip to hold in what would have been an embarrassingly loud sigh, and then mused, "What the Hell, I'm already awake."

He smiled into her skin before moving his lips to hers and kissing her hard. She smirked against his lips and knotted her fingers into his dirty-blonde hair. They kissed languidly, not in a rush, and just enjoyed being physically close to each other.

Xavier had just started to slide the hem of her nightie up her thighs again, when a very sharp ringing sound started to fill the room. Ally pulled away from him in response, and started to move towards the nightstand, where her mobile phone was ringing.

"Don't answer that," Xavier pouted as he tried to pull his girlfriend back to him.

Ally sighed and patted his head with one hand, the other still stretched out towards the nightstand, "That's Vic's ringtone and you _know_ that she's not going to stop until she gets an answer."

He sighed again as she continued, "If I don't answer, she's going to ring your phone, and then when you don't answer, she's going to send and owl. And, if we decide to ignore the bloody owl, I wouldn't put it past her to send a patronus-"

"I get the idea," Xavier told her as he loosened his grip on her waist so that she could reach for the phone.

She sent him an apologetic look before clicking the 'talk' button, "Someone better be either dead, giving birth, or both."

Xavier snickered, smothering his laughter into her shoulder, and she flicked his ear to tell him to be quieter. As she listened to her favourite cousin on the phone, Ally's face brightened.

"Oh Vic, that's fantastic! I'm so happy for you."

There was a pause as Victoire spoke on the other end of the phone.

"Yes, I definitely will. Listen I have to go, but congratulations, I'll talk to you later today, alright?"

"Bye."

The words were barely out of Ally's mouth before Xavier had grabbed the phone out of her hand and tossed it back onto the nightstand.

"I take it Vic finally got her residency offer from St. Mungo's?" He asked Ally as she cuddled back into the bed.

She gave him a soft smile, "She did. Thank goodness. Because I think if she had to go one more day without it, that she would finally have driven Teddy round the bend."

Xavier smiled, "Good, and as happy for her as I am, can we please stop talking about her and get back to what we were doing?"

She smirked before suddenly pouncing at him and rolling them over so that he was lying on his back with her sitting on top of his thighs.

"Oh I am _way_ ahead of you on that score."

* * *

 **A/N:** Really, who doesn't love Katie and Dom? Or a slightly jealous Louis. And look here, we've finally got a bit more info about the Holmwoods! So how did we like this chap? What were your favourite parts? Also, feel free to leave me any questions or comments, and please review because we're very close to 300!

 **Next Update:** Hey guys, I'm really sorry but I've got a lot of papers and exams to do for the next month and a half (as it's my last month and a half of university!) so I'm not sure when I'll next be able to update, I'm hoping that I won't keep you waiting longer than two weeks, but I might. So, sorry in advance, I'll update when I can!

 **Next Chapter:** I do have it written though, which is good, and it involves Victoire's reaction of getting her residency offer, Vic and Fleur having a mother-daughter _chat_ that everyone was too scared to stay and listen to, Xavier and a certain someone (guess who) end up in the paper, we hear a little about Eliza, Louis and Cecilia go on their surprise date, and Vic finally meets Clark's sister.

Teaser for Next Chapter:

 **""Well Victoire, now zat you 'ave got zat all sorted out, per'aps you and Teddy can actually start zinkeeng about your weddeeng and finally set a date," Fleur commented firmly. Her tone was almost offhand, but the look in her eyes said that she was not to be trifled with.**

 **There was a full minute of awkward silence before everyone jumped into action."**

Yup, there's some drama coming to us.

Thanks as always to everyone who has followed, favourited, read, and especially reviewed!

Biggest thanks to:

 **Jilly98, zvc56, Rensk3, B. arendes, Seher Syed, silverlover02, NicoleTheSmith, Guest(1), encypher, no cure for crazy, jml2002, Ann, rosesnlilies, unofficial potterhead, rumbadumba, Rosie Loves Pi, Devi2509, Jennifer Jules, Buckbeak90, Hp Queen, Daria,** and **GryffindorsRock**!

 **Jilly98** : I'm glad you liked the pick-me-up, your review definitely helped me feel better!

 **Rensk3** : No prob, I'll take any reviews that I can and when I can. How'd you like the over-protective Oliver in this chap? And look at that, both Vic's results and Teddy's case right here in this chap! I'm glad you like my writing so much.

 **jml2002** : I've heard some reviewers call Teddy and Vic Tedtoire before, but that's the only one I'm aware of.

 **Ann** : I don't know Italian so I was probably wrong, thanks for letting me know.

 **unofficial potterhead** : Oliver was teasing about Brogan, but serious about Cecilia.

 **Jennifer Jules** : Good counting! When Teddy gets back to England we'll have a little summary of what happened with the Holmwood case and the people from Peru so that everyone can get caught up.

 **Buckbeak90** : I have absolutely nothing against rambling reviews, I don't discriminate. It's nice to hear from everyone, especially new readers, I'm glad you liked the previous two stories. So, welcome to my wizarding world, and I hope that you enjoy the ride!

 **Hp Queen** : I could write the one-shot, but there isn't actually much that I could think to write about it from Xavier's POV, sorry.

 **GryffindorsRock** : Yes, Teddy did hex Vic's boyfriend and blame Kyle. Can't say anything about Xav/Ally, Louis and Cecilia are adorable as always, we'll find out gradually why Mark likes Clark's sister, and yes she will meet Vic. The reunion is not the next chapter, but the one after that. I think I covered all of the questions!

 **Daria:** Hi, no, I don't personally know anyone named Daria, but I have heard the name in passing before. I picked it because I was looking on a website for names that are used in Romania (as that's where Charlie is) and it popped up. I had remembered hearing it once before and I thought it was good as a name as any, according to the website I used the name is ranked around #10 as most popular in Romania. It's also pronounced differently. In English we would pronounce it DAHR-ee-a (or that's how I'm assuming you pronounce yours), but in Romania it's pronounced DAHR-yah. I didn't point it out before because how the readers pronounce it in their heads doesn't really matter to me, but it's similar to the Nad-ee-a, or Nad-yah distinction of the name Nadia. Also, it's always cool to hear of my fellow Canadian readers, especially since we're in the same province.

 **I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter,**

 **PLEASE leave me a review!**

 **Again, Happy St. Paddy's Day,**

 **I'm sorry that you're going to have to wait so long for the next update,**

 **So, until next time, DFTBA!**


	11. Acceptance

**A/N:** Hey everyone, I've been feeling so guilty about making you wait for an update, and I just finished two papers and a presentation (although I still have several left) so I figured that I'd reward you guys (and myself because hopefully I'll get some nice reviews and hear your thoughts).

 **Warning:** Brogan is extremely adorable in this chapter, but hopefully it's too minute to be fatal, and Dom is shameless, as always ;) And also, there's lots of Fleur, so yes, I know that my accent writing is horrible.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own _Harry Potter_ , but I think I will take credit for my OC's in this chap, especially Mark.

* * *

 **Recap from Last Chap:** Quidditch game after party, Louis and Cecilia were adorable as always, and we learned that Louis is taking Cecilia out on a date for the whole day (this chapter) and won't tell her where he's taking her. Dom flirted with Konstantin, and apparently everyone but Clark. Clark told Vic that it had been forever since Mark had a date. Vic and Teddy heard more about the Holmwood smuggling case from Konstantin and his partner Niko, and Vic interrupted Ally and Xavier to call them and tell them that she finally got her residency acceptance from St. Mungo's.

* * *

 **Acceptance**

 **Tuesday, August 30** **th** **2022**

 **8:25 AM**

Victoire should have known better than to try to dress while in a hurry, but the smell that was emanating from the kitchen made her try to beat her record for how quickly she could get ready. Teddy, who had a time advantage because he had slipped into the bathroom before she had the chance to, was sitting on the bed and laughing unabashedly at his fiancée as he watched her try to get into the wrap-around white sleeveless blouse that he could tell by the look on her face she was starting to regret picking out.

After a few more seconds of fiddling with the ties and holes, which felt more like minutes to her, Victoire let out a heavy sigh and threw her hands down to her side in frustration.

"Need some help there Sweetheart?" He asked her, making sure to try to temper his smile since he was addressing her directly.

She pouted and crossed her arms over her chest, "A shirt shouldn't be this bloody difficult to put on."

Teddy stood up and crossed the few feet of distance between them. He grabbed both open ends of the wrap's ties and smirked at her, "Well while I would be perfectly fine with your walking around with your shirt open like this, I don't think your family would appreciate your attire. So, would you like some help?"

In response Victoire lifted her arms up and stood still as he quickly wrapped the ends of the blouse around her and tied them together around the back.

"How in the name of Merlin did you figure out how to do that?" She asked him as he finished the tie with a bow behind her.

He smirked at her and pressed a kiss to her forehead, "It's easy when you're not trying to rush like you were."

Victoire pursed her lips, "It's hard to concentrate on the ties when all I can smell right now is bacon frying in the kitchen."

"Let's go get you some food then," Teddy told her, gesturing for her to go first.

When they got into the kitchen the rest of Victoire's family was already there. Fleur was standing at the stove with the frying pan, Louis was at the counter buttering toast, and Bill was watching the tea kettle and the coffee machine. Dom was the lone person at the table, and she was sitting with her face pressed against the woodened surface of said table, her eyes firmly closed.

Fleur heard them enter and instructed them to go ahead and sit down at the table and that breakfast was pretty much ready.

Victoire flopped into the chair next to Dom's and poked her sister's arm, "Are you alive?"

"Mmhmm," Her sister replied with a hum as she sat up properly, "Just a little tired, I didn't get much sleep last night."

"What time did you get in?" Victoire whispered to the redhead. She and Teddy had left the party the evening before, not extremely early, but earlier than Dom, and she was curious to know when her sister finally came home.

Dom gave her sister a sly smirk, "It was actually this morning."

Victoire rolled her eyes and rubbed her hand down her face, "Of course it was. So did you go British or Italian last night?"

After counting to five without a response from her sister, Victoire felt her stomach tighten with worry, "Dom?"

"I might have gone Bulgarian?" Dom told her, her voice higher pitched at the end and coming out more like a question than a statement.

Victoire sighed and none-to-gently introduced her forehead to the surface of the kitchen table, "Seriously?"

"Old habits die hard," Her sister replied with a nonchalant shrug.

"Mmhmm," Victoire replied, hitting her head against the table again.

Dom patted her sister's back and said in a cheery tone, "On the bright side, he is _definitely_ not involved with his partner."

"You didn't have to sleep with him to figure that out," The blonde muttered, keeping her voice low as their parents and brother had just joined them at the table.

Bill handed out cups of tea and coffee while everyone started to fill their plates with the assorted breakfast foods. Victoire was just reaching for the large plate of bacon that her brother had conveniently placed directly in front of her, when her mother offhandedly commented.

"Oh Victoire, a letter arrived for you about an 'alf 'our ago," Her statement was punctuated with a wave of her wand, causing a thick envelope to fly over to her eldest daughter.

Victoire reached forward and opened the envelope. She only read the first paragraph before letting out a very loud and exciting scream.

"Vic?"

"I got in!" She squealed, turning to Teddy beside her and throwing her arms around his neck and squeezing him tightly.

Teddy laughed and hugged her back, "I take it you're referring to a residency spot in the D. A. R. ward?"

She nodded her head and had to wipe away some tears of happiness that were starting to well up in her eyes. Her parents and siblings all started talking at once, and she read a few extracts from the letter at their request. After everyone gave her hugs and congratulations she excused herself from the table so that she could contact her friends. She sent Sandra a text, knowing that she and Kyle probably had a late night as they had spent it with Kyle's family members that live in France, but decided to directly call Ally.

Her cousin was very sincerely happy for her, but she cut the conversation short, which Victoire didn't blame her for. She placed another quick call to Spencer, who was also very happy to hear from her, before joining her family back at the table.

"What did Spencer say?" Teddy asked her when she sat down with them again.

Victoire smiled and added some pepper to her eggs, "He said that he's going to arrange a night out with everyone to celebrate after we finish our first week."

"Make sure that you watch yourself around the muggle alcohol, you know what happens when you drink tequila shots," Dom commented with a smirk in her sister's direction.

The older sister rolled her eyes.

Near the end of breakfast an owl arrived with _The Daily Prophet_ , and Louis let it in. He handed it over to his parents, and as they opened it up to take which sections they wanted, they stumbled across the 'Society Section'.

Bill glanced at it for a second, let out a low whistle, and then tossed the section across the table to where Victoire and Dom were sitting, "There's some pictures in there from the party last night."

The two sisters put their heads together and had completely different reactions to the picture on the front page of the section. Victoire let out a groan and pinched the bridge of her nose in irritation, while Dom smiled brightly and broke out into laughter. Teddy and Louis got up from their chairs so that they could look over the girls' shoulders to see what they were looking at.

"I don't think Ally and Xavier are going to like this," Louis commented slowly as he took in the whole front page of the 'Society Section'.

There was only one picture on the page, and it was a full length one of Xavier from the party the night before, with Dom at his side giving him a big smacking kiss on the cheek. In reality, Dom had been enthusiastically thanking Xavier for agreeing to introduce her to one of his teammates from the British team, but someone must have taken the picture at _just_ the right moment to capture the flirtatious looking image. To be honest, they did make quite the stunning couple, and it seemed that whoever took the picture and captioned the article thought the same, as the title above the photo read ' _Professional Keeper Xavier Wood Celebrating Britain's Win Against Italy With Redheaded Beauty_ '.

"It's a little wordy," Dom acknowledged, "But that is a fantastic picture of me. I mean _look_ at my curves in this shot."

Victoire rolled her eyes and flipped the paper over so that she didn't have to look at the picture anymore, "I see that they're really milking that on-again-off-again angle of Ally and Xavier's relationship."

"At least they're throwing another woman into the mix, there's only so many times that out of context pictures of you and Xavier can make front section news Vic," Teddy mused, trying to go for humour.

"I am eempressed Dominique," Fleur addressed her youngest daughter, "You look both elegant and fetcheeng een zis photo."

Dom smirked, "Is that code for 'thank goodness that you haven't given the whole wizarding world a view of your bits'?"

Louis made a face at the mentioned of his sister's _figure_ , and tried to change the direction of the conversation, "So Vic, is there a big weight off your shoulders now that you've gotten your residency offer?"

"Most definitely, if felt like life was at a standstill while I was waiting for it," She replied readily.

"Well now zat you 'ave got zat all sorted out, per'aps you and Teddy can actually start zinkeeng about your weddeeng and finally set a date," Fleur commented firmly. Her tone was almost offhand, but the look in her eyes said that she was not to be trifled with.

There was a full minute of awkward silence before everyone jumped into action.

"I'm due to grab Cecilia for our day out, so I'm just gonna go now," Louis said as he hurriedly got to his feet and left the room.

Dom was right behind him, casually informing them that, "Stasia and I have plans to go shopping on _rue de la Paix_ and _Avenue Montaigne_ , so _au revoir_."

Victoire and Fleur were still staring each other down from either side of the table when Bill slowly stood up and looked over at Teddy, "I've got some little household repairs to look at since it's been a while since we've been here, so how about you come and help me out Ted?"

Teddy hesitated, obviously not wanting to leave his fiancée alone with her domineering mother, but he decided that it was probably in his best interest to listen to his future father-in-law.

By the time it was just Victoire and Fleur left in the kitchen, the younger woman was ready to escape the room herself. She felt uncomfortable just sitting across the table form her mother, so she stood up and started using magic to tidy up the dishes and the kitchen.

"I see you 'ave gotten better weeth your 'ouse'old charms," Fleur said without inflection as she stood up to help with the cleaning and spells.

They got all of the leftover food put away by the time Fleur asked, "So even zough you 'ave not 'ad ze decency to inform your _famille_ zat you 'ave set a date for ze weddeeng, I assume zat you and Teddy 'ave at least discussed eet togezer."

Victoire started nervously tapping her foot on the floor, "We have set a date."

" _Dieu merci_!" Fleur exclaimed as she excitedly thanked God, "So w'at 'ave you decided on?"

Her daughter took a deep breath to calm herself before replying, "We've decided on July."

Fleur clapped excitedly, " _Formidable_! July ees _techniquement_ only ten months away, but I theenk eef we get ze invitations out as soon as posseeble-"

"Maman," Victoire interrupted quietly but firmly, "We have decided on July 2024."

Her mother paused for a minute as though it was taking her longer than necessary to comprehend what Victoire had told her.

"Zat ees almost two years away," Fleur replied with a baffled pout.

"I know."

There were another few moments of silence, Victoire's foot tapping faster than before.

"Why are you waiteeng so long? Are you 'aving second t'oughts about accepteeng Teddy's proposal?" Fleur asked her daughter worriedly and in a quiet tone.

Victoire looked down at the marble surface of the kitchen counter and forced her foot to stay on the floor. She held in a heavy sigh. She knew that her mother was going think that as soon as she told her about the more distant date for the wedding that she and Teddy had decided upon. She took a deep breath and locked eyes with her.

"No, I'm not having second thoughts."

"Zen why are you waiteeng so long?" Fleur asked her uncomprehendingly.

She knew that there was something going on with Victoire's decision. Her daughter was not the type of person who could wait patiently for things. Victoire had always hated waiting. Whether it was waiting for her siblings to wake up on Christmas morning so that they could all open their presents _together_ , waiting until she turned eleven for her Hogwarts letter, or waiting five minutes to eat cookies after taking them out of the oven so she wouldn't burn her tongue; she had a hard time being patient. Fleur was actually somewhat amazed that Victoire had waited as well as she had for the past several days to get her residency offer. And by 'well' Fleur meant that Victoire had only had the chance to _partially_ drive everybody crazy because they had been out and about so much.

Victoire folded her hands together, "We just decided that it would be for the best."

" _Pourquoi?_ " Her mother questioned her again, still not fully understanding, "You Love Teddy and you are already liveeng togezer, w'at ees zere to wait for?"

"I want to wait to get married until after I've had the chance to finish my residency and get my feet on the ground, and Teddy has agreed with me," Victoire explained.

Fleur frowned, "You weell be feeneeshed weeth your reseedency by next summer. Why can you not get marreed zen?"

"I don't want to just be done with my residency, I want at least a year of work in an actual position, whatever position I end up getting after I finish, before . . ."

"Before w'at?" Fleur asked her, suspicious of how she let her sentence trail off.

Victoire swallowed thickly and crossed her arms over her chest, "Why do _you_ want me to get married so soon?"

Her mother smiled slightly and reached forward to gently place her hand on her daughter's cheek, "Victoire, I know you, you do not like waiteeng and you especeeally do not like people telleeng you zat you cannot do somezeeng. I would 'ave zought eef anyzing zat I would 'ave 'ad to conveence you to push ze weddeeng back furzer to geeve us more time to arrange eet. Ze fact zat you are waiteeng w'at would be conseedered so long to get marreed concerns me. As for why I want to see you get marreed, I weell admeet zat eet ees partially selfeesh, I do want grandcheelren at some point, but I can wait a few years for zat. I just want you to be 'appy, and I know zat marryeeng Teddy weell make you 'appy."

"I want to wait two years to get married as a precaution," Victoire softly explained.

Fleur titled her head, "A precaution for w'at?"

Victoire sat down at the table again and put her face in her hands, her mother slowly sat down in the chair next to her.

"Victoire?"

"I know that I'm not exactly the best at following rules, but I do try to follow the ones that I set for myself. And I've set this 'rule' because I want the chance to put in at least a year of work before maybe taking a maternity leave," She expounded.

Fleur smiled understandingly, "I can understand zat, but you do not 'ave to 'ave cheeldren right away, I can wait much more patiently zen you can."

"But that's the point, I can't wait very patiently. We want children right away," Victoire pulled anxiously at her hair, "Hell, I want a baby right now."

Her mother's eyes sparkled with excitement at hearing that statement, "Zen we weell get you marreed as soon as posseeble and you can get to work on that."

Victoire groaned, "But I want a career too, and it's so much harder to get a career started if you have to take time off after your residency instead of going straight into whatever job offer you get."

"Eet weell not be easy," Fleur said as she started to run her hand through Victoire's loose blonde hair, "But eef anybody can balance a healeeng career and a fameely eet ees you."

The younger woman sighed and gave her mother a sad smile, "I'm not as strong as you think I am Maman. The whole reason why we set the date two years into the future is because I know if we get married next year that I'm not going to be able to wait another year to start our family, I just won't be able to, I'll cave at some point. I just – I want to have everything right away but I know that I can't, so I figured putting up smaller goals and rules would be better. First is to finish my residency, second is to get through a year of work in a position after residency, and then third will be to finally get married."

"Eet sounds like you 'ave everytheeng settled zen," Fleur told her, pulling her into a hug.

Victoire buried her head into her mother's shoulder. She took a deep breath and inhaled her mother's familiar scent, "But am I being selfish? I know that Teddy wants to get married and start a family as soon as possible too, and I don't want him to think that the things I want are the only things that matter."

" _Ma chérie_ , Teddy 'as known you your 'ole life. I zink eet ees safe to assume zat before 'e decided to propose zat 'e took your dreams for your career, and your stubbornness, eento account," Fleur said with a bit of a smirk.

"He says the same thing whenever I bring it up but-"

Fleur stopped her, "No, no buts. You 'ave to trust 'im to tell you 'ees true feeleengs about zese zings."

"I do trust him," Victoire said quickly, "It's just hard to take in sometimes, that he keeps putting what I want before what he wants."

Her mother gave her a soft smile, "Zat's w'at you do w'en you are een love. You would do ze same for 'eem, _non_?"

"Of course I would."

"Zen zere ees nozeeng for you to worry about," Fleur said with a bright smile, rubbing her hand on Victoire's arm.

Victoire smiled in response.

"Alzough I am a leettle deesapointed to 'ear zat I weell 'ave to wait almost zree years to see my first grandchild," Fleur added with a wicked laugh.

Her daughter rolled her eyes, "Try to be positive Maman, maybe Dom or Cecilia will get pregnant in the meantime."

Fleur swatted her eldest daughter's arm and rolled her own eyes in response.

* * *

 **9:01 AM**

"Cee-Cee, is it really necessary that you do that at the breakfast table?" Oliver asked her as he watched her braid back her wet dark hair.

Cecilia's fingers worked quickly to finish off the rather long braid. She had jumped out of the shower only five minutes ago and didn't get the opportunity to cast a drying charm on her hair before she heard her mother calling her to breakfast. She had rushed to get dressed and the run a brush through her hair, but was a little perturbed to enter the kitchen and find that even though breakfast _was_ ready, they were still going to have to wait for Xavier and Ally to arrive.

"Sorry Dad." She had been having so many little arguments with him lately that she was just too tired to debate with him about something so small.

Brogan was sitting next to her, and not understanding what had passed between his elder sister and his father, he smiled brightly up at Cecilia and told her, "Pretty hair."

"Thanks Bro," Cecilia replied with a smile in return as she leaned over to mess up his own rather shorter hair.

Xavier and Ally entered the combined hotel room a few minutes later, apologetic smiles on their faces and looking rather hurried, both of their hair looking a little messy and windswept even though they had only been in a room down the hall. Her brother offered a sincere apology, but had only enunciated half of it before their father waved him off good-naturedly and with a welcoming smile.

"Stay up late celebrating last night and oversleep?" Oliver asked conversationally as everyone in the family finally settled down at the table.

The two in question shared a look. Ally quickly looked down at her plate, leaving Xavier to put together a polite explanation, "Sort of, Ally got a call from Vic while we were . . . getting ready, and they had a chat so that pushed our timeline back a bit."

"What was Victoire calling you about?" Katie asked Ally curiously as she simultaneously handed over a platter of toast.

"It seems that she finally got her residency offer from St. Mungo's this morning," Ally explained.

Katie smiled brightly, "She must have been very excited."

"She was," Xavier replied with an eye roll, "I would have preferred if she waited to call until a more proper time however."

Ally flicked his ear for insulting her cousin and then looked at Cecilia, "Did you have fun last night? Everywhere I turned I saw you mingling with one Quidditch player or another."

Cecilia let out a small laugh, "Yes, I never thought just talking to people could be so exhausting though."

"But was it helpful?" Oliver asked her with a knowing smile.

"I guess," Cecilia replied with a shrug, "Although the number of times that I was informed that I look like Mum was probably more than I've ever heard before in my life."

Katie reached across the table to pat her daughter's hand, "At least they didn't tell you that you look like your father."

"Hey!" Oliver and Xavier called at the same time. The latter pouted and mumbled, "People say I look like Dad."

Beside Xavier, Ally rolled her eyes but then patted her boyfriend's hand sympathetically, using her other hand to hold her fork so that she could continue eating.

Cecilia had just helped Brogan add just a _little_ more maple syrup to his pancakes when the mobile phone in her pocket started to ring. She quickly looked down and pulled out her phone, pretending that she didn't catch a glimpse of the suddenly disapproving look that came over her father's face.

"Cecilia-" Oliver began only to be interrupted by his daughter.

She glanced directly at her mother, "It's Eliza, may I be excused so that I can talk to her?"

"Of course," Katie replied quickly.

Taking the call in her bedroom, Cecilia hastily pressed the 'talk' button.

"Hello?"

The voice on the other end of the line responded, " _Hi Cecilia, I'm not interrupting anything am I_?"

"Of course not," Cecilia truthfully answered. If it had been Louis calling her instead of Eliza, she was pretty sure that her father would have berated her for leaving the breakfast table to talk to him on the phone, however, because it was her female friend, she was rather certain that her father no longer cared about her breach of etiquette.

" _Okay, I just . . . I thought it would be nice to catch up_."

Cecilia sat down on the edge of her bed, "Are you okay? Is there something wrong?"

The other side of the line was silent for several moments before, " _I'm just feeling overwhelmed right now_."

"Oh Honey, has something happened? Is everything alright with Rowan?" Cecilia asked into the phone, her voice breaking a little. She knew that something serious had to be up, Eliza was a very proud individual and asking for help wasn't usually her go-to response.

She heard Eliza let out a long sigh, " _No actually, Rowan's perfect. She's sleeping well for an infant of her age, she's gaining weight as she should, she doesn't cry much, and she hasn't had another fever yet_."

"That's fantastic to hear. And Eliza, it's alright to feel overwhelmed."

" _I know_."

Cecilia bit her lip, "Xavier's game is already finished, so I can go back home and come see you if you'd like? To give you a bit of a break."

" _No, no, no, there's no need_ -"

She interrupted her friend, "Eliza, it's not a big deal, really."

" _You don't need to come back early_ ," Eliza's voice argued, " _I'm not even going to be home for most of the day. My Mum arranged some sort of meet and greet with my muggle relatives to give everyone a chance to see Rowan, so I'm going to be back home for most of the day_."

"Is the gathering why you feel so overwhelmed?" Cecilia questioned her softly.

On the other side she could practically hear Eliza's deliberation in the silence, " _I know that Mum's been very delicate in how she's explained my teenage pregnancy to the family, but I'm still not ready for all of the sideways looks or the questions I'll get about my baby daddy_."

"I can't say that I've ever been through what you're going through, but I do know a thing or two about nosey but well-meaning family members. If you want me to come and support you Eliza I will," Cecilia told her sincerely.

Eliza's voice on the other end had a brighter tone when she spoke next, " _I know you will, but I don't need you to cut your holiday short. Just talking to you on the phone has really helped my anxiety levels. I'm sure I'll be able to survive the gathering now_."

"You're sure?"

" _Absolutely_."

Cecilia smiled into the phone, "Alright then, and don't forget to send me pictures of the little girl if you catch her doing something adorable."

" _Will do_ ," Eliza laughed, " _Thanks Cecilia. Bye_."

"Bye."

Cecilia put her phone back in her pocket and left her room to go back to the kitchen/living space. The first thing she noticed was that Xavier was banging his head against the kitchen table, with Ally rubbing his back soothingly.

"What'd I miss?" She asked a little worriedly as she unhurriedly slipped back into her seat at the table.

Ally slid what must have been a newly arrived Daily Prophet along the table and over to her. She glanced down at it and noticed that it was the interestingly termed ' _Society Section_ '. It didn't take too long to tie the picture and the caption together.

"You and Dom actually make a pretty cute couple Xav," Cecilia casually told her brother.

He didn't seem to think it was funny. He looked up and sent her a glare, before knocking his head against the table's surface again. Ally rolled her eyes a little at his dramatics, her hand still rubbing small circles into his back.

"At least it's not another picture of you and Vic."

"That doesn't make me feel much better," He muttered into the wooden table.

Brogan, not understanding what was going on besides the fact that the paper held a picture of Xavier and Dom –not that seeing his brother's picture in the paper was exactly new– just looked curiously at his older brother before turning to his father and asking, "What's wrong?"

Oliver patted his youngest son's head, "Nothing, just don't believe everything you read."

"I can't read," Brogan argued back. He was familiar with some letters, especially the ones that made up his name, but he couldn't exactly _read_ strings of words.

His father sent him a bright smile, "That helps then."

"Malcolm and Clark are never going to let me live this down," Xavier complained, still obviously not over the picture in the paper.

Ally started to dole out more words of comfort to her boyfriend, and then there was a knock on the hotel room door. Cecilia brightly observed that it was probably Louis at the door, and then Brogan jumped out of his seat and announced as he ran to the door that he'd get it. Oliver and Katie listened closely to the door and heard Brogan cheerily yell Louis's name and then a muted thump that they assumed was the younger boy running into the elder one.

A second later Louis walked into the combined kitchen living space, carrying a chattering Brogan on his hip.

"Where's Vic?" Brogan was asking Louis as they entered everyone's view.

Louis chuckled lightly and set Brogan down on his feet, "She didn't come with me."

"Why not?" The little boy pouted.

The elder boy bent down to look Brogan in the eyes, "Do you bring your big sister with you every time you go somewhere?"

Brogan made a pinched face as he sent a sideways glance in Cecilia's direction, "No."

"I don't either," Louis replied with a chuckle. He stood up, ruffled Brogan's hair a little, and then turned to gaze at Cecilia with a smirk.

His girlfriend rolled her eyes in response, picked up the mug that held her cooled breakfast tea, and chugged it down so that she could get up from the table. As she tried not to choke on her tea, her mother greeted her boyfriend.

"Good morning Louis."

He replied in kind and then Ally asked her cousin about his eldest sister.

"So Vic finally got her residency offer?"

Louis rolled his eyes indulgently, "Yes, thank goodness. Apparently she's the last of her friends to get one and she was having a hard time being patient until it arrived."

"I could tell, she called me right away to let me know that she had it, it's hard to be mad at her when she's so excited though, right Xavier?" Ally said, turning to her boyfriend at the end of her statement.

The professional Quidditch keeper didn't reply, he was still rather too busy staring at the photo of himself in the paper, and the intensity of his gawking made Ally sigh. She took the paper away from him and tossed it to the other end of the table where he wouldn't be able to reach it, "The longer you stare at it the more it's going to irritate you."

Louis only needed to get a glance at the section of paper that Ally had pulled away to realize exactly what page it was, "I see that you got the paper this morning."

Xavier groaned again and banged his head on the table. Ally patted the back of his head and then smirked at Louis, "How'd Dom like being on the front page of the _Society Section_?"

"She's surprising happy with it actually. She thinks it's a rather flattering photo," Louis explained thinking back to how he had rolled his eyes at his red haired sister's reaction a little earlier that morning.

"Of course she did," Ally replied with a laugh, "A better reaction than Victoire would have had."

Louis nodded, "Yes, Victoire was having a rather good time this morning actually, got her residency offer and Dom ended up in the paper instead of her."

Ally smiled again while across the table from her, Cecilia shoved the last quarter of her peanut butter covered toast into her mouth and chewed it only as much was needed to make it small enough to swallow. Her mouth was still awkwardly sticky but somehow she was able to force out the words, "I'm ready to go Louis."

"Has he told you where he's taking you yet?" Katie asked her daughter with a smirk as she pushed another cup of tea towards her. There was no way Cecilia was actually going to leave when she still had peanut-butter-mouth.

Cecilia glanced at Louis with a pout as she chugged the second cup of tea and then looked at her mother, "No, he won't tell me. All he said was to make sure that I wore comfortable shoes."

"Which I see you did," Louis told her with a smile as he glanced down at the simple tan-coloured sandals she had on her feet, they buckled around her ankles.

"Let's go already, you're probably going to make me wait to the last minute to find out what we're doing," Cecilia said, a pout still on her face as she walked over to her boyfriend's side. She meant to pull him down for a kiss –he could tell by the look on her face what she was going to do before she tried to reach for him– and decided that that was probably not a polite thing to do in front of her family, especially her father. Instead he figured it would be better to put a bit of space between them.

Louis grabbed her hand and started to pull her towards the door, "C'mon then, time's a wasting."

"How long are you going to be out?" Oliver yelled to them just as they got the door of the hotel room open.

Cecilia peeked at Louis curiously herself, all she had weaseled out of Louis the evening before about their date was the aforementioned request to wear comfortable shoes, and the afterthought at the end of the night when he told her that she should prepare for a long day.

"I'll have her back in time for dinner," Louis promised her father in a tone that was an interesting mix of sincere and charming.

Oliver frowned, obviously not happy that he didn't know what his daughter and her boyfriend were going to be doing for the rest of the day. Katie on the other hand smiled brightly as she waved goodbye to them and told them that she hoped that they would have a good day.

Once they were in the hallway with the door closed behind them, Cecilia turned to Louis, "Can you _please_ tell me where we're going now?"

"Nope," He responded, giving her a bright smile and pulling her down the hall by her hand.

"Pretty please?"

" _Mais non_."

"Are you sure?"

They had just reached the lift.

"Yes."

Cecilia stopped and pulled her hand away, "So you will tell me then?"

Louis scoffed. He walked up to her, put his arm around her waist, pulled her close, and used his index finger to tilt her chin up so that he could look down into her eyes, "No. I am going to surprise you woman, even if I have to piss you off in the process."

She rolled her eyes and stretched up onto her tiptoes, "Well if you're not going to be polite enough to let me know where you're taking me, you could at least finally give me a hello kiss."

"Well I apologize for trying to be respectful in front of your father," He replied with a slight eye roll.

"Just shut up and snog me already Louis."

* * *

It was only about a half hour after Cecilia and Louis's departure when Victoire and Teddy found themselves at the Woods' hotel room. Victoire had only made it a few feet into the room before Brogan came barrelling towards her. She picked him up and gave him a tight hug, nodding her head lightly as he jabbered into her ear. She set him back down and quickly found herself hugging Ally, her favourite cousin repeating how happy she was to hear about her residency offer. Xavier hugged Victoire after Ally let her go, and then Katie and Oliver each had their own turns.

"Congratulations Vic, you're going to be fantastic," Oliver told her sweetly as he gave her a tight squeeze. He pulled away after a platonically appropriate amount of time and kindly patted her on the shoulder.

She was still gazing at Oliver rather dazedly even though he had pulled away, and Teddy, Ally, and Katie all giggled at her reaction while Xavier made a face, "Honestly Vic?"

"Something wrong Xav?" Victoire asked her friend, not even bothering to take her eyes off of Oliver, who looked _very_ handsome when he smiled so wickedly.

Xavier pouted, he seemed to be doing a lot of that that morning, and crossed his arms over his chest, "You know what you're doing."

"On the contrary, I haven't the foggiest," She replied with a smirk that bordered on evil.

He rolled his eyes and muttered something to himself that was too quiet for her to pick up on. Everyone ignored him while Katie asked conversationally, "So what are your lot's plans for the rest of the day?"

Victoire threw her arm over Ally's shoulder and smiled brightly, "Ally and I are going to go to all of our family members at this hotel and tell them the good news."

"When did I volunteer for that?" Her brunette cousin asked confusedly as she sent the blonde a raised eyebrow.

"You didn't have to," The part veela replied, "Besides, I need to say goodbye to the kids before they go off to Hogwarts on Thursday."

Ally ducked out from underneath Victoire's arm, "Again that sounds more like a _you_ than a _we_."

Victoire rolled her eyes, "And afterwards, I promise to take you buy you some tea that won't make your face pucker up like you've swallowed a whole lemon."

That promise –that was much more of a bribe– combined with Ally being too tired to argue with her energetic cousin, made the younger cousin agree to the elder's proposed plan. The girls sent Teddy and Xavier a pair of specific looks, and the two rolled their eyes before following their girlfriend/fiancée out the door after saying their goodbyes to the other three Woods.

Victoire had a lot of fun knocking on all of her family's hotel room doors and then barging in to tell them that she finally got her residency offer, as well as to wish them goodbye and safe travels. Harry and Ginny had rolled their eyes indulgently at her enthusiasm; Hermione had let out an excited sound while Ron just shrugged at her keenness and gave her a hug; Percy and Audrey were appropriately polite and to the point with their congratulations; and Rose, Al, and Hugo were very courteous while Lily verbally wondered why Victoire was so excited and asked why she didn't expect to get an offer in the first place.

The last hotel room that they had to visit was the one that housed Baxter, James, and Freddie, and when Victoire knocked on the door, Ally's younger brother opened it, and then shut it right in their faces before she could get out the last syllable of 'good morning'. The blonde frowned at closed door and knocked again, not completely joking as she asked Teddy if he would break down the door if she needed him to. Her fiancé patted her shoulder and told her that he didn't have jurisdiction to do so, but before she could retort the hotel room door opened again, Baxter standing in the doorway this time.

The visit with the three boys was short, James and Freddie getting slightly more attention because they were going back to school the day after the next, and when they were finished Ally led the other three down to the hotel lobby, telling Victoire that she owed her more than one cup of tea. On exiting the large lift, they spotted another familiar face.

"Good morning Mark!" Victoire called jovially as she spotted the professional Quidditch player standing off to the side of the lobby, halfway to the hotel's main entrance/exit.

Mark turned his head and smiled at the two couples, "'Morning ladies, gentlemen."

"My, my, my Mark, that's some snazzy luggage you've got there," Xavier pestered his teammate in a teasing tone.

In one hand, Mark held the handle of a child-sized suitcase that had a picture of muggle Spiderman on it, and on his other side sat a larger blue and purple floral patterned suitcase. Despite the fact that neither suitcase looked like something a man in his late twenties would own, he hadn't looked too embarrassed to be standing with them.

Mark rolled his eyes at Xavier's comment, but Victoire was rather certain that she spotted his cheeks reddening slightly, "They're not mine Wood. Clark and I are helping his sister and nephew checkout. I'm watching their luggage down here while they do a last look around their hotel room. So what are you lot up to?"

"I promised Ally I'd buy her some tea," Victoire explained.

The beater looked between Ally and Xavier next, "That reminds me, I saw _The Prophet_ this morning and-"

"You might not want to go there," Ally cautioned quickly, "We _just_ convinced him to stop bashing his head against hard surfaces."

Mark chuckled, "It can't have been worse than the look on Clark's face this morning when he saw it."

"Did he react poorly?" Victoire asked curiously.

"No, he just pouted because the picture of Dom reminded him that she hasn't agreed to go on a date with him yet," Mark replied.

Victoire rolled her eyes and before anyone could say anything else, one of the lifts dinged and the doors opened, letting out Clark, his sister Tabitha, and his nephew Zach. The trio spotted Mark, their luggage, and the other four and made their way over. Clark greeted the two couples, making sure to harass Xavier a little over being in the paper again, while Tabitha walked over to take their luggage off of Mark's hands.

"Thanks for keeping an eye on them, it turns out that Zach's other running shoe somehow got stuck between the wall and the bed's headboard," Tabitha said reaching for the handles of her and Zach's suitcases.

Mark teasingly moved the luggage out of her reach, "I believe my offer to help with your suitcases included helping you carry them out of the hotel. Besides Tabitha, I don't have many opportunities to be chivalrous so I'd appreciate it if you let me pretend while I have the chance to."

"I very much doubt that you'd ever have to pretend to be chivalrous Mark," Tabitha replied with a small smile as she stopped reaching for the suitcases.

He responding smile was very pleased and Victoire automatically narrowed her eyes at Mark's interaction with Clark's sister. As the part veela was never one to be overly shy, or at least not in a situation where she knew most of the people around her, she took a step forward and held her hand out Clark's pretty, brown-haired sister.

"Hello, I'm Victoire Weasley," She put a sweet smile on her face and tried her best not to sound as demanding as she knew she sometimes came across as.

The other woman tucked a lock of her brown hair behind her ear before accepting the blonde's outstretched hand, "Yes I know–I mean . . . err . . . I'm Tabitha Westin. We actually went to Hogwarts together, I was four years ahead of you though, so you probably don't remember me . . ."

Teddy decided to try to cut down on the awkwardness that Tabitha was obviously feeling, "I'm Ted Lupin," he reminded her before asking, "Were you by any chance sorted into Hufflepuff and a prefect during school?"

Tabitha nodded, "I was." She was only two years older than Teddy compared to the four years she had on Victoire, so she wasn't surprised that he remembered her better than Victoire did.

"I remember you, you got me into detention in fifth-year for hexing Geoff Snyder in the halls," Teddy reminisced with a small chuckle.

Victoire glanced at Teddy, her head titled in confusion, "Why in the world would you hex Geoff Snyder?"

"Oh I didn't," Teddy explained, "Malcolm did, but Neville told him if he set a toe over the line one more time that he would banned from the next Hogsmeade trip. Malcolm had a date already for that trip, so I took the fall for him."

Tabitha bit her lip, "I'm sorry then, I didn't realize that it wasn't your fault."

Teddy was waving off her apologies before she was even finished, "That was the whole point of taking the fall. Don't worry about it, that was nine years ago."

She nodded her head and looked at Victoire, "Clark told me earlier in the year that you were interning with Puddlemere United, do you have much time left in healing school?"

"Actually I'm finished with school, I'm officially a healer now, but I have a year of residency to complete before I can be fully certified," Victoire explained.

"Well congratulations then," Tabitha glanced at her son, who was speaking very animatedly to Xavier, and gestured to him, "That's my son Zach."

Victoire smiled at the sight of the little boy excitedly talking to Xavier about Quidditch, "He's adorable. How old is he?"

"He's six," Tabitha explained. Zach must have realized that his mother was talking about him and he turned his head to her direction and looked at Victoire and Teddy.

"Do you play Quidditch too?" Zach asked them curiously and without so much as segue.

Victoire shook her head, "No I'm a healer."

Zach made a face and took a not-so-sly step away from her, his gaze slipped to Teddy who answered with a small smile, "I'm an auror."

That reply made Zach's eyes light up with interest, "Cool! Have you ever killed anyone?"

"Zachary Robert Westin! That is not an appropriate question to ask someone," His mother berated him quickly.

The little boy pouted at the chastisement, and Victoire was struck by how much the action made him look like his Uncle Clark.

"Tab didn't you say your checkout time was eleven o'clock?" Clark interjected as he glanced at the watch on his wrist.

His sister nodded quickly and grabbed her son's hand. Clark took Zach's Spiderman suitcase from Mark, and the two beaters followed after Tabitha as she dragged Zach towards the checkout desk. The four offered up some goodbyes, which the two couples responded back with before leaving the hotel themselves to get Ally that cup of tea that Victoire had promised her.

* * *

 **4:46 PM**

"This was _so_ much fun!" Cecilia exclaimed excitedly as she threw her arms around Louis's neck and hugged him tightly.

Louis laughed in response and pressed a kiss to the top of her head, "I'm glad you enjoyed it, once you got over your pouting about me not telling you where we were going that is."

Cecilia had found it within herself to forgive Louis for his keeping their outing a secret once she saw for herself where they were going. It seemed that her boyfriend, knowing Cecilia's love for excitement and adrenaline rushes, apparated them to Paris to the muggle Disneyland theme park. While some of the rides didn't exactly go as high as she could have on her own broomstick, several of them reached speeds that she'd never experienced before and she absolutely loved it.

Thankfully, she wasn't a complete novice to how muggle theme parks worked, even if she had never before been to one of that large a scale. Louis had let Katie in on his plan to take Cecilia to Disneyland, and had even asked if she thought if Brogan was old enough to enjoy it. Katie had thanked Louis for his offer to take Brogan, but she explained that her youngest son had been having some trouble with accidental magic lately and that she didn't think it would be smart to allow him to be around muggles while he was having issues.

"Which ride was your favourite?" Louis asked Cecilia with a bright smile as he wrapped an arm around her waist and directed her through the swarm of people who were entering the park as they were exiting.

Instead of being tired after a long day at the theme park, his girlfriend had quite the spring in her step as she skipped along beside him, "Oh, it was definitely that one that went really fast and high, you know, the one where we spun around a bit at the end?"

He chuckled at her description, it wasn't very specific and he really had no idea which ride she was talking about as they had been on a lot of them.

"And do you remember that one ride where we sat in that cart-like thing that went really fast?" Cecilia asked, waiting for Louis's nod before she continued, "I wonder if there's a broom out there that could go that fast."

Louis rolled his eyes lovingly at her musing and pressed a kiss to her temple, "I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I don't think there's a broom on the market that can go that fast."

"True," Cecilia replied with a sigh.

They travelled far enough away from the theme park to be able to apparate, and took a turn into an empty alleyway. Louis wrapped his arms around her waist and they disapparated together. When they materialized at their targeted location, they found themselves in an empty lane next to Cecilia's hotel.

"Thank you for taking me out today Louis," Cecilia told him softly as she looked up into his sparkling blue eyes.

His eyes darkened a little and his grip on her waist tightened, "Thank you for coming with me."

Cecilia stretched up onto her tiptoes and brought her face as close to his as she could, "I love you."

"I love you too," Louis replied tenderly as he slid his hand to the back of her head and bent his face towards hers to close the distance between their lips.

She let out a breathless gasp as their lips met and wrapped her arms around Louis's neck as she forced her mouth roughly against his. He tugged at her bottom lip while he walked her back a few feet until her back hit the wall of the hotel. Cecilia felt her heart thumping wildly, and she let out a low moan and slipped her tongue into his mouth. Louis groaned in response and pushed her tighter against the wall so that he could feel all of the curves of her body press against him. One of his hands was wrapped in her black hair, the other sliding down her side and clenching at her hip.

Cecilia's mouth broke away from his because her chest felt tight and she didn't think she could breathe. He continued to kiss her, his lips travelling down her neck and turning into light nips as he got closer to her collarbone. Her fingers tightened in his blonde hair as he started to suck at her neck, and her breathing became more winded when she felt his teeth lightly graze her skin. Her stomach tightened pleasantly and her heart began beating even quicker.

"Unghhhh . . ."

Louis removed his lips from her skin and sent her an inquisitive look, "What was that?"

He was also breathing heavily, but Cecilia was rather amazed that he could put together a full sentence; even a small one.

"Nothing," She replied quickly, reaching for his head so that she could kiss him again.

Louis let go of her though, and put a few steps of space between their bodies. He ran a distracted hand through his hair, "I should get you back to your parents."

Cecilia pouted and he leaned forward and kissed her lips again before he could stop himself.

"Are you sure that you want to take me back to my parents?" She asked him, her voice still rough from the lack of air she had gotten while they were kissing.

He let out a long sigh and pressed his forehead against hers, "Yes, I promised your father I'd get you back in time for supper."

She frowned.

"But," He continued, a self-conscious smile coming across his face, "I do have a question. I already told you about the bonfire we're having tonight on the beach, and since you said that you'd come, I wonder if you'd like to stay the night? I know that you'll be coming tomorrow to stay with us, but it would probably be easier for you to stay tonight instead of going home late, and then arriving back tomorrow morning."

Cecilia bit her bottom lip and smiled shyly, "That makes sense, but only under one condition."

"What is it?"

"I think it would be best for me to address my father about this instead of you."

"Probably."

* * *

 **A/N:** We got a lot of adorableness in this chapter, but also some serious talk between Vic and Fleur. So, what did we think of this chapter? As a whole or certain parts? Are you guys still enjoying it at least? Let me know in a review, or ask me some questions if you've got some.

 **ALSO:** I'm at the point where I really need a name for the quidditch magazine that Cecilia works for, so I was wondering if any of you have a good name suggestion for a quidditch magazine. And if you do, could you leave it in a review and could I maybe steal one of them? I'll give you some credit of course, I'm just having a hard time coming up with a name :(

 **Next Update:** Again, I'm not sure when it'll come out since I've got a month left of school, so make sure that you've got this story on your alerts, or that you check every once in a while to see if I've updated. Again, make sure to add me to your story alerts so that you'll know the minute I update :)

 **Next Chapter:** I do have it written, and it will finally be the family reunion so we will get to meet a lot of Fleur's family.

Teaser for Next Chapter:

 **""Oh?" Gisèle asked with a bit of an evil smirk in Victoire's direction, "Getting married in two years? Giving yourself some time in case you meet someone else and decide to trade up?""**

I want to thank everyone for following, favouriting, reading, and especially reviewing!

And I'd also like to remind everyone that if they are going to leave me questions in a guest review, please leave me a name or some way to identify you in your review so that I can reply in the next chapter. Thanks.

An especially BIG thank you to:

 **B. arendes, Bubbly Bookworm, Jilly98, GryffindorsRock, rosesnlilies, SunnyM, Ann, Rosie Loves Pi, no cure for crazy, Princess Cruella, Guest(1), Jennifer Jules, HP Queen, WolfGirl, Autumn, Seher Syed, loverofthetwins, kIMaYa, NicoleTheSmith, Guest(2), Guest(3), Guest(4), Guest(5),** and **Guest(6)**!

 **B. arendes:** I hope Vic and Fleur didn't disappoint.

 **Jilly98:** I hope Fleur surprised you as much as she did Vic.

 **Ann:** I know it was getting a little slow, but I felt like I needed to give everyone a chance to see where the Weasleys are all at before sending them back to work and school, during which they will be very busy.

 **Rosie Loves Pi:** We might see Charlie's girlfriend when we see him next, but that probably won't be until Christmas. Victoire admits here that she wants to wait two years to get married and have babies, but she's not the only person in this story.

 **Princess Cruella:** Well, Dom did admit to sleeping with him in this chap, but who really knows with her.

 **Jennifer Jules:** We'll see Spencer when Vic starts up work again, so that'll be in three chapters' time.

 **HP Queen:** I'm sure that Vic would be a great seeker, but she's very dedicated to her healing career.

 **WolfGirl:** Vic's very dedicated to her healing career, so she probably won't try out for a professional quidditch playing position.

 **Guest(2):** Nice to hear from you. We will definitely address the Oliver issue later in the story, but without giving too much away I think it's also important to remember that even though Cecilia and Louis have been together for a while, they spend nine/ten months of the year away at school, in which case Oliver would only actually see Cecilia and Louis together (or know exactly how much time they spend together) based off of how much they see each other in the summer. Also, it's one thing to know that your daughter has a boyfriend and is involved with him, it's another to have to continuously see it. As for one-shots, if I had the time I'd write them, trust me.

 **Guest(3):** I just meant the whole Kurt-not-asking-Vic-questions-in-exchange-for-Teddy-not-wearing-his-harpies-shirt-thing to be a laugh in passing, I never really developed a list of specific questions.

 **So, I hope you enjoyed this chapter,**

 **Please, please, please leave me your thoughts in a review,**

 **Leave me some suggestions for names of Quidditch magazines too if ya got 'em,**

 **I hope everyone else's papers, and exams go well,**

 **Until next time, DFTBA!**


	12. Family Reunion

**A/N:** HELLO EVERYONE! Yesterday was officially my last day of university classes (I also handed in my last paper), and I wanted to update when I could because now my exam period has begun.

 **Note:** So we all know that I'm horrible at writing accents, and since this chapter is all about the family reunion, I decided to forgo writing accents for the section on the reunion so that it would read more smoothly. Therefore, when you're reading about the reunion, just _imagine_ that they all have varying degrees of accents, 'kay?

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own _Harry Potter_.

* * *

 **Family Reunion**

 **Wednesday, August 31** **st** **2022**

 **9:40 AM**

Dom woke up on the couch in the living room the morning after their late night bonfire, but instead of being upset that she hadn't gotten to her bedroom, she was actually rather impressed that she had made it as far as the sofa, since the last thing she could remember was being outside with her head resting on Teddy's shoulder. She glanced at the clock on the wall as she sat up, and when she realized that she had been out for a good solid ten hours she put her uncommonly long sleep down to the fact that she hadn't gotten much the night before yesterday, and the fact that spending a whole day shopping _can_ be rather tiring and strenuous, thank you very much.

Upon standing up, she looked out the window and noted that the weather outside looked bright and clear, a very good thing since their family reunion –which was slated for that afternoon– was planned to take place outside. In fact, the weather looked so nice that Dom quickly decided to spend what was left of the morning outside on the beach, as soon as she could round up her siblings and their significant others that was.

She was on the first floor, so she went towards the side of the house that held the bedroom Victoire and Teddy were staying in. She came to a sudden halt just as she turned the corner, and let out a light and exasperated sigh as she crossed her arms over her chest. It seemed like she found her sister, and Teddy.

They were both already dressed in their swimsuits, most likely having had the same idea she had, only they hadn't yet made it the rest of the ten feet down the hallway to the door that would get them outside. The distraction that had stopped them from getting outside was rather obvious. Teddy had Victoire pinned against the wall of the hallway, and they were engaged in a level of snogging that they really should have taken behind closed doors instead of the not-so-private hallway.

"A-hem."

Her sister and her fiancé froze, the both of them turning their heads so that they could see her, Teddy's hands moving to rest on Victoire's lower back –which was a much more publicly appropriate place for them compared to where they had been when Dom first came upon the pair.

"So we're going swimming?" Dom asked the pair with a smirk, her sharp gaze noting that they weren't exactly as bashful about being caught as they would have been four years ago.

As it was, Victoire recovered very quickly, "Yup, go get your swimsuit on. We'll see you outside."

Dom snorted but admired her sister's nonchalance, "'Kay, I'll also go see if Louis and Cecilia want to join us."

She turned her back on them, and then called to them from over her shoulder, "Oh, and by the way, you should do _that_ a little more privately next time. We wouldn't want our little brother accidentally stumbling upon you like I did. It might offend the poor boy's delicate sensibilities."

After that she left because she was about seventy-five percent confident that this time they _would_ make it outside.

To get to the staircase to go to the second floor, Dom had to glide past the doorway to the kitchen. She stopped to peek inside it in case Louis and Cecilia were in there eating, but stopped before even getting the door open the whole way. Her brother and his girlfriend weren't in there, however her mother and her father were.

Fleur and Bill were sitting at the kitchen table, tea and coffee cups in hand with the sections of the paper sitting out on the table directly in front of them. Her mother looked as though she was trying very hard to focus on the financial section. A task that was made more difficult it seemed, by Bill whispering into Fleur's ear, his hand slowly sliding up from where it had been resting on her bare knee and towards the hem of the striped sundress she was wearing. Dom just rolled her eyes and backed out of the kitchen. She was allowed to harass Victoire and Teddy because the former was her sister, whereas her parents were in their own house so they were allowed to do whatever they wanted.

After a trip up the stairs, Dom decided to find Louis and Cecilia before changing into her own swimsuit, and she eyed the closed door to her brother's room a little warily before shrugging to herself and reaching for the door knob.

"Louis don– ahaha!"

"What was that Cee-Cee?" He asked in reply as he rolled them over so that she was underneath him. His fingers were still digging into her waist, causing her to squeal with laughter, while his other hand travelled down to her knee. He knew that she was also ticklish behind it, and that he could get her to giggle louder.

Dom leaned against the door frame, it was obvious to her that neither eighteen-year-old had heard her open the door. She waited until Louis was just about to lean forward and place a kiss on Cecilia's laughing mouth to remark.

"Tickle fighting, really?"

Cecilia and Louis stopped what they were doing and looked up at her. If Dom hadn't recognized right away what they were doing she might have considered their situation to look _almost_ as compromising as the one she'd caught Victoire and Teddy in just five minutes earlier. Even though it was actually _a lot_ more innocent than the other situation.

"What do you want Dom?" Louis asked in a bored tone as he unobtrusively rolled off of Cecilia.

His sister glanced down at her perfectly lacquered silver finger nails, "Vic, Teddy, and I decided to squeeze in a few hours on the beach this morning before we have to go to the reunion. I've come to extend an offer to you two to join us, unless of course you'd prefer to continue acting like eight-year-olds."

Louis rolled his eyes at his sister and then looked at Cecilia, "Fancy a swim?"

She shrugged in response, and Louis helped her to her feet. Cecilia followed Dom out of the room, and across the hall to the room she shared with Dom, which held her suitcase.

Cecilia opened it up and let out a long suffering sigh at the sight of her open suitcase; it was in complete and total disarray. She had no one to blame but herself though, for the state of her balled and wrinkled clothing. She had packed them all as hurriedly as she could the evening before, trying to finish quickly so she that she would be subjected to only the bare minimum of her father's anger.

To say that he had been cross when Cecilia suggested that she stay with the Weasleys a night earlier than expected would be an understatement. Oliver Wood had been very vocal in his disapproval of his daughter leaving a night early. He hadn't yelled at her –only because Brogan was in the room next door– but his low tone had gotten his feelings across quite sufficiently. Cecilia still wasn't sure why extending her stay at the Weasleys' from one night to two bothered him so much, all she knew was that it did, very visibly. Not even her mother could stop his rant, although she did smooth over the incident slightly and reminded her father very sternly that not only did the plan to stay an extra night make logical sense, but that Cecilia was eighteen, an adult, and that she could do whatever she wanted.

All in all, she hadn't left her father on the best of terms and her suitcase looked a mess. She even had to shift around for a good five minutes until she found her bathing suit, balled up and hidden underneath a Puddlemere United pullover sweater.

* * *

 **1:57 PM**

"I knew I should have packed a dress to wear, or at least a skirt," Cecilia muttered to herself as Victoire –the last straggler– joined the rest of the family in the entranceway where they were waiting to leave for the family reunion.

Cecilia had been curious at first, when she and Dom were getting ready for the reunion after their morning on the beach, to see the redhead slip into a toxic-neon green sundress and pair it with a pair of bright purple wedge shoes. She was only slightly hesitant in asking the middle Weasley child about the dress code for the afternoon, knowing that Dom usually erred on the side of flashy even if she was supposed to look demure.

Dom had explained that it was supposed to be casual, but cautioned that her extended family was rather vain, they all had some portion of Veela blood after all, and that they usually upped the ante to dressy-casual. She had also assured Cecilia that the sleeveless navy and white polka-dotted blouse –that was resting on the top of the pile in her suitcase– was dressy enough as long as she had capris or shorts to match. Cecilia took her advice, and wore the blouse with a pair of white shorts and navy sandals.

While Dom had been helpful, Cecilia was starting to feel underdressed as she saw that Fleur was in a white and black striped sundress, and that the newly arrived Victoire was clad in a spaghetti strapped floral wrap dress.

With everyone finally gathered, they walked out of the house, Bill put the security wards in place, and Fleur gave her three children a _look_ , "You remember w'ere we are goeeng?"

They let out a string of " _Oui Maman_ s" and then spaced out so that there was enough room to apparate. Victoire and Teddy held hands, although Cecilia wasn't sure if it was because they needed to side-along or if they just couldn't go very long without touching each other. As she considered this, Louis grabbed both of her hands and told her to hold on tight because he _did_ need to side-along her.

"Where are we going anyway?" She asked curiously as the Weasleys around them began to disapparate.

" _Nice,_ " Louis told her with a smile before apparating them.

When they landed in Nice, it took Cecilia several moments to take in the vast, and rather beautiful, scenery around them. After realizing that the area looked somewhat recognizable, not that she'd ever been to one before, she turned to Louis and asked, "Are we at a vineyard?"

He wrapped his arm around her waist and gave her a smile, "Yup, Tante Gabrielle's husband Marc owns it. It has a lot of space so they offered to host the reunion this year."

Cecilia nodded, and as the group ambled closer to a large outdoor pavilion, Fleur and Bill in the lead, she noted that there were already several people present and scattered around the large yard and gardens that were directly adjacent to the vineyards. Several feet ahead a blonde man and woman started greeting Bill and Fleur, and Cecilia kept back a little while Dom, Louis, and Victoire joined the fray.

"Is everyone here blonde?" Cecilia mumbled to herself as she noted that everyone she could see so far had heads of hair in several varying shade of blonde.

"Not everyone," Teddy said quietly from beside her.

She jumped a little, not realizing that he was that close or that he heard her talking to herself. Cecilia looked around again, "I mean besides Dom and Bill."

Teddy chuckled and pointed to his own hair, which was his customary turquoise blue, "While most of their blood relatives are blonde, the significant others of their relatives are usually of a different hair colour."

Cecilia remembered Louis saying that all of his blood relative family members on his mother's side were female, so following that theory, she and Dom would be the only females at the reunion who weren't blonde.

"Teddy! Cecilia!" Victoire called to them excitedly as she made a gesture for them to get-their-arses-over-there. The two non-blondes shared a look before walking over to their significant others.

Victoire grabbed Teddy's hand with her right and looked at the blonde woman and man, "Tante Gabrielle, Oncle Marc, you remember Teddy don't you?"

"Of course," Gabrielle –who strongly resembled Fleur and therefore Victoire– replied as she leaned forward to kiss either of Teddy's cheeks, " _Bonjour_ Ted."

Teddy replied in kind while he reached out to shake Marc's proffered hand.

"And allow us to congratulate you on the engagement, we were so happy to hear about it in Fleur's letter from June," Marc told the pair with a genial smile.

" _Merci_ Oncle Marc," Victoire replied sincerely.

Louis introduced Cecilia next, which really grabbed Gabrielle's attention since she'd never met her before, and both his aunt and uncle were very kind and _very_ enthusiastic in their greetings. Gabrielle might have even mentioned more than once that she was excited to _finally_ meet Louis's girlfriend.

Cecilia blushed very prettily and slyly tried to examine Louis's aunt and uncle. There was a strong and obvious resemblance between Gabrielle, Fleur, Victoire, and even Dom and Louis that Cecilia put down to the Veela genes, and besides the blonde hair and blue eyes, all Cecilia could focus on was how beautiful her boyfriend's aunt was. She had previously thought that she was becoming a little immune to Veela looks after knowing the Weasleys for eighteen years, but it seemed that she was only slightly resistant to the ones she'd met before. Gabrielle's husband, Marc, was also very good-looking and blonde, even though he didn't have Veela genes. The main characteristics she came away with from him was that he had a very kind smile, and that he looked to be about ten years older than Gabrielle, and therefore much closer to Fleur's age.

Another pair of beautiful blondes ran up to the group next, and hugged their Tante Fleur and Oncle Bill very tightly. The blonde eight-year-olds then went on to hug Victoire, Dom, and Louis, and the latter smiled as he introduced Cecilia to Émilie and Esmé, his cousins. Despite sharing blonde hair, blue eyes, and even a child version of Veela charm, Louis explained that the twins were fraternal and that they were Gabrielle and Marc's children.

The twins ran off a few minutes after the greetings and introductions, and Fleur went in one direction so that she and her sister could catch up, while Bill and Marc went in the other in search for some drinks. The five that were left decided to stick together for the first part of the reunion, since they were sure that the next half hour at least would be spent greeting family members and introducing them to Teddy and Cecilia, or reintroducing in Teddy's case.

Somehow, that half hour felt like it both dragged on forever and went by like a whirlwind. The first people they ran into after meeting the twins were Madeleine and Gérald. Madeleine was a cousin of Fleur, looking very much like Cecilia expected a part Veela would look, and was roughly the same age as Gabrielle. Her husband Gérald was quieter than she was, but also very polite; he sported a head of long curly hair that was the closest shade to brown that Cecilia had seen anyone sport at the gathering so far. They were very interested to meet Cecilia, Madeleine saying something in French to Louis that made him chuckle, blush slightly, and press a loving kiss to Cecilia's temple.

The couple they met next were more interested in hearing about Teddy and Victoire's engagement, which thankfully Cecilia allowed to not be directly in the spotlight, and gave her the chance to examine Louis's relatives. Tatienne looked to be in her early thirties and was wearing a pair of high-heeled shoes that could probably put even Dom's highest-heeled pair to shame. Tatienne's husband Etienne on the other hand, was demure, practically silent, and at youngest in his late sixties. His much younger and prettier wife ended up asking one too many times _why_ Victoire and Teddy had decided to wait two years to get married, and the group of Weasleys separated from the odd pair soon after, and before Victoire could do much but grumble in an irritated manner under her breath.

Thankfully, the next several introductions went better and much more like the first, although Cecilia was starting to have a hard time remembering the names after she'd been introduced to the twentieth new person in as many minutes.

"This has gone rather well," Victoire observed happily as the group of five found a table laden with drinks. They all decided to start with a French brand of butterbeer.

Teddy nodded and wrapped an arm around his fiancée's waist, "I agree, you haven't hexed anyone yet."

Dom snorted, "That's only because we have yet to be subjected to Gisèle."

"Speak of the devil," Louis muttered into the lip of his bottle as his brown eyes narrowed at a figure coming towards the group.

Dom made a face, Victoire sighed heavily, Teddy squeezed his fiancée comfortingly, all while Cecilia tried to hide her confusion at their reaction to the pretty blonde who strutted more than walked up to them. Cecilia assumed that the blonde was Gisèle. She was tall, almost taller than Victoire and Dom, had long legs, a slender figure that bordered closely to too thin, pale blue eyes, high cheek bones, and even though she was definitely beautiful, she didn't seem to have that aura that every part Veela she had met that day usually gave off.

"Dominique _bonjour_!" Gisèle said in a very high pitched tone as she reached for the redhead and kissed her on either cheek.

Dom reciprocated the greeting, or more accurately, stopped herself from slapping her cousin in response, and said her cousin's name in reply and without any greeting attached. Gisèle turned to Victoire next.

" _Salut_ Victoire," She said leaning forward to kiss Victoire like she did Dom. Gisèle hurried through it and then smirked at seeing Teddy standing at Victoire's side, "And hello Théodore, you are looking _very_ well."

Victoire didn't even try to hide the glare she sent the other blonde upon hearing her call her fiancé by his full first name in such an intimate tone. Louis decided to intervene before Victoire let her temper get away with her.

" _Bonjour_ Gisèle," Louis greeted his cousin, who was only a year older than Victoire. He quickly held his hand out to shake hers, as to avoid having to do an awkward cheek kiss with her.

Gisèle's perfectly painted lips slipped into a slight pout before she plastered a large white smile on her face, " _Bonjour_ Louis. My, my, my, haven't you grown into a handsome young man?"

Louis nodded, his face not betraying how uncomfortable he was with how she was looking at him, and gestured to Cecilia, "Gisèle, this is my girlfriend Cecilia Wood." He turned to Cecilia and smiled at her, "And Cecilia, this is our cousin Gisèle, she's-"

"I'm Marc's daughter," Gisèle cut in, giving Cecilia a very critical look as she examined the younger woman from head to toe.

Cecilia noted how Gisèle made the point to say that she was _only_ Marc's daughter. That along with the fact that Gabrielle was too young to have a child Gisèle's age, and that Gisèle didn't have the genetic Veela charm, reminded Cecilia that a few days ago Dom had referred to Gisèle as their _step_ -cousin. She wasn't related to them by blood.

"It's nice to meet you," Cecilia said reaching forward to shake Gisèle's hand. The blonde looked at it for a minute before giving Cecilia her limp hand, "A pleasure." It didn't slip past Cecilia that she didn't say whose pleasure it was.

Gisèle turned back to look at her cousins, she gave Louis a charming smile before setting her sights on Victoire, and by extension Teddy, "So, anything new _mes cousins_?"

Victoire put a bright smile on her face, "Teddy and I got engaged in June."

"Yes of course," Gisèle said with a smile, clapping her hands together, "I recall hearing Papa and Gabrielle say something about that. So when is the wedding? Next summer?"

Victoire was rather certain that Gisèle didn't actually care when the wedding was, but was using the question as an excuse to speak to Teddy and give him a simpering smile. Victoire clenched her teeth, her smile turning more into a grimace, and her fiancée gave her a sideways look before replying to Gisèle, "We're planning for it in two summers' time actually."

"Oh?" Gisèle asked with a bit of an evil smirk in Victoire's direction, "Getting married in two years? Giving yourself some time in case you meet someone else and decide to trade up?"

Teddy's grip on Victoire's waist quickly became restraining, and he used one hand to make sure that she didn't reach for her wand, although he was rather certain that she'd skip the wand and go straight to muggle duelling if she had to. Cecilia's eyes widened, not fully believing that she'd heard what she did, while Dom looked offended on her elder sister's behalf.

Louis, ever the peacemaker of the family, tried to change the topic, "And what's new with you Gisèle?"

"Oh, you know, I've been _so_ busy with work lately, I didn't even think I'd be able to make it today," Gisèle replied with a self-sacrificing smile.

Dom rolled her eyes, "Well it's too bad then that you could."

Gisèle narrowed her eyes at Dom before making a ' _tutt_ ing' sound, "Jealousy doesn't look good on you Dominique, it's so unbecoming for a _Veela_ of all people to be envious of little ol' me."

"Why in the world would Dom be jealous of you?" Victoire asked incredulously as she came to her sister's defense, "She's a junior associate at a law firm, and by my last recollection you're an actress/singer/dancer who hasn't done much of any of the three."

Gisèle gasped. She felt insulted, but not for the obvious reason, "An actress? Oh Victoire dear, it's obvious you haven't heard of my newest job. I'm a model for _Siren's Secret_ now. I made my debut this past spring and I can't believe you haven't heard about it. What, were you living under a rock for all of April?"

Victoire crossed her arms over her chest, "It was actually a series of underground tunnels, and it wasn't voluntary."

Gisèle sent her a baffled look, but Victoire ignored it in favour for turning to her sister and brother, "Had you heard about this?"

"Unfortunately, I picked up the spring catalogue only to drop it in surprise upon seeing the cow's face, and much more of her body than I've ever wanted to see, on the cover," Dom admitted with a scowl on her own face.

She was really taking it personally, not because she was jealous of Gisèle, but because Siren's Secret used to be her favourite undergarment store and now she couldn't look at the catalogue because she was afraid of seeing her most disliked cousin's annoying face (and body) in it.

Victoire looked at Louis, who looked around awkwardly, settling his gaze on his shoes, "I kinda knew too. Anish somehow ended up with a poster of her from her photoshoot and tried to put it up on our dorm wall. I made him take it down and used some excuse about how putting posters of scantily clad women up on the walls was misogynistic and degrading. The last thing I needed him to know was that it was actually because the poster was of my cousin."

Cecilia looked at Louis and raised an eyebrow, "Is that why Anish spent the latter half of April telling me that I needed to stop turning you into a 'pansy-wuss' who spends way too much time thinking about the feminazi agenda?"

"Probably, yeah."

Victoire was still a little confused, "Why didn't anyone tell me about this?"

"You already spent half of May vomiting, I didn't want to make it worse," Dom explained with a shrug. Victoire had to nod in response to that reply, in thinking about it that way, she was rather glad that they'd abstained from telling her about Gisèle's new skimpily clad job.

"Well congratulations Gisèle, I'm sure you worked very hard for your position," Victoire replied a little awkwardly, she glanced at her cousin again and observed that Gisèle did look much skinnier than she remembered from seeing her the previous year.

Gisèle nodded self-importantly, "Oh it did, you don't know how much _work_ goes into being a supermodel."

"Of course not, I only just spent the last four years in healing school after all," Victoire muttered sarcastically.

Gisèle scowled at her, "Whatever." She glanced from Victoire to Dom and haughtily announced, "I'm bored." She nodded slightly to Louis, barely spared Cecilia a glance, and then looked at Teddy. She let out a long sigh and a small smile, "It's really too bad that you didn't take my advice from last year Théodore."

She was gone not long after that, and Victoire was a little upset that Gisèle had left before she got a chance to hex and/or punch her. Everyone was quiet, still holding their butterbeers, when Cecilia slowly said.

"She's not exactly the friendliest person is she?"

Dom snorted and finished her drink, "No she is not. She's always been jealous that she's not part Veela, and has had her knickers in a twist about it ever since her father married Aunt Gabrielle and she was forced to realize that she wasn't the prettiest and perfect centre of attention anymore."

Cecilia nodded and then looked curiously at Teddy, "What was the advice that she gave you last year?"

"Gisèle was very vocal in her opinions on how as a metamorphmagus I could pick a more attractive regular face so that I wouldn't seem as out of place when I'm with Victoire. Specifically she suggested making my nose smoother and going for a more subdued hair colour," Teddy explained, he could hear Victoire's teeth grinding as he repeated Gisèle's _advice_.

"That's awful."

Teddy shrugged, "It would have hurt more if I didn't already know that she was shallow and superficial."

"So should I be grateful that she practically ignored me?" Cecilia questioned, only partly joking.

"Absolutely," Louis told her with a smile.

Dom sighed and magiked a bottle of wine and wine glasses over, "If I'm going to have to talk to her again at some point this afternoon, I'm going to need something stronger than butterbeer." She filled a few glasses half-full, sent one to Victoire, who accepted it; offered one to Teddy who shook his head; and then proffered the glass to Cecilia.

"No thank you," The younger girl replied a little hesitantly.

"Are you sure?" Dom asked her, "It's from this vineyard so it's actually really good."

Cecilia shook her head. She knew that she was a lightweight and she really didn't want to accidentally get drunk on two glasses and make a fool of herself in front of Louis's family. The glass was offered to Louis next, who also turned it down. Dom just shrugged and filled the glass up to almost full before taking a sip of it herself.

Amazingly, Dom was able to finish the glass before their grandparents happened upon them roughly ten minutes later. Cecilia had had the opportunity to meet Fleur's parents before, and they were nice and polite to her as always. She was a little jealous of Louis in that respect. It wasn't fair that both sets of his grandparents were nice while she had to get by with the nice but sometimes odd grandparents on the Bell side, and her always odd and rarely nice Grandmother Eilionoir on the Wood side, although her grandfather on her father's side _had_ been nice while he was alive.

Apolline and Marius Delacour left after they had the chance to greet their grandchildren and to appropriately congratulate Victoire and Teddy face-to-face on their engagement. Dom strolled away a few minutes later saying something about needing to find one of their cousins who wouldn't annoy the crap out of her, leaving Victoire, Teddy, Louis, and Cecilia in a group.

"I know that you told me that you have a lot of family on your mother's side, but I didn't think that there would be this much," Cecilia commented as she looked at the yard around them that was filled with what looked to be a hundred people.

Victoire gave the younger girl a sympathetic look, "Yeah, Grand-mère Apolline is one of seven sisters. You'll probably meet all of them later. If you're really lucky though, you'll be able to avoid meeting Grand-tante Thérèse, she's the crazy Auntie Muriel of this side."

"Seven sisters?" Cecilia asked interestedly. It was starting to sound like the opposite of her father's family as Oliver Wood was the youngest of seven boys, he did have one sister though.

"Seven full sisters, she has a few half-sisters as well," Victoire explained.

Cecilia bit her lip, "That's a lot of half-Veelas."

"Yup."

Bill and Fleur stumbled upon the group next, and Victoire's mother gave her a sympathetic look when she heard that they'd already met Gisèle, and Bill began a description about the man who was Fleur's Aunt Célestine's new boyfriend. It turns out that Henri was only a few years older than Fleur, and therefore almost thirty years younger than his new girlfriend, and both of these facts really creeped Fleur out even though she had tried her best to keep a straight face during the introductions. Bill didn't have a chance to finish the story however, because Fleur spotted a particular relative of hers and decided to bolt. She grabbed Bill's hand, asked her children to stall for her, and dashed away in the opposite direction.

"Victoire! Louis!" A genial male voice called as he walked up to the group. He sent an inquisitive glance past Victoire's shoulder, "Was that Fleur I just saw over here?"

Victoire shared a faux puzzled look with her brother before lying innocently, "No, I haven't seen Maman since we arrived."

"Ah well, I'm sure I'll run into her at some point," The man replied with a careless shrug.

Victoire was trying to nod in response but she was quickly pulled into an embrace by the man. He also decided to kiss her sloppily on each cheek, "So how are you my dear?"

"I'm fine," She replied a little tersely as she pulled away and leaned into Teddy's side.

"Good, good," He replied, giving Victoire a rather long –and for her, uncomfortable– speculating look before smiling oily, "I say my dear, you are looking more and more like your beautiful mother every time I see you."

Victoire clenched her, as of yet, empty wand hand tightly, "Thank you."

"Wonderful again to see you Lothaire," Louis said loudly as he stretched his hand out to the man, he was hoping to take the man's attention off of his sister, who obviously wasn't enjoying it, and onto him.

"You too Louis," Lothaire replied, he was still smiling but it wasn't as bright as the one he had given Victoire.

Louis then introduced Cecilia to Lothaire, explaining that the dark brown-haired man was married to his mother's cousin Léa. Lothaire shook Cecilia's hand, thankfully not attempting to kiss her cheeks like he had with Victoire. Once he was done he turned his gaze back to Victoire, who loudly reintroduced Teddy to her mother's cousin by marriage, and informed him that they got engaged.

"Ah yes, young love. I remember well when I first fell into it, I knew right then and there whom I wanted to marry and spend the rest of my life with," His eyes had taken on a slightly glazed look, but he was still looking at Victoire in a way that unnerved her.

"How romantic," Louis interrupted Lothaire's musing, "To still be in love with cousin Léa after all these years."

Lothaire jumped a bit at Louis's words, "Léa, yes. My beautiful wife."

Victoire bit the inside of her lip and frowned when she noticed that she had Lothaire's attention again, "Are you still studying healing Victoire?"

She plastered a small smile onto her face, it was the best she could do, "I'm officially finished with the schooling part and will start my residency in St. Mungo's on Monday."

"Excellent," Lothaire replied as he clapped his hands together, "Not that I expected anything else of course, you're obviously both as brilliant and as beautiful as your mother."

Victoire smiled at the compliment even though she really would have preferred to shudder in abhorrence. She was really starting to wish that she had high-tailed it away when her mother did.

"And how is Fleur? She must be glad to be back in France even for a few days after spending the majority of each year in gloomy England."

" _Both_ Mum _and_ Dad are very well thank you," Louis replied a little tersely.

Victoire folded her arms across her chest and added, "And yes, Mum does like coming back to France when she can, but she especially enjoys it when we can join her, or at the very least when Dad comes with her. She loves her family and hates to be away from any of us, _especially_ Dad."

Lothaire's bright smile dimmed a little, but he recovered, "Fleur always did have a gentle heart."

Cecilia, who had been very quiet and was just watching the odd interaction, had to bit her tongue to keep in a disbelieving laugh. Fleur was always very nice and kind to her, and Victoire was right when she said that she cared very much for her family, however, in spite of both her appearance and her name, Cecilia wouldn't consider Louis's mother some delicate little flower.

Louis made the comment about seeing cousin Léa in the distance, and Lothaire automatically stiffened at the sound of his wife's name and remarked that he should probably go find her. He waved goodbye to Louis, and then turned to Victoire and gave her one more skin-crawling-inducing look before saying, "You really do look _just_ like your mother." He left just after that.

Victoire downed the rest of her wine while he walked away and Cecilia asked the burning question, "What in the world was that all about?"

" _That_ ," Victoire observed distastefully, "Is the reason why Maman left France and came to England after she graduated from school."

Cecilia's eyes widened, "Really? Is he some sort of . . . an ex-boyfriend or something?"

"He wishes he made it that far," Louis replied in what had to be the unkindest tone she had ever heard him use.

Upon noticing Cecilia confused look, Victoire expounded, "Lothaire went to school with Maman. He fancied himself in love with her and decided that they'd be perfect for each other. Things were dicey in their seventh year because, as you know, there was the whole Tri-Wizard Tournament thing. When they graduated he thought that they'd finally get together and start to settle down and build a life together. Maman on the other hand did not like him in that way, or at all really, and decided to leave for England because she wanted to try something new, but also in part because she wanted to get away from him. She came to England, met Dad, and well, you know the rest."

Cecilia now understood why Fleur had skedaddled away when she could, and she really didn't blame her for it. She did however, feel the need to ask a clarifying question, "So he used to fancy your mother, and when he realized that she'd never return his feelings he decided to marry her cousin instead?"

"That seems to be the way it went, yes," Louis told her.

"So he's like her Austin Pennington then?"

Victoire's eyes widened at the comparison while Teddy snickered, "Merlin, he would be her Pennington!"

"And what, even though your parents have been married for over two decades, and he's married to her cousin, he thinks that he still has a chance with your mother?" Cecilia asked realizing how some of the man's sly inferences could be construed that way.

Victoire made a face, "He's not exactly the brightest _lumos_ in Charms class."

Cecilia nodded and then thought of something even more uncomfortable, "Wait, so he fancied your mother when they were younger . . . and he kept telling you Vic that you're just like your mother when she was young . . ."

"I know right," Victoire agreed, knowing where the younger girl's train of thought was going, "Even though I love my mother, I've learned that most times when men try to compliment me by telling me that I'm just like her when they knew her, it doesn't exactly come off as sounding as much like a compliment as they think it does."

Cecilia folded her arms over her chest and said hesitantly, "People tell me all the time that I'm just like my Mum."

"If they're comparing you to Katie I'm sure that they're being sincere. It just sounds really creepy when you're hearing it from someone who used to lust after your mother. As long as it's not coming from someone who used to fancy Katie when she was your age, or still does fancy her, you're probably safe," Victoire reassured her.

"Victoire! _Cela fait longtemps qu'on s'est vu_!" A stunning blonde woman yelled in French as she suddenly appeared behind Victoire and pulled the other blonde into a tight hug.

Victoire squealed in response and tightly hugged the young woman back, " _Tu m'as manqué_!"

"I'm beginning to think that you're picking favourite third-cousins here," Louis called to the as of yet unidentified blonde in a teasing tone.

His extended cousin, who definitely looked to be part Veela, laughed as she let go of Victoire and then pulled Louis into a hug of his own, "You're such a brat, is it really any wonder why I like Victoire better than you?"

"Come off it, I know that I'm your favourite male cousin on this side," Louis told the woman with a smirk.

The blonde, who was roughly Victoire's size and looked to be of a similar age, pulled out of the hug, but not before giving Louis an eye roll, "You're my only male cousin on this side Louis."

"Exactly."

She rolled her eyes again, and with the action Cecilia was a little surprised to see that they were a very pretty but distinct shade of green instead of Veela blue. The green-eyed blonde turned to Teddy next, "Teddy! It's so great to see you again, and congratulations about the engagement, I almost squealed out loud when I read about it in the letter Vic wrote me in June. You sir, are one very lucky man."

Teddy laughed and pecked a kiss on both her cheeks, "Thank you Alexandrie, it's lovely to see you again too."

Cecilia's ears perked and she glanced at Louis, "You have two cousins named Alexandra?"

He shrugged, "This one doesn't go by Ally, so it's not too confusing. I will admit however, that it's odd that Victoire gets along best with her cousins when they're named Alexandra."

"Hello," The newly-identified blonde said brightly as she smiled at Cecilia, "I'm Alexandrie."

"Hi, I'm Cecilia Wood, I'm-"

Alexandrie gave her a beatific smile. "You're Louis's girlfriend," She finished for her, "I've heard loads about you from Louis." Alexandrie then smirked at her _favourite_ male cousin and gestured towards him with her thumb, "This one here's quite taken with you Cecilia. I reckon that you could ask him to give up magic forever and he'd do it."

Cecilia laughed, "Thank you for the compliment, but even in his lowest moments during Charms class I doubt Louis would ever actually give up magic."

"True, however I am very impressed with the level of devotion that you've squeezed out of him, all without the aid of any Veela magic. It's quite the feat," Alexandrie responded with a smile.

"Don't be so self-deprecating Alexandrie, I know that you don't like the prospect of using Veela magic to get a man to commit to you anymore than I do," Victoire told her cousin with a specific look.

Alexandrie put her hands up, "I was _trying_ to be modest. Besides, if I did use Veela magic it would have made my list of ex-boyfriends _much_ smaller."

"Speaking of boyfriends," Louis said to his cousin cheerily, "Where's Matthieu? Did he not come with you?"

Alexandrie shook her head, " _Non_ , we broke up a few months ago."

"A few months ago? Why didn't you mention it when you wrote to me last?" Victoire asked her cousin in surprise, Alexandrie had been with Matthieu for almost two years.

The other blonde shrugged, "We were trying to keep our break up on the down-low since we still work together, outside of our immediate family and closest friends we hadn't told anybody. I forgot to tell you when it happened because of that, and when our break-up became more public two months ago I figured I'd wait to tell you face-to-face."

"I'm sorry about the break-up then," Victoire told her sympathetically.

Alexandrie shrugged, "Don't be, it was time. Anyway, I'm with someone new now."

"Oh, did you bring him today?" Victoire asked curiously as she looked around the yard to see if there was a young man she didn't recognize.

"I brought _her_ , yes," Alexandrie replied with a bit of a smug smile.

Victoire, not missing a beat, clapped her hands together, "Brilliant, when do I get to meet her? I expect you've told her all about me?"

Alexandrie rolled her eyes, "Yes you'll get to meet her, but no I didn't have to tell her all about you. She already kind of knows you."

"Really?" Victoire asked perplexedly.

"She's two years younger than me, so she's your age, and she was at Hogwarts during your seventh-year because of the Tri-Wizard Tournament," Alexandrie explained.

Victoire sighed, "She probably thinks I'm a right nutter then."

"Well it's not like that's a lie or anything."

Victoire swatted her cousin's arm once the words left her mouth, and then Louis asked interestedly, "So where is this girlfriend then?"

"She's probably stuck talking to Gisèle," Alexandrie said with an eye roll as she thought of their shared step-cousin, "Stephanie works with her so she can't really get out of it if Gisèle starts up a conversation."

"Wait, your new girlfriend's a Siren's Secret model?" Victoire asked her cousin with a raised eye brow.

Alexandrie smirked at her, "You know that I like my significant others to be just as gorgeous as I am. Moreover, that quirk seems like a common family trait." She said the last part with a sweeping gesture towards Teddy and Cecilia's direction and a knowing smile.

"Can't deny that one," Louis chuckled as he wrapped his arms around Cecilia's waist and squeezed her tightly.

"Is it also a family quirk to be cheesy?" Cecilia asked him.

Victoire laughed, "That comes from Weasley side."

"So what's Aurélie up to?" Louis asked Alexandrie, "We haven't seen her yet today."

Alexandrie shrugged, "She's around here somewhere with her boyfriend Denis." She glanced at Cecilia, "Aurélie is my twin sister."

"Are you identical?" Cecilia inquired.

"No, fraternal. Although we look close enough to be mistaken for identical, there's only so much genetic variation you can get and still look like you have the Veela traits," Alexandrie clarified.

Cecilia pursed her lips and looked at Louis, "So Alexandrie and Aurélie are twins, and so are Émilie and Esmé? You have two sets of twins as cousins?"

"Fraternal twins actually seem to run in the family. Grand-tante Apolline and Grand-tante Artemais are also twins," Alexandrie explained.

Just as they were speaking of twins, the youngest of the bunch came running by. Émilie and Esmé, wearing identical flowered sundresses even though they didn't physically look identical, loudly declared that _Arrière grand-mère_ Séraphine had arrived. They ran away as quickly as they had arrived after they delivered their message.

"What does _Arrière_ mean? I know that _grand-mère_ means grandmother," Cecilia asked the French speakers of the group.

Victoire nervously patted her hair down as she expounded, " _Arrière grand-mère_ means great-grandmother. In this case it seems that Great-grandmother Séraphine has arrived."

"Lovely," Alexandrie muttered under her breath, fiddling with the neckline on her dress so that it covered a little bit more skin.

"Your great-grandmother," Cecilia mused as she watched Louis re-tuck the bottom of his short-sleeved dress shirt into his khaki shorts, "As in your mother's grandmother?"

Victoire toyed with the bow of her wrap-around dress until it was perfect and equal. Alexandrie answered Cecilia's question as she readjusted the bobby-pins that held half of her blonde hair up in a small twisted bun on the back of her head, "That's how genetics works, yes."

"As in the person whose hair makes up the core of Fleur's wand?"

Louis nodded his head as he fidgeted with the once-rolled cuff of his shorts, "Yup."

"I've got her hair as my wand core too," Alexandrie exclaimed, pulling out said wand and charming her visible toenails a more muted rose colour as opposed to the highlighter yellow that they had originally been.

Cecilia swallowed thickly and watched the three part-Veelas primping themselves and fidgeting with their appearances, "Your Great-grandmother, as in the woman who is a full Veela?"

"Yes," Victoire told her softly before turning to Teddy and fixing his already straight shirt collar.

"Oh Circe."

Alexandrie let out a bit of a hysterical laugh and glanced at Cecilia, "No darling, she's worse than Circe."

* * *

 **A/N:** So, I know that you guys have been waiting for this chapter since it was mentioned back in the first chapter, and I hoped that it lived up to your expectations. Please let me know your thoughts on it, and if you have any questions, comments, or concerns, feel free to leave them in a review or PM.

And for those of you who don't know, Circe is a Greek goddess who was a witch, and when she didn't like someone she turned them into small animals. In the _Odyssey_ she turned Odysseus into a pig.

I really appreciated everyone's suggestions for quidditch magazine names, and if you have anymore feel free to keep them coming, I'll let you know in a couple updates what I've decided to go with. :)

 **Next update:** Not sure, it will either be in two weeks, or at the end of April when my exams are done. I should note that directly after my exams my family has to drive down to Nova Scotia for my brother's university graduation, so it will be a busy time for me. You will most definitely get a new chapter up though, by the end of the first week of May.

 **Next Chapter:** Vic, Dom, and Teddy and Louis and Cecilia deal with the aftermath of the family reunion. We get to see the Hogwarts aged kids board the train to go back and there might be a little drama of their own. Clark asks Dom out again, and as he does he unintentionally makes euphemisms that makes Mark blush and causes Ally to look at Mark funny.

Teaser for Next Chap:

 **"Her eyes went wide with surprise and she held her breath as he continued.**

 **"I love you. I love every piece of you, and every inch of you, and I love that you're mine," He told her, his voice going rough."**

Now, who do we think is talking to whom here?

I want to thank everyone who has followed, favourited, read, and especially reviewed!

Biggest thanks to:

 **rosesnlilies, Jilly98, BuckBeak90, liverpoolss, Rainbow Lava Ninjas, Rosie Loves Pi, Break This Spell626, Shirama, NicoleTheSmith, KawaiiOtaku0405, zvc56, B. arendes, MuggleCreator, Jennifer Jules, Venz, Devi2509, Autumn, PhoenixGravity, Emma Stanger, GryffindorsRock, Bubbly Bookworm, kIMaYa,** and **brucaslover43!**

 **rosesnlilies** : Cute, I don't know what some other people call them, but it never hurts to have more than one ship name.

 **Rainbow Lava Ninjas** : That's so nice to hear.

 **Break This Spell** : Well how'd you enjoy Vic and Gisele's showdown?

 **MuggleCreator** : Perfectly fine to do both. This is a modern world after all.

 **Venz** : I hope your uni work is going well.

 **GryffindorsRock** : Sorry no bonfire, there was no plot or character development in it.

 **Bubbly Bookworm** : I've never really heard 5 Seconds of Summer. I'm not the type of person who listens to a lot of music, and when I do it's usually country music.

 **kIMaYa** : We will hear a little about Mark in the next chapter.

 **brucaslover43** : I'm impressed with your dedication to my stories, and I'm glad that you like them.

 **I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter,**

 **Please leave me any comments, questions, or concerns,**

 **I wish good luck to everyone else who is going through final exams,**

 **Until next time, DFTBA!**


	13. Self-Conscious

**A/N:** Hello everyone, I'm updating very early this week because tomorrow is my last university exam of my undergrad, and directly after it I need to move out of my apartment, and the next day my family is driving down to Nova Scotia for my brother's uni graduation. Therefore, because my next few days are way too busy, you get this update really early!

This chapter covers two different days, but it shouldn't be too confusing as they are, as always, clearly marked.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own _Harry Potter_.

* * *

 **Last Chap:** We met some of Victoire's family members on Fleur's side, and Cecilia was about to meet a full veela. All of the other Weasleys had already left to go back to England, and Cecilia had an argument two chapters ago with Oliver, before she went to stay with Louis's family.

* * *

 **Self-Conscious**

 **Wednesday, August 31** **st** **2022**

 **9:22 PM**

"Why is it that seeing _Arrière grand-mère_ Séraphine always gives me a complex?" Dom asked her older sister, an endearing pout in her tone.

Victoire sighed and ran her hand comfortingly through her sister's loose hair, "It's because she thinks that the fact that you have red hair means that you've got the devil in you."

Dom let out a sigh of her own and nestled her head onto Victoire's shoulder. They were lying down, side-by-side, on the bed in the guestroom Victoire and Teddy were sharing.

"She's the one who can turn into a fiery-demon-bird when she's angry, but _I'm_ the one who's apparently evil?" Dom asked incredulously.

Her sister let out a bit of a chuckle, "It's okay, I still love you. Sometimes."

"It's not fair," Dom sulked, "She likes you because you've got stupidly strong Veela powers, stronger than everyone else's it seems like, and because you're going to marry a metamorphmagus and have even more beautiful and freakily powerful children. Louis is her favourite little genetic impossibly being male so she automatically dotes on him. She even likes Alexandrie and Aurélie and all of our other cousins better than me because at least they resemble her."

Victoire rolled her eyes, Dom could be such a drama queen sometimes, "Dominique Gabrielle Weasley, you have just as much Veela blood as Alexandrie and I do. The only reason Séraphine is hard on you is because you remind her of herself. She's just jealous that you're a younger, and prettier version of her."

Dom knew that her sister was exaggerating to make her feel batter, but she did very much appreciate it, "I love you too Big Sis. Sometimes."

The elder sister chuckled and pressed a kiss to her younger sister's forehead, "This is just like us isn't it? We're just starting to get along, and then we're separated. You're going back to England tomorrow for work, and Teddy and I are staying for a few more days here."

"Well I'm sure that I could convince Colton to give me a few more days off, but I have a feeling that you and Teddy have plans for the next few days and that I'd just be an impediment to," Dom said with a wicked smirk on her face.

Victoire rolled her eyes, and grinned, "Yes, I rather agree that you'd just be in the way."

Dom snorted, "You have no sense of adventure."

Victoire's anticipated retort never came because Teddy chose that moment to wander back into the room. He had been in the bathroom getting ready for bed, and when he came out he was only wearing a pair of cotton pyjama shorts.

Dom whistled when she saw her sister's fiancé, which caused Teddy to jump in surprise and place his hand, on his very _bare_ chest, over his heart, "Merlin Dom you startled me."

He waved his hand and summoned over a white t-shirt, and as he shrugged into it Dom remarked, "There's no need for you to feel self-conscious and cover up Teddy, you're a total ten."

She punctuated the statement with a wink.

Teddy walked over to the bed the two women were still laying on and smirked, "Thank you for the compliment Dom, but I didn't do that for your sake. Your sister has a hard time stringing two thoughts together when she sees me in any state of undress."

"Who needs thoughts when you've got _that_ in front of you? Human instinct just kicks in," Victoire argued as Teddy crawled onto the bed and squeezed in between her and Dom.

He chuckled and pressed a kiss to her nose before settling in and throwing an arm underneath both women's heads, "Thank you Love." He glanced at Dom next, "Why the long face?"

" _Arrière grand-mère_ Séraphine is a pain in the arse."

Teddy nodded, "At least she insults all of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren equally. She told Victoire that the longer we wait to get married and have children, the more removed from optimum childbearing years she becomes."

"Good Godric she did _not_ ," Dom gasped in surprise.

"She did," Victoire established, "I'm twenty-two, I'm going to be twenty-four when I get married, but my great-grandmother felt it incumbent to warn me that every month that goes by in which I don't become pregnant, is one more month in which I'm just letting perfectly good eggs go to waste."

Teddy rubbed his hand soothingly on her arm while Dom made a face, " _C'est ouf_! I can't believe she said that."

"While I appreciated the physiological fact in what she said, it took a lot of restraint to _not_ throw a ball of fire at her," Victoire admitted readily.

Dom pursed her lips, "You should have done it. She's fire resistant, it wouldn't have hurt her."

"Yeah, but that would have taken all of the fun out of it," The blonde sister pouted.

Teddy sighed and pecked Victoire on the forehead, "Your great-grandmother grew up in a different time where all women were expected to have as many children as they could, and she doesn't understand the drive you have to have a career. You are going to be a wonderful healer and a wonderful mother, and you will be wonderful at doing both at the same time."

He turned to Dom next, "And _you_ , you are driven and bold. Self-sufficient and clever, and you have fantastic instincts. Don't ever feel like you have to change to please anybody. You are brilliant and if your great-grandmother can't see that, then it's probably because she's getting senile."

Dom laughed even though her eyes had started to tear up. Teddy patted her arm and examined her expression, "What are you thinking about?"

"I'm wondering how you would feel about polygyny," The redhead said in a musing tone, "I think Vic and I could handle being sister wives, literally."

Said potential-sister-wife sat up so that she could glare at her younger sister who was apparently contemplating stealing her fiancé, "Dom, we hated sharing a bathroom together when we lived at home in the summers, I doubt we'd be able to share a husband."

"So what you're saying is that you're going to bow out and let me have him?" Dom questioned, trying her best to keep a straight face.

Victoire rolled her eyes, "No. What I'm saying is that you need to leave before I try to claw your eyes out. You might be my sister, but I'm not going to share Teddy with anybody."

"Fine," Dom replied with an exaggerated eye roll before giving Teddy a kiss on the cheek, sitting up, and then jumping off the bed and exiting the room.

"Ugh," Victoire groaned once her sister shut the door behind her, "I know she was just kidding, but the thought of you with anybody other than me makes me want to . . . to do something that won't be very nice."

She couldn't think of an appropriate threat at the moment.

Teddy wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close to him, so close that their noses almost touched, "You don't need to worry about that Sweetheart. I don't want anybody but you. You're almost perfect."

"Almost perfect?" She questioned, raising an eyebrow and frowning at him.

He smirked and pressed a kiss underneath her ear, "Well you _are_ still wearing clothes."

"So are you," She replied. She slipped her hands up underneath his t-shirt and bit her lip as she came into contact with the warm skin of his stomach, "So maybe we should do something to fix that."

He grabbed her by the hips and rolled them over so that she was on top of him, "If you'd like, Wife-Number-One."

She, lightly, smacked the smirk off his face and kissed him, "Number one and only."

"Obviously."

* * *

 **9:37 PM**

Cecilia was looking through her suitcase and trying to make sure that she had put everything back in it that she had come with, excepting the pyjamas she was presently wearing of course, when Dom entered the room that they shared.

"Oh, so you're one of _those_ ," Dom said exaggeratedly as she strolled over to her bed and flopped down on it.

The younger girl paused in the inspection of her suitcase and looked perplexedly at her boyfriend's sister, "One of what?"

"One of those people who pack the night before departing, instead of leaving everything to the last minute," Dom explained with a casual wave of her hand.

Cecilia rolled her eyes and then closed her suitcase, "Yes I am. But that's not why I'm double-checking. My father expects me to be home right at nine o'clock tomorrow morning and I wouldn't put it past him to put out a missing person's report if I was even five minutes late."

Dom laughed. She found the idea funnier than Cecilia did, "Honestly, I never pegged Oliver to be the over-protective type. I mean he let his son leave school early to become a professional athlete in a sport that could either seriously injure, or kill, him. If he trusted Xavier to make that decision at seventeen, you'd think he'd allow you to make your own decisions about how much time you spend with your boyfriend at eighteen."

Cecilia sighed, "Would you mind telling him that?"

"I _would_ be the best choice. If you asked Victoire to do it she would just end up staring longingly at your father with a gobsmacked expression on her face," Dom mused.

The younger woman groaned and sat down on the bed she had slept in the night before, "Did you ever have . . . disagreements like this with your father?"

"Did I ever argue with my father over the boyfriend I've had for almost five years?" Dom clarified with a raised eyebrow.

"Stupid question I guess," Cecilia admitted with a bit of a nod of her head.

Dom sent her a small smile, "You'll get through this. It may seem like a big deal now, but in a few years it'll just be a little bump on the road. Oliver's only being over-protective because he cares about you."

"That's actually some really good advice," Cecilia commented with a contemplative tilt of her head.

The blonde pressed her lips together, "I don't appreciate the tone of surprise, but I do understand it."

"Sorry."

Dom shrugged, and then an evil glint came into her eyes. It was the type that would have made Cecilia take a step back if they didn't already have the whole space of the room between them, "Now, since I've given you some good and mature advice, I believe it is time to give you some more advice –admittedly also good– but that will be a bit more fun for you."

"Which is?" The younger woman asked both hesitantly and interestedly.

Her boyfriend's sister smirked at her, "You're eighteen Cecilia, and my parents really don't care what you and Louis get up to, so go spend the night with your boyfriend."

Cecilia's mouth opened like a fish and she closed it without saying anything, her face going red. Dom noticed the other girl's embarrassment and rolled her eyes.

"I'm not saying that you have to go have your way with him –although if you do, could you make sure that you're the one who puts the silencing charm on the room? I honestly don't know how that boy got into Flitwick's N. E. W. T. level Charms class let alone passed his exam with an Acceptable no less," Dom shook her head, "Anyway, I got off-track. The point is, I know that you're not going to have many opportunities to spend time with Louis when you get back home. I'm mean there's only so many times a week that you can convince your dad that you're staying over with Xavier or Eliza, so you should probably take all the chances you can."

Cecilia looked down at her hands and bit her lip, "I forgot that you can be so blunt."

"It's one of my many, many good qualities," Dom replied with a smile.

It took a few minutes, but Cecilia got over her embarrassment and finally dug up the courage to walk across the hall to Louis's room. The door to the room was open, so she knocked lightly on it as she stood in the doorway.

"May I come in?"

Louis looked up from his mobile phone and gave her a bright smile, "Of course you can." He tossed the phone onto the bedside table and gestured for her to come in.

She stepped into the room, shut the door behind her –rather slyly she thought– and sat down on the bed next to him, "I had fun today."

"I'm glad. What did you think of my family?" He asked curiously, a bright smile on his face.

Cecilia slid closer to him and casually put her hand on his knee, "Well you know that I've always loved Vic, but Dom and I have definitely been getting closer."

He shook his head in amusement and put his hand on top of hers, flipping it over and then running his index finger across her palm, "It's a good thing you can make sassy look adorable." He turned his gaze away from her eyes and kept it on the patterns he was drawing on her skin, "But really, what did you think?"

"Esmé and Émilie were adorable. Alexandrie was very nice, and your cousin Gisèle is . . . quite the character," She summarized timidly.

Louis stopped drawing on her hand and brought it up to his lips to give it a kiss, "And what did you think of my great-grandmother?"

"It was . . ." Cecilia paused for a moment as she tried to find the right word, "Interesting to say the least to meet an actual full veela."

"That was quite the diplomatic answer," He observed as he dropped her hand and wrapped his arm around her waist instead.

She blushed, "I was just surprised. She seems very . . . opinionated."

"You were surprised that someone in my family is opinionated?" Louis asked her with a raised eyebrow.

His girlfriend's cheeks went redder and she didn't reply. He waited to see if she would say something else, but when a couple solid minutes of silence passed he began to get nervous.

"Cee-Cee, I know that despite my best attempts my great-grandmother got you alone for a few moments. I hope that she didn't say anything too horrible to you."

She bit her lip and turned her body into him so that she could hide her face against his chest, "She's just . . . concerned about you. Wants to make sure that you're making good life choices."

Louis groaned and rested his head on top of hers, "For the love of Godric Gryffindor please tell me that you're not about to break up with me because my great-grandmother acted like a bitch."

"I'm not going to break up with you Louis," Cecilia assured him, finally lifting her face so that she could look him in the eyes.

He let out a sigh of relief, " _Dieu merci_. Will you tell me what she told you though? I'd like to know."

"She was nicer to me than she was to Victoire," She told him softly. He sent her a begging look, complete with puppy-dog eyes and she caved, "She just asked me whether I expected to get a couple more inches in height or if I was finished growing."

"Oh Circe no. Why in the name of Hades would she ask you that?"

Cecilia shrugged, "No idea, before that she did ask me how old I was. Apparently I could pass for fourteen."

He muttered something in French, but didn't translate it for her. She noticed the pain on his face and brought her hand up to cup his cheek, "It's alright Babe, honestly. I know that I'm small and not exactly the most statuesque person."

She meant for it to come out in a light-hearted tone but she couldn't _quite_ manage it. A fact that didn't escape him. He locked his gaze with hers.

"I know that I tell you that you're beautiful a lot, but you're also incredibly sexy. I also know that I don't say that often, and that's because between two older sisters and my mother I've been programmed to always try to be respectful of women, but my God Cecilia sometimes I can't think straight when I look at you."

Her eyes went wide with surprise and she held her breath as he continued.

"I love you. I love every piece of you, and every inch of you, and I love that you're mine," He told her, his voice going rough.

Cecilia felt her stomach tighten at his words, "So you don't mind that I look like I'm fourteen?"

"Trust me Cee-Cee, you do _not_ look fourteen. As I said before, my great-grandmother can be a bitch," Louis reassured her.

She looked away from his gaze again, "She wasn't the only one this week to say that I look like a child."

He immediately knew what she was referring to, "Danielle and Gloria are just jealous Sweetheart. They know that I'm absolutely head-over-heels in love with you and they were just pathetically attempting to put you down and make me think less of you."

"So they didn't succeed?" She asked hesitantly.

He kissed her nose, "Not at all. I've been looking at you for five years, I am _well_ aware of what you look like."

A smirk was playing around her lips, "So you don't wish that I was tall and blonde with legs a mile long?"

"Um, no. Then you'd look like my sister. Or my mum. Or any number of my extended cousins really," He replied, a repulsed look coming across his face.

Cecilia laughed at his expression, "Well it's good to know that you don't have an Oedipus complex."

* * *

 **Thursday, September 1** **st** **2022**

 **10:51 AM**

Platform nine-and-three-quarters was bustling with families as it always was on the first of September. The scarlet steam engine glistened in the dim light that filtered down to it, and the platform was filled with the excited chatter of students and the heartfelt goodbye of parents. And in some cases, siblings.

"I can't believe this is your last year," Ally bemoaned as she squeezed the living daylights out of her little brother –who, to be fair, wasn't very little anymore as he was seventeen and taller than her. "I'm going to miss you so much!"

Freddie handled it with as much dignity as she expected him too.

"For the love of Merlin Ally I'm going back to school, not off to fight in World War II."

His sister loosened her hold on him, but left it up to him as to whether or not he would move out of the hug. Which he did.

"You're just growing up Freddie, and this is going to be your last year at Hogwarts and-" He had been trying to covertly inch away from his sister and towards the train, but she reached back out for him as she spoke, grabbing him by the face this time, "I know that you're going to want to cram in as much fun in your last year as you can, but please try to get some studying in too, yeah?"

He rolled his eyes and pulled her hands off of him, "You're bloody worse than Mum, you know that right?"

She flicked his ear.

"Ow!"

"You're a pain in the arse," Ally told him as she dropped her arms to her side.

He took a few steps away as if to leave and then turned around again and looked at his sister. There was a pause before he ran back over to her and gave her a quick, but tight, hug, "I'm going to miss you too Ally."

The words had all smooshed together to sound more like 'ImgointmissoutoeAlly'.

"Aw, now why can't you lot get along like that?" Harry Potter's voice reprimanded his children as he and his family joined the Weasleys on the platform.

James rolled his eyes at his father's words, "It's because we actually still have our self-respect."

He let out a grumbled 'ow' next as Ginny reached over and pulled at his ear.

"Besides," James continued, moving out of his mother's range and rubbing the ear she had pulled, "We're all going to school together, there will be no chances for us to miss each other."

Al smirked at his brother, "Actually, considering that you're Quidditch captain again this year and that you've got Mélanie, I probably won't see you again until Christmas."

"Fair point," Lily piped up with a smirk of her own. James tried to glare at both of his siblings, but the big smile that broke across his face when he thought of Mélanie kind of ruined the effect.

Harry glanced at Ally and Freddie, "So where are your parents? Or did you get stuck with drop-off Ally?"

"Mum had to go to the hospital this morning but she promised to be here just before the train leaves to say goodbye, as for Dad, he spotted his friend Lee Jordan somewhere down the platform and went to say hello to him," Ally explained.

Hermione, Ron, Rose, and Hugo found the group shortly after, and then Ally gave goodbye hugs to all of her cousins, everyone but Rose trying to pull away when it lasted a little too long. At three minutes to eleven, when the train would officially pull out of the station, Angelina finally glided onto the platform in time to say goodbye to her son. George had found them again a few minutes before, so everyone got the last of the hugs, kisses, and warnings not to blow anything up, out of the way and then watched the kids as they boarded the train.

Once on the train, Lily and Hugo immediately took off to find some other fifth years, while the seventh and sixth year Weasleys and Potters piled into the closest compartment –which was empty except for the presence of James and Freddie's mate Nolan Finnegan– and they all squished around the windows of the room to wave goodbye to their parents. When the train had pulled out of the station and the family members on the platform were no longer visible, Mélanie popped her head into the compartment and made a beeline directly for James.

Their reunion was rather heartwarming, if not a little over-the-top considering that it had only been two days since they last saw each other.

Rose and Al were about to use the opportunity to slide out of the compartment, Rose needed to make her way to the top of the train to the prefect carriage and Al was planning to find a compartment to sit in while he waited for Rose and Scorpius to finish their meeting with the prefects and heads, but their exit was suddenly blocked by the entrance of Norah Summers.

Norah glanced around the compartment, and just as she spotted whom she was looking for –James– Selene Spiros also poked her dark head into the doorway, a shiny Head Girl badge affixed to the school robes she had already changed into.

"So Captain," Norah began, giving James a small smirk, "Selene has just informed me that her parents want her to quit the Quidditch team so that she can spend her year focusing on studying for N. E. W. T.s and her Head Girl duties."

"WHAT!" James yelled as his gaze went from his beater –who had spoken– to his chaser and the badge that was on her robes.

Selene decided to intervene before James's face could turn purple, "Calm down Potter, my parents said no such thing. Norah's just messing with you." She narrowed her eyes at the sixth-year beater, "I told you not to tease him Norah."

Norah just shrugged her shoulders, a wicked smirk still on her face, and Nolan Finnegan and Freddie both started laughing, "Ah, that was a simple one but a good one Norah. The look on James's face was priceless."

"You're quite devious there Summers, as well as looking very fit this year I might add," Nolan commented as he gave Norah a thoughtful look.

Freddie's smile at James's shock from Norah's little prank faded and he glared at his friend who was openly flirting with the girl _he_ had spent the last school year flirting with.

Rose and Al could see that an argument was probably about to start, and they along with Selene and Norah herself decided to vacate the compartment before Freddie and Nolan could get into it. Al took off to find an empty compartment, or Alice, whichever he stumbled upon first, while Norah went off in the opposite direction to find some friends of hers.

Together Rose and Selene travelled to the front of the train where the prefects' carriage was, and Rose sat down with the other prefects while Selene and the other heads started their customary beginning of the term introduction. It ended quickly and then Rose and Scorpius set off to find whatever compartment Al was supposed to be saving them seats in, as they weren't scheduled to patrol the train until later in the journey.

"So are you excited for the new school year?" Scorpius asked Rose conversationally as they peeked in the windows of the compartments they passed, trying to spot Al's familiar face in one.

Rose looked thoughtful as she considered his words, "I think I am. Everything's going to be so much harder now that we're N. E. W. T. students, but I think I'm up for the challenge."

Her pale blonde companion smiled casually and commented, "Well you're top of our year so obviously you're ready for what's to come, the rest of us more mediocre students will probably be struggling by the end of September."

"Come off it," Rose replied with a light laugh, "Both you and Al will be fine, and I bet that you won't even have to surrender too many hours studying that you'd rather be spending at Quidditch practice."

Scorpius smirked, "Oh I can assure you that neither Al nor I will be giving over Quidditch practice for studying. Neither of us will want the other to have an edge over him."

Rose gave the Slytherin her 'prefect' look, "Learning how to use wordless magic is going to be a struggle though, and it will take a lot of practice."

"Well when _we_ have trouble I'm sure a certain kind and brilliant Gryffindor will take pity on us and help us with our work, after the appropriate amount of grovelling has been undertaken of course," He replied with a specific look.

She rolled her eyes at him and started tapping her chin faux-contemplatively, "I don't know, I'll have a lot of work to do myself after all . . . perhaps if you make it worth my while . . ." Her tone of voice turned teasing near the end.

Scorpius looked down at his feet for a moment, and since he paused longer than would be necessary for a normal conversation, Rose felt a sudden charge in their awkward silence. She bit her lip, and began wondering why she was starting to feel so warm, and why it felt as though hippogriffs had suddenly taken up residence in her stomach. The pace of their stroll slowed, and they came to a stop in the middle of the hall as Scorpius hesitantly looked up at her and locked his grey gaze on her brown eyes.

"I'm sure that I could think of something to make it worth your while," He told her. His words were low and slow, but confident. There was an undercurrent to his tone that Rose couldn't explain, and didn't dare think too deeply on.

She just glanced down at her own feet and waited a minute before blurting out, "Victoire gave me some tips over the summer about using wordless magic. She said that it's actually simpler than we make it out to be and that it's important to be relaxed when casting spells."

He nodded his head at her words and then glanced at the compartment to their left, "I think I see Al in there."

Rose nodded and they silently entered the compartment. Inside it Al and Alice Longbottom were sitting on one side, Alice laughing loudly and tossing pieces of multi-coloured popcorn at Al.

Al was rolling his eyes at her and saying, "Honestly Alice, it wasn't that funny."

"Honestly _Albus_ ," Alice retorted, leaning close to him so that she could pick out of his hair some of the popcorn that she had thrown at him, "It sounds like it _was_ that funny."

The pair didn't seem intent on stopping whatever conversation they were having upon Rose and Scorpius's entrance, so the two prefects sat down on the opposite side of the compartment –as far away from each other as the bench seat would allow– and watched the other two in complete silence.

Once Alice seemed to finish picking the popcorn out of Al's hair, she glanced at the quiet prefects, "So who're the heads this year? Al said that Selene Spiros got Gryffindor's spot."

Rose began to list the names of the one Slytherin, Ravenclaw, and two Hufflepuffs that made up the rest of the head students, while Al and Scorpius exchanged looks that only the best friends' could decipher.

Alice had just unapologetically proclaimed the Head Girl for Slytherin to be a complete cow, when the door to their compartment opened and Kieran Chang of Hufflepuff stuck his head in. He smiled upon seeing Alice, but then frowned when he saw Scorpius and Al.

"Hi Honey," Kieran said, addressing his girlfriend, "I thought you said that you were going to be sitting with your girlfriends?"

Alice looked at him with a raised eyebrow, "Rose is a girl."

Kieran nodded dismissively, "Of course, I just thought–never mind. Are you sure that you don't want to come join me and my friends?"

Earlier Alice had told her boyfriend that he could go sit with his friends and catch up on their goings on during the summer, and that she'd find her own friends to sit with. While she did want to spend time with Kieran, she wasn't particularly enthused about the idea of sitting through several hours of discussion of the stupid things her boyfriend's mates had gotten up to over the summer holidays. So she decided to find her own friends to sit with. Kieran had agreed with the arrangement earlier when she mentioned it, so she was a little confused now as to why he was making a thing out of it.

"And listen to Brecht Mertens go on and on about the trouble he got into on the trip he took to visit his older brother in Amsterdam? I don't think so," Alice replied with a roll of her eyes.

Kieran nodded and sent Al a suspicious look before giving his girlfriend a smile, "His story does lose some _oomph_ after a few retellings. Would you like me to join you here then?"

"That's not necessary Kier," Alice told him with a sweet smile but a dismissive wave of her hand, "You go have your guy time. I'll meet you later, once Mertens's stories of debauchery have abated."

He nodded slowly at her, and left just as two more sixth-year Gryffindor girls entered the compartment, exclaiming loudly that they were glad to have finally found Alice and Rose. The group of sixth-years re-arranged themselves, the four girls sitting on the side that Rose had been seated on, Scorpius moving to the opposite to sit with Al.

"Should we switch compartments to allow the girls time to gossip and catch up?" Scorpius asked his best mate while he glanced at the four Gryffindor girls who seemed to be talking a mile a minute.

Al didn't seem as though he was listening, because he was also watching the group of girls with a considering expression, so when he replied it was to Scorpius's slight surprise, "I never considered a reserved Slytherin to be the type to be afraid of a group of sixteen-year-old girls."

"I'm not afraid of them," Scorpius argued a little petulantly. He knew that he was playing right into his mate's hands, but he couldn't stop his reply.

The Gryffindor boy smirked and sent a not-so-covert gaze in Alice's direction, "Then I guess we'll stay."

Scorpius rolled his eyes at his best mate but was silent. He'd ask Al about it later when they weren't in a room full of giggly girls.

* * *

 **5:16 PM**

"Why is someone sending you mail this late in the evening? Most _normal_ people are done work by this time of the day," Colton remarked as he strode into Dom's office, a letter packet in his hand.

"You say that, and yet here we both are, still at work," Dom commented as she signed her name at the bottom of the papers she had been proof reading, "And why are you brining me my mail? You're a senior partner, not an intern."

He rolled his eyes and tossed the letter packet onto her desk, "I'm bringing you the mail because you already scarred three of our interns for life when they tried to bring you things today."

"That's only because they kept bringing up the fact that they saw me in the paper with Xavier and they thought that that would allow them to ask me questions about my love life," Dom replied in a scathing tone.

She scowled just thinking about her interactions with the interns. She wasn't as quick to anger as Victoire was, or as physically or magically violent, but when she got annoyed she could let loose her sharp tongue. Which is exactly what she did, and apparently the reason why three of their new interns were now scared of her.

Colton snorted, "So why are you getting mail in the evening?"

"So why are you still here and not at home with your fantastic wife?" Dom asked him, answering his nosy question with a nosy question of her own.

He rolled his eyes again and folded his arms over his chest, "Stasia is having dinner with some friends tonight so I don't need to hurry home. Your turn now."

Dom looked at the writing on the packet and began to open it up, "That writing tells me it's from Spencer." She smirked as she pulled out a fancy mahogany picture frame, the picture of her and Xavier from _The Daily Prophet_ laying underneath the glass.

"Ah Spencer, he has the best sense of humour," She mused as she set the picture frame up on the desk.

"I'd suggest not allowing Xavier to see that, it seems like he hates it when he's in the paper with anyone but Ally."

Dom shuffled some papers on her desk and pulled out a new piece of parchment and quill, "I think you'd also hate to be in the paper with any woman other than your wife."

"That's true," Colton observed, looking back at the framed picture of her and Xavier again, the headline also encased in the glass.

She looked at it again also, and then a thoughtful expression bloomed across her face and she picked up her mobile phone. She searched through the contacts until she found the right person and pressed 'call'.

When it picked up Dom said, "Hey, Ally?"

* * *

 **5:21 PM**

Ally had predicted that going back to work after taking a small holiday would be hard, and even though it was her _second_ day back at work, she had been right. It seemed like the pace of brewing potions had picked up, she guessed in preparation for the slew of new residents that would start at St. Mungo's in the next few weeks, and she had ended up having to stay fifteen minutes later at work than was strictly necessary in order to make sure that everything was set up for the next day.

Even though she was late, she knew that Xavier wouldn't be home yet because he had some sort of meeting with his father and another coach, so she took her time as she apparated to his apartment complex and took the elevator up to his floor. She had just stepped off the lift and was searching through her bag to find her key to Xavier's flat when her mobile phone started to ring.

She gave up her search for her key, and was looking for her mobile when Mark and Clark came out of Mark's flat –which was across from Xavier's– and greeted her as they passed. She pressed 'answer' on her screen while simultaneously high-fiving Mark as he walked by her.

"Hello, Dom?"

Out of the corner of her eye Ally saw Clark stop and do an about-face, Mark also coming to a pause when he realized that his friend was no longer moving. She rolled her eyes at Clark and tried to focus on what her cousin was saying on the other end of the line, "Sure, of course I'll do you a favour, what is it?"

Before Dom responded, Clark grabbed the phone out of Ally's hand and pressed the speaker button so that they could all hear.

"Well Ally, I've spent half the day telling the interns here at my work that my connection to Xavier is none of their business, but since they prefer to gossip, it would be very helpful if you took your boyfriend out for the night and got photographed being an adorable and vomit inducing couple."

Ally glanced at the phone in confusion, "And how would Xavier and I going out on a date help _you_ exactly?"

"Because," Dom's voice announced, "I need everyone to stop thinking that I'm involved with Xavier, and the quickest way to do that is to go out and let some creepy photographer get a shot of you and Xavier being lovey-dovey, 'kay?"

Her cousin rolled her eyes while Clark smirked at the phone, "You know Dom, going out with me could clear up that little misunderstanding too."

A snort was heard from the other end of the line, before Dom's voice said, "Hello Clark. Hi Mark!"

"Hi Dom," Mark called to the phone from behind Clark. His friend immediately turned around and sent a glare at him. Mark just shrugged in reply.

"So is that a yes to a date?" Clark enquired curiously of the woman on the other end of the phone.

Ally could practically _hear_ Dom roll her eyes, "We've been through this Clark-"

"That we have, it's only fair to give me a chance. C'mon, we can go on a double-date with Ally and Xavier if it'll make you feel more comfortable about it," Clark cajoled her.

Another snort from the phone, "The whole reason I called _Ally_ , was to try to get people to stop thinking that I'm with Xavier, being seen in public with him again probably won't help that."

Ally and Mark nodded in agreement with Dom's words and Clark stuck his tongue out at them before addressing the phone again, "Alright then, we'll double with someone else. You bring one of your friends, and I'll bring Mark. He hasn't had a girlfriend let alone a date in _way_ too long."

"Hey!" Mark exclaimed with annoyance as he sent a glare to his fellow beater, and best friend.

Clark winked at him but kept speaking, "He likes brunettes."

Ally, who had gone back to searching through her bag for her key, muttered, "Well _that_ was rather obvious."

Mark's head whipped in her direction and she sent him a raised eyebrow, as if daring him to contradict her words. He didn't.

Dom's voice called out of the mobile again, "Clark, I don't think-"

"Come on Dom, this isn't just about you and me. This is about Mark too, he's definitely past due for some good lovin'," Clark mused.

Ally finally found her key and sent a look at a blushing Mark, and then at the oblivious Clark, "You might want to be careful about what you wish for there Clark . . ."

He didn't seem to hear her as he was still pleading with Dom.

"Listen Clark, I need to finish this contract I'm working on by tomorrow and I still have ten pages to go so . . ." Dom's voice trailed off apologetically as Clark started to pout.

Mark patted his friend on the shoulder, "She can't see the face you're making mate."

"I'm sorry, but I've got to go," Dom's voice repeated, "But seriously Ally, think about what I said."

Ally promised she would, and then took the phone out of Clark's limp hand and ended the call, "Anybody else you want to make a call on my phone?"

Clark shook his head petulantly and folded his arms across his chest, "Why won't she date me?"

Mark held in his sigh well, so Ally figured that it probably wasn't the first time that he heard his fellow beater moan about Dom not reacting to his advances. She also figured that it was probably her turn to address the issue.

"Dom can be abrasive at times Clark, and painfully honest," Ally told him as she put her hand comfortingly on his shoulder.

Clark sighed, "I've noticed."

"But it's a good thing, because if she actually didn't like you, you'd know. She would tell you straight up," Ally explained.

He seemed to really be considering her words, "So you're saying that I might still have a chance?"

"I'm saying that if Dom wanted you to stop asking her out, that you would know because she would tell you point blank, and then curse you if you kept it up," She clarified.

Clark nodded, "Then I'm going to be cautiously optimistic."

"Go for it," Ally told him as she turned to the door of Xavier's flat and put the key in the keyhole and began to undo the extra security wards.

Clark was smiling now and he patted Mark on the back, "Fantastic, now all we need to do is find you someone to pine after, preferably one that doesn't give you as much of a run as Dom does to me."

Ally sighed heavily and glanced at Clark, "For a beater you're rather unobservant."

"Huh?"

"Don't worry about it," Mark interrupted smoothly as he started to push his best mate towards the lift. He gave Ally a specific look and then said to Clark as he marched him down the hall, "We were supposed to leave ten minutes ago."

* * *

 **8:32 PM**

"Hey."

"Hey."

Baxter stood a little awkwardly at the threshold of Eliza's door and wasn't entirely sure what to say next. He settled on, "How're you and Rowan?"

She stared tiredly at him for a moment before giving her head a shake to clear it and stepping out of the doorway to leave room for him to walk through, "We're both fine, do you want to come in?"

"It's alright, I know it is kind of late for a visit when you have a three week old, I just wanted to drop this off," He held up a white paper gift bag as if to explain that that was what he was talking about.

Eliza eyed it warily but gestured once more for him to come in, "Rowan's asleep right now, and should be for the next two hours at least. You can come in, I'd appreciate some grownup talk for a bit."

Or she would appreciate some grownup talk that didn't involve her family members' patronizing comments about her being a single teenaged mother, or Benjamin's mother and fiancée's not-as-sly-as-they-think insults to her face.

She led him to the living room and they both sat down on her sofa, but with a seat cushion of space between them, "So how was France?"

"It had a rough start but it was great by the end," He told her honestly, a small smile lighting up his face.

Eliza nodded and then self-consciously started to run her fingers through her hair. Rowan was fantastic for a newborn, but taking care of her was very tiring and Eliza hadn't had the luxury of making sure that she looked as _presentable_ as she usually did. As it was, she only spent a minute finger-combing her hair before deciding to give in and throw her long black hair up into a messy bun with the elastic she had around her wrist.

"I've spoken to Cecilia on the phone, so she told me about Xavier winning his game," Eliza commented as she tried to think of something to keep the conversation going.

Baxter nodded, "It was a fun game to watch, and quite the atmosphere too."

"I can imagine," She replied with a smile.

He smiled back and then slowly handed the gift bag over to her, "I got you something while I was in France."

She hesitantly reached out and accepted the gift, "You didn't have to get me anything Baxter."

"I know. I just . . . I saw it and it made me think of you. I thought you'd like it and that – this is probably going to sound bad, but I thought you could use it," He told her as she stared at the bag.

Eliza reached into it and pulled out a muggle musical record. She glanced at the title and noted that it, along with the composer's name, was French, "You got me a muggle record?"

"Yeah, I noticed the last time I was here that you had some records in your bookcase," Baxter told her, feeling a little awkward at admitting that he'd paid that much attention to her living room.

She bit her lip and looked down at the gift again, "It's classical music."

"It is. When I noticed that you had records, I also noticed that you had a lot of classical records. I assumed that that meant that you like classical music? Or did I read the situation totally wrong?" He asked, his voice starting to turn embarrassed.

She reached out and placed her hand on his arm without thinking about it, "No you didn't, I love classical music."

"Good," He replied with a bit of a relieved exhale, "It's supposed to be very relaxing and peaceful."

Eliza nodded and then a thought popped into her head and her throat thickened even though she wasn't entirely sure why, "Relaxing. I guess it'll help Rowan get to sleep then."

Baxter looked at her both a little anxiously and a little confusedly, "I guess it would . . . but I wasn't really thinking of that when I got it. I thought you would enjoy it. I figured a little relaxing music for the mother of a newborn baby couldn't go amiss."

She swallowed heavily and then bit her lip again, "It this just a really polite way to tell me that I look tired and harried?"

"What?" He almost yelled, "No of course not! I-I just thought-" He stopped when he realized that she was biting her lip because she was trying to stop herself from smiling.

"That wasn't funny."

She stopped biting her lip and let a laugh break free, "I'm sorry, but it feels surprisingly good to be able to laugh at myself."

"And at me too?"

There was a bright smile on his face so she knew that he wasn't actually taking it to heart.

"Laughing with you, not at you," She corrected, smiling at seeing the lively smile on his own face.

"I'll take it," Baxter assured her.

Eliza looked down at the classical record that was still in her hands, "What do you say I crack this open and we see if it's worthy of its positive reviews?"

"The noise won't wake Rowan up?"

She shook her head as she stood up, "Rowan goes by her own schedule. She sleeps when she wants to sleep, and wakes up when she wants to be awake."

"Alright then."

* * *

 **A/N:** Okay, I hope you enjoyed seeing the Hogwarts kids, because this is going to be the last time we see them for a little while, although if something big does happen to them, we'll hear about it of course. So, I hope that you liked seeing a lot of the different characters in this chapter, and let me know which parts you liked, or if there was something you disliked or found confusing.

 **Next Update:** I'm not sure when it will happen. During the next few months I'll be working on finding a job and figuring out what I'm going to do with the rest of my life, so my updating might be haphazard. I promise to you that I will do my best to update somewhat regularly, and that if I do take a longer break for whatever reason, that I'll let you all know ahead of time. I have no plans right now of abandoning this story while people still enjoy reading it. 'Kay?

 **Next Chapter:** Vacation's over and everyone goes back to work, which means that we get to see Victoire at her first day of residency, and we finally get to know what's going on with Teddy's cases, as well as a quick recap of what happened concerning the cases in the last story.

Teaser for Next Chap:

 **""Is that all then?" Kingsley asked the group almost an hour later after they had dealt with all of the details of the cases.**

 **Teddy help his index finger up, "I've got something else, but it's sort of potentially disastrous.""**

I want to thank everyone again for following, favouriting, reading, and especially reviewing.

BIG thank yous to:

 **LadySnowTheStark, MuggleCreator, B. arendes, Seher Syed, PhoenixGravity, 33ravenclaw33, unofficialpotterhead, MissyLizzie, Rosie Loves Pi, Break This Spell626, no cure for crazy, reheni, JustBeHappy, Autumn, Bubbly Bookworm, Guest (1), mazzmataz, rosesnlilies, Encypher, DaughterOfTerpsichore, Clo, Jennifer Jules, GryffindorsRock,** and **Guest(2)**.

 **LadySnowTheStark:** Perfect guess, it was Louis to Cecilia.

 **PhoenixGravity:** In the original poem _The Odyssey_ , Odysseus gets changed into a pig. In the series _Percy Jackson and the Olympians_ , Circe changes those guys into guinea pigs.

 **33ravenclaw33:** When I first began writing these stories, starting with Try and Tri Again, the fact that Teddy was short for Edward was not cannon yet, so I chose to go with Theodore (again there was no cannon about it or anything). I just liked the sound of Theodore Remus Lupin, mostly because of how the 'r' at the end of Theodore runs into the beginning 'R' of Remus. I just think it sounds good, and since I've always wrote him as Theodore, that's how I'm going to keep it. I hope it doesn't bother you too much.

 **unofficialpotterhead:** Between having been a full time university student (only 1 more exam to go) I haven't had the time to really try writing anything else. For now writing fanfics are just a way to relax and decompress for me.

 **MissyLizzie:** Don't worry to much about remembering all of the names of Vic's family members, if we ever end up seeing them again I'll do a little reminder of who they are.

 **no cure for crazy:** I think you can tell from second-hand stories that Great-Grandma veela is a _lot_ to handle.

 **Rosie Loves Pi:** As you can see, we didn't personally see Great-Grandma veela, but we did hear about some of the things she said, and she's rather frightening so it's probably for the best that we didn't end up seeing her. I don't know about the Oliver/Cecilia tension, we'll just have to wait and see what happens with it.

 **Break This Spell626:** As for other representation, there is Spencer, who's gay, but he (like Dom) is a bit of a playa so we haven't seen him in a couple with anybody yet.

 **reheni:** We saw a bit of Eliza in this one, and now that they're back in England we'll see more of her.

 **JustBeHappy:** The dialogue was between them, good guess!

 **mazzmataz:** I don't know how Dom would feel about having to be monogamous, she likes doing whatever she wants whenever she wants.

 **Encypher:** I'm already figuring that this story's going to be super long just because I need to makes sure that I do everyone's favourite characters justice. But that's only because I love all the characters so much.

 **Clo:** Obviously we'll see more of Louis and Cecilia's relationship as the story goes on, and we'll get caught up with them. As for Dom's comment about Louis being innocent, it's her little brother, she likes to treat him like a child sometimes. And we will definitely be exploring how others see their relationship, as you can no doubt see that Oliver doesn't have the most positive look on it.

 **Guest(2):** We will hear snippets about Benjamin, and Eliza in the next few chapters, and we saw Eliza in this one. However, we will see much more action concerning them throughout the story as they are still a big part of it, but I cannot say for sure when that chapter will come about, as it hasn't been written yet. But fear not, since we're back in England, it will be easier to hear about them.

 **I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter,**

 **Please leave me any comments, questions, or concerns in a review,**

 **Wish me luck on my last exam,**

 **Until next time (there will be a next time), DFTBA!**


	14. Back to Work

**A/N:** Hey everyone, I'm sorry that this update is a little later than I promised, my past few weeks have been very busy, especially the last few days, but better late than never!

This chapter holds the first mention of the name of the magazine Cecilia writes for. A few weeks ago I asked you all for suggestions, so I want to thank **Rosie Loves Pi, Shirama, Autumn, Emma Stanger, Bubbly Bookworm, kIMaYa,** and **Venz** for their awesome suggestions. It was difficult to decide, but I chose to go with **Jennifer Jules's** suggestion of **In the Air** , and changed it just slightly to be _**Up in the Air**_ ; which is now officially the name of the quidditch magazine Cecilia writes for, so thank you again to everyone for their suggestions!

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own _Harry Potter_.

* * *

 **Last Time:** So we said goodbye to the kids going off to Hogwarts in the last chapter, and almost everyone had made it back to England except for a few of the Weasleys. At the beginning of this chapter everyone's back home, and it's time for everyone to start work again (or in Vic's case, start her residency for the first time).

 **Note:** This chapter includes a quick, but detailed, summary of the the aurors cases from the last story, as well as explaining where the cases are at at the moment of the story.

* * *

 **Back to Work**

 **Monday, September 5** **th** **2022**

The minute Teddy stepped off the ministry's lift and onto the floor that housed the Auror Department; he was almost trampled by his partner Auror Hayden Summers.

"Oh thank Merlin that you're back!" Hayden exclaimed both excitedly and gratefully, even going so far as to pull Teddy into a hug.

The metamorphmagus teetered awkwardly on his feet as he tried to shake Hayden –who seemed to be oblivious to the odd looks their fellow aurors and the aurors-in-training were giving them as they walked by– off of him.

"I take it that you missed me?" Teddy asked Hayden as the hug moved into the uncomfortably long territory.

Hayden finally let go as he replied, "You and Jilly are never allowed to go on vacation at the same time again."

"Why?" Teddy asked hesitantly as he and Hayden began to walk down the hall towards their office.

"Because Kurt and I are no longer allowed to work together by ourselves," Hayden explained in a slightly embarrassed tone.

Teddy rolled his eyes, "It can't have been that bad."

"I'm not exaggerating Teddy. Auror Burton told us that we're not allowed to play together anymore without parental supervision," Hayden clarified.

Teddy sent his partner a look with a raised eyebrow, "Seriously?"

Hayden nodded solemnly, "We did get stuff done . . . we just didn't exactly do it by the book . . ."

"Jilly was back on Thursday, so you had at least two days last week to be productive," Teddy pointed out as they got to the door of the office the pair shared with aurors Kurt Williamson and Jilly Donaldson.

Normally aurors of their level had shoebox sized cubicles instead of offices, but because the four of them were working together on a case that had to be kept secret for so long, they were sharing an office space that was only slightly bigger than four cubicles put together would have been. But on the bright side, it was much more private.

"I take it that there's also a stack of progress reports that I need to get caught up on then," Teddy mused as he opened the door to said office that made it more private than a cubicle.

"There are, but Kurt and I thought they were a little dry, so I wrote all of mine in iambic pentameter while Kurt's took on more of a Mad-libs vibe."

Teddy blinked and didn't respond, although privately he was starting understand why Auror Burton had put stipulations on who they were allowed to work with. He and Hayden walked into the office, but before he could say hello to Jilly, who was shuffling through papers at her desk, she informed them that they needed to go to Shacklebolt's office and go over everything they had on their ongoing cases again, so that they could prepare for the trial that would start the next week.

Upon entering Kingsley's office they found Kurt already there, apparently in the middle of reading his Mad-lib inspired report to the Head of the Auror Department. He had just asked his boss to name a part of the human body and an adjective ending in 'ly' when Teddy, Hayden, and Jilly sat down in chairs across from Kingsley's large desk.

"Good everyone's here now," Kingsley announced loudly, speaking over whatever convoluted sentence Kurt was reciting from his report.

Kurt just shrugged off his dismissal, and sat down next to Teddy while saying, "How in the world do you spend a week living on the coast of the Mediterranean and not come back with a tan?"

"How in the world do you get grounded at work?" Teddy retorted with a raised eyebrow.

"Touché."

Kingsley cleared his throat to get everyone's attention, "Alright, we've got one week until the trial starts so I think it's a good idea to go over everything we have, and what we still need to do to be ready."

The others nodded, and between the five of them they covered everything they'd already covered from both the cases.

Jilly and Kurt's job was to focus on the antiquity smuggling part of the case. In May, they were able to extract a confession from Samuel Alves (better known to Teddy and Hayden as Sir) about his part in the smuggling ring. Since the Peruvian culture board had put Alves in charge of the dig and the preservation of any artifacts found at the dig sites of the Moche ruins, he was in a unique positon to be of use to an artifact smuggling ring that was using as of then undiscovered tunnels to steal artifacts from the Moche tombs and ruins before the team of cursebreakers had a chance to find them and catalogue them.

While Teddy and his partner Hayden Summers were undercover as cursebreakers at the dig in Peru organized and overseen by Alves, they literally stumbled upon the hidden tunnel systems of the ruins that the smugglers were using to steal artifacts. They were able to work a confession out of Alves about his involvement in the smuggling ring, as well as information that led them to believe that the Holmwood crime family was directly involved. Jilly and Kurt, with the help of Konstantin Krum and his contacts in Vratsa, were able to discover one of the men who was in charge of selling some of the stolen artifacts, and they were able to slightly firm up their proof of a Holmwood connection.

In the early days of both investigations, when they were separate and before they discovered Alves's involvement, an –as of yet– unnamed man who was involved with the smuggling ring ended up in St. Mungo's with a life threatening disease that none of the healers could name let alone cure. In very much a right-time-right-place situation, Victoire winded up treating and curing the unnamed man with an unapproved healing treatment that ended up saving his life. Said incident seemed totally unconnected to Teddy and Hayden's case, until the time at which the pair (along with Victoire and three actual cursebreakers) found themselves in the hidden tunnel system of the ruins and then were subsequently kidnapped by an underground tribe of Moche people that nobody had even found before.

While the group was held captive, Victoire discovered that the disease of the unnamed man that she had treated months earlier at St. Mungo's, had originated in that cavern system, which meant that the unnamed man must have been in the tunnel system before. All of these connections were only put together after the group had been rescued from the underground tunnels –literally seconds before the crazy high priestess of the Moche people was about to almost kill Victoire of course.

All in all, when they added together all of the information there were two separate cases that had to be considered. One was the large and intricate case of smuggling ancient artifacts that involved the Holmwoods, Alves, the unnamed man, and several others who were involved to varying degrees with separate parts of the smuggling process. The second case was the less confusing but surprisingly harder to prosecute kidnapping case.

The smuggling case would be the one going to trial the next week, and that was the one that the group of aurors were principally occupied in discussing.

"So, if we're going over the main players, Sir–I mean Samuel Alves, has promised to plead guilty to his part in the smuggling ring, as well as to testify against the Holmwoods," Hayden was saying as he handed over to Kingsley the paperwork that they needed to take to Alves's private hearing on Thursday in which he would plead guilty.

Kingsley nodded his head as he scanned the papers, "And Mr. Unnamed-Patient?"

Jilly sighed, "We still haven't been able to identify him. It's like he's a ghost who appeared a year ago when this smuggling ring started. He's obviously got a British accent, but according to McGonagall he never attended Hogwarts, nor has he attended any other wizarding school on this continent or North America or South America."

"Luckily, our bizarre court system will still allow us to try the man even though we don't know who he is. And we're confident that we have enough evidence to get a conviction," Kurt explained as he scratched his chin.

Teddy pushed his hand through his hair, "It might be harder to get the court to convict when he technically doesn't exist though."

Kingsley nodded in sad agreement with Teddy's words, "So we've still been unsuccessful in getting his identity out of him, and unsuccessful in getting him to snitch on the Holmwoods and get a reduced sentence?"

"He's either very stupid, very loyal, or more scared of the Holmwoods than he is of dementors and Azkaban," Hayden muttered.

"Which unfortunately seems to be a trend," Jilly added as she looked at her notes.

Kingsley pinched the bridge of his nose, "The Bulgarians are still holding Danchev, right?"

Anton Danchev was one of the men in the smuggling ring in charge of selling the stolen artifacts, and even though he worked mostly out of Vratsa, they had uncovered that he had been selling the artifacts to buyers from several different countries. Konstantin Krum and his colleagues –one of which Teddy had just met– had uncovered Danchev and his connection to the Holmwoods (only after Victoire and Dom stole a file from Colton Knott's office and secretly contacted Konstantin about it).

"They still have Danchev and combined we have a strong case against him," Kurt recited.

Kingsley pursed his lips, "Which means that Minkov is going to testify for us?"

Emil Minkov, a client of Colton's, had in his possession one of the stolen antiquities and, fearing that it wasn't legal, gave it to his lawyer to take care of. Colton handed it off to Dom to take to the Ministry, and she brought it straight to Jilly and Kurt, who were able to connect the antique pot to a shard of pottery that they had found on the unnamed patient's person when he was admitted to St. Mungo's. It was the first connection that they had to the unnamed man and the smuggling ring, as it happened before Victoire found the disease connection, and they had contacted Minkov about testifying that he had gotten the stolen antique pot directly from Danchev, who they assumed worked for the Holmwoods. Minkov was innocent and didn't want to get in trouble for accidently buying a stolen ancient artifact, so he readily agreed to testify at the upcoming trial.

"We've still got Minkov," Teddy repeated, "Colton told me in passing while we were in France that Minkov had contacted him and was starting to get cold feet about testifying against Danchev, and by that extension the Holmwoods. Luckily though, he convinced Minkov to go through with it, and for an extra push Colton told me that he was going to get Dom to work on Minkov if he gets scared again."

Teddy ended with a bit of an eye roll, knowing full well that Minkov would never admit to someone as pretty as Dom that he was too afraid to testify. It was actually a pretty cunning, if not Slytherinesque, type of plan.

"And the others?" Kingsley questioned.

Hayden and Kurt then gave a tag-team explanation about the handful of others who they discovered were connected to the smuggling ring. They found them either through Alves, unintentionally on Danchev's part, or through other means as their team had also found two others who had worked with the unnamed man in directly stealing the antiquities from the dig sites in Peru. They were able to find the two men directly involved because they had eventually shown up in different hospitals with symptoms of the same disease that the unnamed man had. They also had pretty steady cases to convict these men, and even though some of the men were of Bulgarian or Peruvian nationality in origin, the three ministries had agreed to work together and allow all of the legal matters to be dealt with in Britain and led by the Auror Department.

"Is that all then?" Kingsley asked the group almost an hour later after they had dealt with all of the details of the cases.

Teddy help his index finger up, "I've got something else, but it's sort of potentially disastrous."

"That sounds promising," Kurt mumbled sarcastically while Kingsley told Teddy to continue.

"I met Konstantin Krum and his partner Nikolina Krastev while we were in France. He specifically sought out Victoire and I while we were in a public place to tell me that things are getting unpredictable on their end. Apparently they've had a shakeup of who's in charge and somehow someone from their foreign relations office is now in charge of their section of the imports and exports division in Vratsa and has started censoring all of their information. Just before it happen, they got intel about someone else connected to the Holmwoods who was a part of the smuggling ring, who none of us had heard of before. Their new superior ordered them not to work on the angle and promised that someone else would pass it on to us here in England."

Kingsley's eyebrows pinched, "I haven't heard anything about that."

"That's what I figured," Teddy sighed, "And what Konstantin figured. He and Niko said that they observed that they were being followed, they assumed to make sure that they weren't contacting us on their off hours, which is why they came to France to tell us about this new aspect of the case."

Jilly glanced at Teddy in surprise, along with Kurt and Hayden, "And you have the name of this new Holmwood connection?"

Teddy reached into his pocket and pulled out the piece of paper that Konstantin had given him through their high-five. He handed it to Kingsley first. His boss read it, made a note of the name on a piece of paper on his desk, and then handed the note to Jilly.

"You and Williamson will need to start on that right away," Kingsley told her. He didn't even bother to ask Teddy why he hadn't told them the name once he'd gotten it, probably guessing that if Teddy had and the people from Vratsa had found out about it, that it would have put Konstantin and his partner in trouble.

Jilly and Kurt nodded, taking Kingsley's words as a dismissal.

When the pair were gone, Hayden settled a little farther down into his chair and frowned, "I take it that we're now going to discuss the second case?"

The 'second case' being the one in which Teddy, Hayden, Victoire and three cursebreakers (Tasha Bennet, Nathan Slater, and Caitlyn Klein) had been kidnapped and held captive in the hidden tunnels by the Moche people. Unlike the smuggling case, it was turning out much harder to prosecute the kidnapping one.

"We still can't set a date for it," Kingsley told them, the anger in his voice barely hidden.

Teddy exhaled crossly, "I take it that Minister Mendes is still refusing to allow the people involved to be extradited here?"

Minister Mendes was the minister for culture in muggle Peru, and even though he was a wizard and an old friend of Kingsley's, he had made it impossible the last few months to work on the kidnapping case.

Since the group of underground Moche citizens had been undiscovered until the group had stumbled upon their secret cavern system, the Peruvian Ministry of magic (along with Minister Mendes) was hesitant to charge even a few people of the Moche tribe with a crime since there was the new added issue of maybe stepping on their religious and cultural rights and freedoms.

As it was, there was a lot of grey area that they needed to work through, and even though kidnapping should be considered illegal no matter who was doing it, Peru was dragging their heels on allowing Britain to lay charges and extradite the people who were in charge of the civilization and the kidnappings. Despite the fact that the community had kidnapped some muggle and muggleborn children around the same time that they had kidnapped the others, and that it would be easier to lay charges since the children were Peruvian, since they were muggles their memories were erased and therefore no charges could be laid.

Therefore, if they wanted to see those responsible punished, it would only be done if a case went through on the kidnapping of Teddy, Hayden, Victoire and the others, which didn't at the moment seem like it would be happening anytime soon.

"It's not like we're asking for the bloody Holy Grail. All we want is for that crazy high priestess and that other dude –I think his name was Udah?– to be extradited to here so that we can charge them with kidnapping two aurors, one medi-witch, and three cursebreakers. That's basically nothing compared to the amount of people we think they've kidnapped," Hayden complained.

Considering that the people in the underground community were a mix of indigenous and non-indigenous people, and considering that they had been told by the high priestess that they needed to decide to join the community or else, the Auror Department came to the conclusion that many of the people in the community must have stumbled upon the tunnels themselves at one point or another and then been forced to join. However, none of them agreed to testify that they had been kidnapped as well, so privately Teddy and Hayden figured that they must have developed some sort of Stockholm syndrome.

"The Peruvian government is still claiming that it would be more trouble than it's worth to hand over the Moche's male leader and the high priestess to us," Kingsley said sadly.

Teddy started tapping his foot on the floor, and if he had been in a better mood, he would have thought that it was a little touching to see that he had picked up the stressful habit from Victoire, "And what about Mitch? Have they found any sign of him yet?"

Mitch the medi-wizard who worked on the dig, had gone missing back in March and his vacant position was the reason why Victoire had been assigned to work there in the first place. They had found evidence to believe that Mitch had found his own way into the hidden tunnel system on his own, and therefore assumed that he had been kidnapped by the Moche people as well. When the aurors came in to save those who had been kidnapped, they were unable to find Mitch in the vast cavern system, although they did find his wand hidden in a room with all the other wands.

"No, no sign of Mr. West and they are not speaking about what happened to him either," Kingsley explained.

"Well this is a complete mess. I hope that Nathan, Caitlyn, and Tasha don't mind waiting for justice, 'cause it's going to be quite a while until we get it, if we ever do," Hayden glowered.

Normally Kingsley would have pointed out that it was unbecoming of an auror to _mope_ like he was, but considering that they were discussing that the people in charge of kidnapping him would probably not be charged for it, he let it slide.

"Summers, you should go see how Donaldson and Williamson are faring."

Hayden knew a polite yet direct dismissal when he heard one. He was out of Kingsley's office before he needed to be asked twice. With Hayden gone, it was just Teddy and Kingsley left.

There were a few moments of silence before Kingsley said, "I take it you had a pleasant holiday?"

"Once Victoire finally got her residency offer and stopped freaking out about not getting it, it was great," Teddy said even though his tone of voice was rather flat.

Kingsley forced a slight smile, "And it's her first day today. I was tempted to send her flowers but I think I'll hold off until I find out if it was successful or not."

Teddy nodded.

"Not in a chatty mood today I see," Kingsley commented sardonically.

The younger man ran his hands through his hair, gripping at it even though he honestly had no idea what colour it was at the moment, "I know what this conversation is going to lead to, and hearing how bad the efforts to press charges for the kidnappings have gone, I'm going to assume that the _third_ case is pretty much dead in the water."

"Sadly, you're right. They're not allowing us to extradite for the kidnappings, so I doubt they're going to allow us to extradite just the high priestess so that we can charge her for almost killing Victoire," Kingsley established quietly.

Teddy pulled at his hair again, "She almost died because of what that insane bitch did and they're not even going to make her pay for it. It was attempt at murder, but they won't even let us charge her for attempted manslaughter or even bloody assault causing bodily harm."

"The case is difficult, the woman says that Victoire allowed her to do that to her, so they're trying to argue that it was voluntary on her part and therefore that charges don't need to be placed because they'd be dropped," Kingsley reminded him.

Another yank at his hair, "I don't care what they say, Victoire didn't sign up to be exsanguinated and almost murdered so that that crazy woman could try to force out the imagined spirit of a long dead demigod high priestess."

"You and I and every-bloody-one else knows that, but we can't prove it to the contrary until we get a chance to try the case, which won't happen until charges can be laid against her," The head auror said, Teddy not even blinking at the fact that the composed man just swore while discussing a case.

Teddy sighed and rubbed his palms tiredly into his eyes, "The only positive part of this whole situation is that Victoire will be too busy with her residency to worry about her kidnappers and would-be murderer getting off pretty much scot-free."

* * *

 **12:34 PM**

"This is _so_ exciting," Cassidy Hopewell whispered to Victoire, her low tone doing a surprisingly good job at conveying her enthusiasm.

Victoire raised an eyebrow at her friend, "You were an intern here last school semester, I would have thought your excitement would have worn off by now."

Cassidy rolled her eyes at her friend's sarcasm, "It's exciting that we're going to finally be working together! You and me-"

"And the other two," Victoire added, her voice not much louder than a whisper because the _other two_ were only a few feet in front of the two women.

The four who had ended up snagging the residency spots were presently still on a tour of St. Mungo's, getting a run down on what was going to be expected of them for the next year as resident healers in the Dark Arts Reversal Ward. They were just finishing up a visit of the emergency medical ward of the hospital, where their supervising D. A. R. W. healer was explaining to the interns that there always had to be at least one D. A. R. W. healer or resident in the emergency medical ward at most times in case an emergency patient suffering from dark magic suddenly came in.

Healer Seward, the supervising healer for the D. A. R. W. residents, just finished explaining how paperwork was to be handled in the emergency medical ward and then informed the residents that they could have an hour for a lunch break.

Victoire and Cassidy chatted animatedly as they travelled through the hospital and to the cafeteria, the two other interns walking silently behind them. Victoire was acquainted with both of the other interns in a sense. One of them was Malachi Fabius, the intern who had treated her along with Cassidy after her incident in the underground tunnels in Peru. He was intelligent, he wouldn't have gotten a residency offer if he wasn't, but he was also a know-it-all, and didn't have the best social skills. Victoire was going to try to be nice to him, despite the fact that he would have killed her with his poor potion recommendation back during her stay in May if she hadn't set him straight.

The other intern was also male, and his name was Wesley Hall, and Victoire somewhat remembered him as another intern who had been in the D. A. R. ward with Cassidy and Fabius, but she recalled him much better from a healthcare ethics class they took together during their second-year at healing school. She remembered him to be a quiet man, and the very studious type.

When the group of residents entered the canteen, Cassidy quickly pointed out to Victoire a table where Spencer, Donnie, and Sarah were all sitting. It seemed that Spencer spotted the women at the same time that they spotted him.

"Yo, Bewitching Blonde, Faith-Stream over hea'!" Spencer yelled to them along with moving his hand around to wave them over.

Victoire and Cassidy shared an eye roll, both knowing right away which nickname was meant for which person, and they walked over to the table and took a seat.

"How's orientation going?" Spencer asked them cheerily as he tossed an arm around Victoire's shoulder.

"It's a lot to take in, but it's very exhilarating to finally be here," Victoire explained.

Donnie smirked at her and took a sip of his coffee, "And not as a patient?"

Her friends laughed at her while she took a napkin that was sitting on the table, balled it up, and tossed it at Donnie's head.

"That's not funny."

Cassidy grinned, "No, it was pretty funny."

Another balled up paper napkin was sent at her head.

"So how was your holiday?" Sarah asked Victoire, trying to change the subject.

Victoire smiled, a slightly far-away look in her eyes, "Fantastic."

"It had to be considering that you were at the Britain/Italy game, I was listening to it on the wireless and it sounded brilliant," Donnie commented eagerly.

Spencer raised an eyebrow at Donnie, and then leered at Victoire, "I don't think it was the game that she was referring to as fantastic."

Before Victoire could comment back, a voice from behind her chimed in, "Well I definitely know that she wasn't referring to her family reunion as fantastic."

The blonde turned her head just in time to see her favourite cousin –by her definition not James's– sit down in the empty chair next to her.

"Lab coat!" Spencer greeted Ally happily as the dark haired Weasley gave her blonde haired cousin a tight hug.

Ally greeted Spencer in reply, and then said hello to Donnie, Sarah and Cassidy.

"So why wouldn't Vic be referring to her family reunion as fantastic?" Sarah asked curiously.

Victoire frowned and folded her arms across her chest, "Veela's are bitches."

"Didn't you once hex James for saying the exact same thing?" Ally questioned her cousin.

"I did, but if he had been referring to my great-grandmother and not me and Dom, I would have let it go," Victoire admitted.

Ally patted Victoire's hand, "So are you happy to finally be here as a resident?"

" _So_ happy."

Spencer grinned salaciously at Victoire, "As happy as you were to spend the weekend alone on a beach in France with your fiancé?"

"I don't remember you always being this nosey and lascivious, I honestly think you're spending too much time with my sister," Victoire commented, smoothly side-stepping Spencer's question and its personal implications.

Spencer put on a faux-heartbroken expression, "I would have thought that you'd be happy that your sister and I are get along so brilliantly."

"If I can put my two sickles worth in," Ally added, holding up her hand, "While it's nice that you and Dom get along well, it is rather frightening to hear that you and her go out clubbing so often. Especially when neither of you actually end up stumbling in drunk into your flats until the next morning."

Spencer raised an eyebrow as he glanced at Ally, "I don't really think you should be one to talk Lab coat, Dom spends more time at your shared flat than you do."

Ally's cheeks and ears went red, and Victoire took pity on her cousin and changed the subject by asking Spencer about one of his favourite topics. Healing. Specifically disgusting contagious diseases and bugs.

"And the best part, is that Healer Weasley –Lab coat's Mom, not you Vic– asked me to be an assistant as she and the other researching healers experiment and further their work on those nifty bacteriophages," Spencer explained eagerly.

Donnie nodded, "I'm not sure how fun that sounds, but it will give you experience with research and even publishing, so that's good. It'll give you more of an edge when you apply for a job after your residency is finished."

"It will be good to get experience, and it will be fun thank you very much. More fun than you spending your days inspecting random women's lady parts," Spencer commented flippantly.

The obstetrics resident rolled his eyes, "For the last time Spence, vaginal examinations aren't done at every bleeding check-up."

"It is always like this? Because I'm starting to feel thankful that I didn't get an internship here last semester," Victoire mused, only partially joking.

Cassidy grinned, "Don't worry Vic, we're going to be so busy, and running on so many different schedules and late nights that you'll appreciate any chance you can get to sit around the cafeteria and listen to Spencer and Donnie bicker."

Victoire nodded at her friend's words. Healer Seward had already given them the preamble on what to expect shift and hours-wise, and since their department wasn't actually that large (because injuries caused by dark magic were not exactly as common as contagious diseases or giving birth), they were going to be running themselves ragged when they did have a ward full of patients.

The group of healing residents –and Ally– got some food, and several caffeinated beverages, into them before slipping off to go back to their separate floors and wards, and Victoire and Cassidy went back to getting the ground work of the rules and procedure that they would need to follow. The four residents were standing around the information/admittance desk of the D. A. R. ward when Healer Rhee joined them, Healer Seward stepping back to allow the head of the ward to talk to the residents.

". . . You've all met me before of course, during your interviews, but I'd like to extend my personal congratulations on making it this far and being selected to spend the next ten months here. You've met Healer Seward here, and over the rest of the week you will also meet the other fulltime healer on this ward, Healer Demir. The you will all report to one of us three while on duty, and every once in a while you may see a couple other part-time healers working around here, but that will only be if one of us is scheduled to be out, and in that case you will report to whichever healer is designated as in charge during that shift."

Victoire nodded her head along with the other residents.

"Also, Healer Seward has explained to you all how shifts and schedules will work, but since this is a hospital, you all are of course aware that we work on a basis of need. Our department is small to start with, so there will be times when you won't get more than the minimal hours of work a week. As such, it is our department policy to suggest, if you are so inclined as to earn more experience to add to your resumes, to get a part-time residency in another ward. Now, we're not demanding that you do so, but I mention it because if you are planning on applying for any full-time healing position after your residency, you will need more healing experience than this residency may give you. In that vein, it is also important to pick another ward in which you are interested in, and not just because they have space since it will give you experience so that you can apply to positions in other fields of healing as dark arts reversal healing is a rather small field by necessity. Am I clear?"

Healer Rhee wasn't astonished that the four residents looked surprised and slightly uncomfortable after hearing his speech. It always happened that way. It meant that they were taking his words seriously. And just before he started in on explaining how to handle paperwork for a new arrival, he noticed Victoire and Cassidy share a worried glance.

* * *

 **4:50 PM**

There were only ten minutes left in his work day, but Louis felt like he could pass out on his feet. He had had a very strenuous day of MLE physical training, which was followed by a two hour long session on learning how to properly file paperwork. Spoiler alert, the instructions _really_ shouldn't have taken two hours to explain, but they explained the instructions minutely and had to wait even longer because one or two stupid trainees wasted more time asking stupid questions. The two MLE agents who were in charge of his and the other new recruits' training were agents McCrory and Alesci.

Louis had remembered Agent Alesci, although briefly, from when he and other MLE agents were assigned to Victoire's kidnapping case back in her seventh-year at Hogwarts. He also remembered that his older sister didn't exactly make the best impression on the MLE agent since she was rather upset about their inference on the Auror Department's case. Thankfully, Agent Alesci hadn't made one mention of Louis's sister, even though the younger man knew that his training agent knew about their relation to each other. The only reaction Agent Alesci had had upon being introduced to Louis was the minutest raise of his eyebrows at hearing the younger man's last name.

When the long day finally came to an end, all Louis had to do was take some paperwork up to the floor that housed the criminologists and lawyers that worked for MLE and he was done. Just before he was able to step into the lift though, he came upon a familiar face.

"Matt!"

"Hey Louis!"

Louis smiled brightly upon seeing his old dorm mate and friend Matthew Everheart, and the two shook hands enthusiastically.

"So how've you been? How's MLE training going?" Matt asked his friend cheerily.

The blonde smiled brightly in spite of the tiredness he felt, "It's long and hard but it's good. How's working for the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes?"

"Surprisingly boring, but that's probably only because I'm the lowest rung on the totem pole and I get stuck with all of the work that nobody else wants," Matt replied good naturedly, "How's Cecilia?"

Louis grinned at just hearing his girlfriend's name, "She's great."

Matt rolled his eyes and muttered something along the lines of 'I-don't-know-why-I-even-bothered-asking', before much more clearly saying, "Still going strong then I take it. I'd ask you how her job was going, but since I picked up _this_ earlier this morning, I think I'd be able to figure it out."

 _This_ was a shiny magazine that Matt pulled out of a briefcase he was holding and showed it to Louis. It was the brand new copy of _Up in the Air,_ the periodical that Cecilia worked for, and written in the corner of the cover page was the title of her interview with Valentin Krum along with the page number that it was on. Matt flipped directly to a page that he had dog-eared it earlier and showed Louis that her interview covered an entire page along with a picture of Valentin.

"Her interview is the first one in the section, all the other Jr. writers' interviews are after hers," Matt explained.

Louis nodded, "I'll need to grab one on the way back to my flat then. I had to be in at work for five this morning so I didn't have a chance to see one. I knew that it was supposed to come out today though."

"You don't already have a subscription for the magazine?" Matt questioned him surprised.

"Nope. Cecilia wouldn't allow me to take one out just because she's writing for it. She told me that I have to wait until she actually writes a good enough article that would make taking out a subscription understandable," Louis explained.

Matt rolled his eyes, "Of course she would say that. How's Baxter?"

"He's good." Louis had been tempted to say _better_ not _good_ , but then Matt would have asked him what was wrong with Baxter in the first place, and he knew better than to spread gossip about his cousin's hardships.

Matt nodded and then the two said quick goodbyes after Louis casually mentioned needing to drop some papers off.

Louis finally entered the lift and travelled up one floor, and when he got off he wandered over to the secretary pool that was the first desk area that he could see. He explained to the lone male employee sitting there that he had come to drop off some papers from MLE and the man said that he could take them. Louis had just gotten the last of the paperwork off his hands when a voice called out his name from behind him.

Louis recognized the voice, he had only heard it last a week ago after all, and made a face before slowly turning around to face her.

"Hello Gloria."

Gloria Dustin smiled brightly at him and with three steps came a _little_ too close to him, "It's so great to see you again! What are you doing up here on my floor?"

"Your floor?" Louis asked hesitantly as he tried to take a step back without seeming rude.

The Ravenclaw alumnus was still smiling as she uncharacteristically flicked her hair over her shoulder and clarified, "I work as a junior criminologist here."

"Oh," He wasn't entirely sure what to say after that, so he just awkwardly shoved his hands into his pockets.

She didn't seem to notice that he was uncomfortable, "So are you up here on MLE training business?"

"Yeah, I just had to drop-off some papers here – wait. How did you know that I work for MLE now?" Louis asked perplexedly.

Gloria let out an even more uncharacteristic giggle, "I heard it through the grapevine."

" _Uh huh_ ," He replied. He couldn't guess who the grapevine was, but he could guess that he probably didn't want to know.

She smiled at him again, "So did you enjoy your time in France and the game last week?"

"Mmmhmm," Louis responded. He was attempting to sound non-committal as he tried to slide over to the lift, but she took a step to the side that stopped him. He went into more detail the next time, as he tried to figure out how to, politely, get around her, "The game was fun. We went to a party after it, and the next day we went to an amusement park. We had a family reunion on our last day there, and then it was back to England and back to work after that."

"So you had a good holiday then?" Gloria asked.

Louis's plan to distract her had worked, he had slyly turned them so that he now had his back to the lift, and all he had to do was take a few steps backward to it, "Yes, but to be honest Cecilia and I could have just been sitting around doing nothing and we probably would have still appreciated the down time."

He was just about to take a step back closer to the lift when Gloria's face twisted into an irritated expression, "How nice."

Her words were flat and in a rare moment of rationality Louis figured that it was probably because he had mentioned Cecilia's name.

"So you and Wood are still together then?" Gloria asked, she forced another smile onto her face but her teeth were clenched, ruining whatever effect she had been going for.

Louis took several steps back and even though he didn't look at his feet, he assumed that he was only about another foot away from the lift, "Yes, well luckily she's still putting up with me, so I assume that we're going to be together as long as I keep playing my cards right."

He hadn't meant to sound so self-deprecating and put so much emphasis on how grateful he was for Cecilia wanting to be with him, but he was nervous so he just blurted out his feelings for his girlfriend.

" _Hmmpf_ ," Gloria muttered before forcing another smile on her face, "Hey, I just had a great thought, how about some time you and I-"

"I actually need to leave right now Gloria," Louis interrupted as he finally turned and pressed the button to call the lift.

Her face slipped into a pout and Louis offered her a wave before turning his back on her and jumping into the lift as soon as the doors opened. When they closed behind him without her following –which he was half afraid she would– he let out a thankful sigh. He then reached into his pocket, pulled out his mobile phone, and sent Cecilia a text message asking her if she was going to stop by his flat and see him after work, or if she wanted him to visit her at her home.

He had just stepped off the lift into the Ministry's atrium when Cecilia responded. He smirked a little when he read her message, and then wondered if he could make it to his flat in time to see if he could clean up the mess he –briefly– recalled making of his room earlier in the morning as he tiredly stumbled out of bed and got dressed. He decided that if he apparated directly home he might have time to make his room, and the flat, presentable by the time she was able to convince her parents that she wouldn't be gone long.

* * *

 **6:32 PM**

"Is there something wrong?" Victoire questioned Teddy later that evening the minute he stepped into their flat.

Since their living room and kitchen were open concept, she could see him closing the front door behind him from where she stood in front of the stove.

"Not at all, why would you think that?" Teddy asked his fiancée curiously as he kicked off his shoes and wandered over to the give her a kiss on the cheek.

She looked down at her watch and then back at him, "You're only two minutes later than what you said you'd be. That never happens. You're usually at least twenty minutes off."

He rolled his eyes at her and took the spoon she was using to stir out of her hand so that he could do it instead, "I'm not always late."

"You are when you're working on an important active case," Victoire pointed out as she summoned a glass and poured him a drink.

Teddy put the spoon down and then thanked her for the drink, "I'd be careful about complaining about lateness if I were you, you just started your St. Mungo's residency. It'll be amazing if the both of us will be able to meet at any given time, let alone for dinner every evening."

"Fair point," Victoire replied with a shrug before leaning into him and resting her head on his chest, "As long as we both make it to dinner at Andromeda's on time on Saturday, I think we'll be good."

His arm, which he had slung around her waist at some point during her sentence, tightened around her and he looked at her quizzically, "Saturday? I think you're confused Love, dinner with Grandmum is on Friday."

She stretched up onto her tiptoes and gave him a tender kiss on the lips before smirking, "I think it's you who's confused Honey. Dinner with Andromeda is Saturday."

Teddy rolled his eyes again, but he knew that arguing with her wasn't going to get them anywhere. Instead, he summoned the note he had received from his grandmother two days before, the one which had invited them to dinner on the upcoming _Friday_ , and figured he would just show her undeniable proof that he was right and she was mistaken.

The paper came whizzing into his hand and Victoire leaned out of his arms and jumped up to sit on the kitchen counter while he read it. She smirked a minute later when he pursed his lips before pressing them into a thin line.

"So what day is it again Dear? Friday or Saturday?"

He sighed heavily, crumbled up the paper, and tossed it away. When it was out of reach, Teddy turned to Victoire and rested a hand on the counter on either side of her hips, leaning forward until their faces were only a few inches apart. He was so close that he could clearly see each freckle that dusted her nose.

"How was your first day?"

Her eyes were zeroed in on his lips, so she read his words more than she heard them, as she was having a hard time hearing anything other than her own racing heart and the blood thumping behind her ears.

"I don't want to talk about my day right this minute," Victoire whispered, her words slow and heavy as she was still very focused on his lips.

The edges of his lips turned up at the corners, she was playing right into his hands –or more appropriately, lips. "What do you want to do then?"

"I want you to . . ." She began, enunciating her words slowly as she leaned her face even closer to his, her mouth just brushing against his lips as she spoke, "Finally admit that dinner is on Saturday instead of Friday."

Teddy pulled back from her and frowned, "Fine. You were right, dinner is Saturday. But we might need to switch it because I have to work until six-thirty on Saturday-"

"I'll stop by Andromeda's tomorrow after work and tell her not to expect you until six-thirty then. It's probably best to do it in person anyway, it'll make it more definitive and take away any confusion about exactly when we'll be expected for dinner," Victoire said.

He sighed, "I'm not going to live this down, am I?"

"Not until the next time I do something stupid," She assured him.

He grinned and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her closer to him, "Well in that case it won't be too long then."

She glared at him and he chuckled as he pressed a kiss to her pouting lips, "I love you."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah."

* * *

 **A/N:** So, I know that there was a lot of info about the cases and the Holmwoods thrown at you in the beginning of the chapter, so I suggest reading over that part more than once if any bit is confusing, and if an extra read through doesn't answer all of your questions, feel free to ask me questions in a review or PM. If a few people ask the same question several times, I'll answer a list of them in my A/N of the next chapter. There are some points that I'm leaving a bit ambiguous because they'll be discussed more in depth later, but don't let that stop you from asking questions.

Anyway, I hope that you've enjoyed this chapter, and please let me know what you thought of this chapter, good or bad!

 **Next Update:** I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to keep to my two week posting schedule for the next little while.

 **Next Chapter:** Victoire goes to visit Andromeda to establish when exactly their Saturday night dinner will occur; we get to see Louis hold a baby and some more interaction between Eliza, her friends, Benjamin, and Benjamin's fiancee; and we get to see Victoire actually agree with Colton Knott about something.

Teaser for Next Chap:

" **Victoire did decided to speak loudly as she entered, so that it wouldn't seem as if she just snuck into the house, "Hey Andromeda, I just stopped by to let you know that we might have to push dinner back an hour-"**

 **As she spoke, she turned the corner of the entranceway and stopped just a foot into the living room. Andromeda was sitting on the sofa, her younger sister sitting on the chair across from her. Both of their gazes snapped to Victoire upon her entrance, and the younger woman looked briefly between Andromeda Tonks and Narcissa Malfoy before slowly finishing her sentence.**

 **"On Saturday.""**

Thanks as always to everyone who has followed, favourited, read, and especially reviewed!

BIGGEST thank yous to:

 **rosenlilies, NicoleTheSmith, Rosie Loves Pi, GryffindorsRock, TheProphetBVB, Jennifer Jules, kIMaYa, BuckBeak90, MuggleCreator, no cure for crazy, Devi2509, Guest(1), DaughterOfTerpsichore, WishIWasAMarauder07, Guest(2), Jules, Seher Syed, reheni, cpnjky,** and **silverlover02!**

 **rosenlilies** : I'm sorry, but everyone likes to see their favourite characters, and I needed to say goodbye to the Hogwarts kids.

 **NicoleTheSmith** : Melanie transferred to Hogwarts, she wasn't a part of an exchange program, so she's at Hogwarts until she graduates (ergo, one more year).

 **Rosie Loves Pi** : Well Clark really wants Dom to get together with him.

 **TheProphetBVB** : Mark actually fancies Clark's sister Tabitha. I like your theory about Dom and Clark though ;)

 **BuckBeak90:** Sorry, but I'm not really sorry.

 **Guest(1)** : Don't worry, we'll learn more about Cecilia and Louis as the story goes.

 **WishIWasAMarauder07** : We will see a tiny bit of Eliza and Benjamin interaction in the next chapter.

 **Jules** : We will see more of Cecilia and Louis's relationship later in the story, and that means several aspects of their relationship.

 **I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and thanks for waiting for it,**

 **Please leave me any questions, concerns, or comments in a review or PM,**

 **Until next time, DFTBA!**


	15. Visiting

**A/N:** Hi everyone, I'm so sorry for the delay in posting this update, but real life has just grabbed on tight. I started the job I'll have for the summer two weeks ago and I'm trying to adjust to waking up really early (like 5:30) and being exhausted by the time I get home. I should be used to it in a little while though, and hopefully I'll find the drive to write again.

But enough of my excuses, here's the new chapter.

This one starts the day after the last one ended.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own _Harry Potter_.

* * *

 **Things to remember from previous chapters:** So, in the last chapter we heard about Teddy's cases and that the trial is starting in a week. Victoire started her residency and we learned that there is a lot more she needs to arrange. Cecilia's first article has been published in her quidditch magazine. Victoire plans to stop by Andromeda's so she can tell Teddy's grandmother that they may have to push back the time of their dinner plans for Saturday. And several chapters ago we saw that Eliza and Benjamin are being civil to each other, even if trying to take care of an infant together is awkward.

* * *

 **Visiting**

 **Tuesday, September 6** **th** **2022.**

 **3:55 PM**

Victoire's second day of her residency was much busier than the first, but since they only had two patients, both of whom were sent to their ward by other interns or residents from the emergency medical ward, her day was filled with less healing and more paperwork and organizing. As it turned out, neither of the patients were actually suffering from dark magic, so they had to send them to the Spell Damage ward instead.

The plus side of not having many patients –besides the fact that it meant that people weren't getting hurt by dark magic– was that she was actually able to get off work on time, which is how she found herself stepping off the bottom step of St. Mungo's stairwell, talking to Cassidy about what Healer Rhee had told them the day before.

"I mean it's so hard to decide what to do. The obvious choice is to either find a part time residency in another place, which makes a lot of sense especially since after our residency, open positions in other D. A. R. wards are probably going to be slim; or find a researching healer who's looking for more help. However, both of those choices will keep me insanely busy, and it'll be impossible for me to be available to take extra shifts in our actual residency ward when things do start to pick up," Cassidy was speculating as they exited the stairwell.

Victoire nodded, her pace unconsciously picking up, "Yeah, either you're proactive and you load up our schedules with things to add to your resume, or you wait and hope that all the other residents will get extra residencies and then slip in and steal all the extra hours. You'd have to be pretty bold though to wait and take the chance that there will be extra hours available here and there throughout the year."

Cassidy sighed, "So what are you thinking of doing? Are you going to join Spencer in working on your aunt's research? You do know all of the ins and outs of it after all, and it would be slightly less stressful than finding a second internship."

"I'm not sure what I'm going to do yet, but I'm definitely not going to work on Aunt Angelina's research. After all of the trouble I got into a few months ago for preforming that bacteriophage magic illegally, it's probably best if I stay clear of that project. I'm lucky that the hospital's board of ethics let it slide, joining the project would just remind them all about what I did and how I probably should have been punished for it," Victoire explained as she and Cassidy chose to take the staff exit from the hospital instead of the general one.

Before Cassidy could ask Victoire anymore questions, the pair stepped outside and were promptly attacked by Spencer Green.

"HELLO LADIES!"

Victoire and Cassidy both took a step away before he could crush them into what was bound to be, based on his enthusiastic shout, a bone-crushing hug.

"Hi Spence."

"I'm on my way in for my shift, but before I go, I want to know if you two are free for our 'Yay-we've-finally-all-started-our-residencies night out, how's this Saturday?" Spencer questioned them, tossing his bundled healers robes from one hand to another.

Cassidy answered first, "I've got no social life besides you lot so anytime that I'm not working should be fine. This Saturday's good."

"Can't," Victoire replied with an apologetic pout, "Teddy and I are having dinner with his grandmum this Saturday."

Spencer's face turned calculating, "How about not this Friday, but the next one then? September 16th?"

"Unless I get scheduled to work that should be fine."

He glanced at Cassidy next, "Like I said, I've got no social life. That'll be fine."

"Excellent," Spencer exclaimed, folding his palms together and wiggling his fingers, "I'll ask Donnie and Sarah as well, and then more widely see who else will be able to make it. Vic, are you going to invite Lab-Coat, or should I?"

Victoire shrugged, "I'll stop by sometime tonight and ask her."

"Awesome, well I gotta go, see you gals later!"

With that Spencer entered the hospital through the staff door, and Victoire and Cassidy said goodbye to each other and went their separate ways. Victoire disapparated when she was in a secluded alley, and reappeared seconds later at the foot of the short path that led to Andromeda's doorway.

She knocked on the door, waited a few minutes, and when there wasn't a reply she tried the doorknob. It wiggled, so she twisted it and let herself in, knowing that sometimes if Andromeda was in a farther part of the house that she couldn't hear a knock on the door. She also knew that Andromeda would prefer for her to let herself in than standing awkwardly at the front door like a dodgy duffer.

Victoire did decided to speak loudly as she entered, so that it wouldn't seem as if she just snuck into the house, "Hey Andromeda, I just stopped by to let you know that we might have to push dinner back an hour-"

As she spoke, she turned the corner of the entranceway and stopped just a foot into the living room. Andromeda was sitting on the sofa, her younger sister sitting on the chair across from her. Both of their gazes snapped to Victoire upon her entrance, and the younger woman looked briefly between Andromeda Tonks and Narcissa Malfoy before slowly finishing her sentence.

"On Saturday."

Victoire found the urge to turn her head and stare questioningly at Narcissa very powerful, but she forced her gaze to stay on her fiancé's grandmother, who had calmly started to say, "That's fine, do you have to work on Saturday now?"

"No, uh, Teddy got the date wrong and he has to work until six-thirty on Saturday," She paused for a moment and couldn't stop the quick curious glance she sent in Narcissa's direction before looking at Andromeda again, "I can leave and we can discuss this at another time if you're busy-"

She didn't even have the chance to take a surreptitious step backwards toward the entryway before Andromeda interrupted her, the elder woman getting to her feet, "Now is as good a time as any Dear, tea?"

Victoire knew better than to reject Andromeda's offer for tea as it wasn't actually an offer as much as a mandate. She knew that Andromeda wasn't going to take no for an answer, so Victoire didn't even offer one. She just placed her hands awkwardly on her thighs and wished that the dress slacks she was wearing had pockets so that she could force her curled-up hands into it them.

Before more than a minute could pass, Andromeda came back out of the kitchen, a tray holding tea-things levitating beside her. Victoire felt a little better knowing that Andromeda had already starting brewing some tea, and didn't go put some on just for her benefit.

She watched Andromeda glance at her sister, and when Narcissa gave her a minute shake of the head, Andromeda turned her gaze to Victoire, who was still in surprise at having witnessed the silent communication between the two sisters. The young blonde nodded and then accepted a dainty tea-filled cup from Andromeda.

"So Victoire, how were the first two days of your residency?" Andromeda asked her cheerily, either not realizing, but mostly not caring, that the room had an awkward atmosphere to it.

Victoire's foot started to tap as she tried to only look at Andromeda as she replied, "It's been good. Mostly just learning the rules and procedures and . . . things."

"A lot to take in then?" Andromeda asked her sympathetically.

Victoire nodded slowly, still not entirely comfortable with the fact that she was apparently having tea with Andromeda and the older woman's estranged sister.

"It'll probably all be second nature when things pick up in the ward-" Her explanation was cut off by a shrill ringing noise and she didn't know whether to feel embarrassed or relieved that her mobile phone had started to ring in her bag.

She sent Andromeda an apologetic glance and dug her phone out of her purse. She noted the name on the caller ID and set her teacup down, "Eliza's calling me, I should probably take this."

Andromeda nodded and sent her a dismissive wave. Victoire took her escape and paced out of the room and into the hall next to the living room. The minute she had some privacy she pressed 'talk'.

"Eliza?"

" _Hey, Vic, I'm not interrupting anything am I? I thought that you'd probably be done work by now . . ._ " Eliza's shy voice replied from the other end of the line.

Victoire figured that she should probably stop Eliza before she could start a long train of apologies, "It's alright Eliza, did you want something?"

" _Yeah, um . . . Rowan's spiked a bit of a fever again, and I know that we discussed this the last time it happened, but I just felt like I needed to call you and–and I'm not entirely sure what to do._ "

Victoire shook her head supportively even though Eliza couldn't see it, "Honey, is Rowan crying uncontrollably?"

" _No._ "

"Has she been eating?"

" _Hasn't missed a feeding_."

"Sleeping?"

" _Better than most infants her age apparently_ ," Eliza replied.

Victoire took a relieved breath, "Then I think it might be just the fever like last time."

" _Yeah?_ "

"That's what it sounds like. I can stop by and take a look at her though. I can be there in five minutes," Victoire told her seriously as she mentally started to formulate how she would excuse herself from Andromeda's.

Eliza spoke hurriedly on the other end, " _You don't need to do that, she's only really had the fever for an hour and it's not too strong. I was just worried._ "

"It wouldn't be difficult for me to stop by and see you two," Victoire reiterated.

" _No, no, no. We're fine_."

Normally Victoire would have argued with the younger woman, but she knew that Eliza probably wouldn't budge, so she decided to just stop by unexpected after she was finished at Andromeda's. The two women said quick goodbyes, the younger thanking the elder one profusely up until they disconnected the call.

Victoire moved to go back to the living room, but stopped just at the corner of the hall as she could hear Andromeda and Narcissa's voices speaking in not-so-low tones.

"So . . . that's who your grandson's marrying?" She heard Narcissa's bored voice say from the living room.

Andromeda's voice replied in a quick and droll tone, "Yes, you see, he fell in love with her, and then asked her to marry him. It's interesting how things sometimes work like that."

Even though she couldn't see her, Victoire could just imagine the sardonic look that Andromeda was probably giving her younger sister.

"I didn't mean to-" Narcissa's voice started in a high-pitched, slightly offended-sounding, tone before she paused and took a deep breath, "I was just trying to make conversation."

Andromeda responded next, and Victoire imagined a raised eyebrow on her face as she spoke, "We lived together for seventeen years Narcissa, you never _just make conversation_. And on top of that, you don't usually just stop by to visit me unless you have something to tell me, or something you feel like you should apologize for."

If she had been born into any other family, Victoire might have felt bad about eavesdropping on the private conversation, but since she was a Weasley she really had no shame. Everyone in their family was horribly nosy and it wasn't odd to see more than one Weasley or Potter standing just at the edge of a corner listening to something that might or might not have been a secretive discussion. Even Aunt Audrey, who was definitely the most normal of all of her family, had found out about Uncle Percy's intention to propose to her all those years ago, when she accidently eavesdropped on a conversation that Percy was having with Oliver Wood.

The two sisters had started talking in the living room again.

"I just wanted to know what kind of person she is," Narcissa said.

Victoire imagined another elegant raise of an eyebrow on Andromeda's forehead, "This is rather new, you sounding like you might actually care about your great-nephew."

"Mother and Father always said that family's important," Narcissa replied sarcastically.

Andromeda responded right away, "Yes, I believe I remember them saying that each time they went to blast someone off the tapestry."

There was another pause and just when Victoire thought that it would be a good time for her to casually wander back into the living room, Andromeda spoke again.

"Not that I believe that you're sincerely concerned with Teddy, but you don't have to be. He loves her, and even though you don't really care about that, she does actually have most of the qualities that you would care about. She's pureblooded, she pretty, and she has a lot of connections. Teddy inadvertently ticked most of the boxes on the best-prospective-pureblooded-wife-list when he picked Victoire," She said, the last part coming out in a musing tone.

And that would have been when most eavesdroppers would have thought back to the old adage that 'eavesdroppers never hear well of themselves' or something like that, but Victoire was much too busy listening to the conversation, and too shameless, to feel guilty at that specific moment.

"How ironic," Narcissa retorted in a bored tone, "I take it that you approve then?"

Andromeda spoke next, "It's not up to me to approve or disapprove, but yes, I do approve. I know that she loves him, and that she will take care of him and make him happy, and that's all I want for my grandson."

Victoire heard Narcissa take a deep breath, and she only just quelled the sudden urge to peek around the corner and see what expression was on the other woman's face as she began, "You might not believe me, but I understand. That's all I want for my grandson as well."

There was a smaller pause this time, but Victoire figured that she couldn't fake being on the phone anymore, so she took a few steps back and then purposely walked, as loudly as her wedged shoes would allow, into the living room.

"Sorry about that Andromeda," Victoire announced loudly as she slowly walked back into the room, making a show of putting her mobile back into her bag so that it would look like she literally just got off the phone. She tried very hard to pretend like she hadn't just listened in on the last five minutes of their conversation and continued, "Eliza was just worried about Rowan and wanted some advice."

Andromeda nodded her head genially, "Don't worry about it Dear, do you need to leave to see her?"

"No, she told me that she didn't want to bother me so if I go over there right now she'll think I left whatever I was doing just to rush to her side. I'll give it a little time before stopping by to see her," Victoire explained as she awkwardly dropped into an empty arm chair and picked up the cup of tea that she had abandoned when she went to take her phone call.

Her description had come out almost like word vomit (she assumed because she was _now_ starting to feel guilty about her eavesdropping, especially since Andromeda had sort of complimented her) and forced down the lukewarm tea to stop it.

"Anything interesting about your first two days of your residency that you'd like to share?" Andromeda asked her pleasantly. The older woman had either gone back to being oblivious to the awkwardness in the room –which came with a silent Narcissa and a jumpy Victoire– or most likely she was just ignoring it. Andromeda always did do whatever she felt like.

"It hasn't exactly been intellectually stimulating in the past two days, but Healer Rhee did tell us residents that we should look into having something to fill our time and give us more experience for when there is a lull in the scheduled work. Either another part-time residency in a different ward or to find a healer who's doing research," Victoire said.

Andromeda nodded again, but she pursed her lips in thought, "Are you going to ask Angelina if she has room on her research team?"

Victoire shook her head, "No, I'm still trying to lay low when it comes to her research with bacteriophages. Kingsley and Colton Knott worked hard to get me out of the trouble I got myself into, so I don't fancy the risk of bringing everything back up again."

Out of the corner of her eye, Victoire noticed that Narcissa's eyes narrowed in slight surprise when she heard her say Colton's name, but there was no way that Victoire was brave enough to ask the older woman about it.

"Is there a certain time deadline for finding a part-time residency or research project?" Andromeda asked Victoire interestedly.

She shrugged her shoulders, "Not really, it's not mandatory, just highly recommended. The more experience we get the easier it will be to get a job after this residency is finished."

"Of course, of course," Andromeda said with a wave of her hand, her smile was sweet but her eyes made her seem as though she was deep in thought.

Victoire, ever impatient though, wasn't the biggest fan of awkward silences, especially when she was sitting with her fiancé's grandmother, and said grandmother's estranged sister. Therefore, she tried to keep the conversation going, and to do so she had to change the topic.

"Teddy has to work until the last minute on Saturday, but I can always stop by early and help you with dinner Andromeda."

The elder woman looked like she was going to nod her head in agreement before she seemed to think better of it and replied, "I appreciate the offer Victoire, but there's no need for that, I can handle everything."

Victoire's hands clutched her empty tea cup tightly, the only sign of stress that she allowed herself, and tried not to go down a self-conscious spiral of thought in which she would anxiously wonder if there was a specific reason why Andromeda didn't want her help.

"Are you sure? I don't mind."

Andromeda smiled kindly at her, "I'm sure. Chances are Teddy will be less likely to leave work late if he knows that you're waiting for him so that you can travel here together. If you got here ahead of time he'd probably been more likely to get sucked into staying longer than necessary, because he'll justify that we'd have each other to keep ourselves entertained."

Victoire nodded. She couldn't argue with that logic, it was very sound, and it also sounded very much like something Teddy would think, and do.

"Okay then."

There was silence after that, Victoire unable to think of anything else to say, and both sisters either unwilling to speak, or comfortable with the quiet. After a few minutes of noiseless, Victoire slowly stood up and announced to the room at large –although it was mostly for Andromeda's sake– that she was going to. She did want to check on Rowan and Eliza after all, before letting too much time pass.

Andromeda walked her to the door, gave her a delicate hug and a kiss on either cheek, and then offered a sincere goodbye.

As Victoire walked away from Andromeda's house, she realized that even though she had spent a good amount of time eavesdropping on the two sisters' conversation, she still had no idea why Narcissa was at Andromeda's, and what they could have possibly been discussing before she got there.

* * *

 **4:42 PM**

"She's quiet," Louis remarked offhandedly as he stared down at the three and a half week old infant that was lying in his arms.

Baxter rolled his eyes and reached forward to touch the baby's tightly closed fist, "Not all infants spend their waking moments crying."

"It definitely seemed like Brogan did," Cecilia commented from the chair across from the sofa Louis and Baxter were sitting on.

Louis snorted, "From what I remember, Brogan was a great baby Cee-Cee. You don't know the meaning of colicky unless you saw Lily as an infant. I was only four at the time, but even I can remember hearing Lily's screams from _outside_ of Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny's house."

"I know that I'm lucky that she's such a good baby," Eliza began as she looked up from the Quidditch magazine in her lap –which contained Cecilia's first ever published article– and sent a glance over to Rowan who was nestled in Louis's arms. She seemed content to be there, even though there were too rather bulky men looming over her and staring down at her, "But I worry sometimes that she's a little too quiet."

"I can poke her if you'd like," Louis offered, actually moving his hand up and inching his index finger closer to Rowan.

Eliza and Cecilia, the former sitting in the chair across from the boys while the latter was sitting on the arm of said chair, both glared at the part-veela and told him sternly, "Don't you dare!"

"I was just kidding," He said hurriedly, he looked like he would have held up his hands in an open gesture if he hadn't been holding his friend's newborn.

Baxter chuckled and then touched Rowan's cheek with the back of his hand, he frowned a minute later, "She feels a little cooler than she did when we got here fifteen minutes ago."

Eliza bit her lip worriedly and started to fiddle with the open pages of the quidditch magazine on her lap. While Louis and Baxter were keeping Rowan entertained, she had been reading Cecilia's interview with Valentin Krum and discussing it with her.

"Maybe I should take her temperature again though. Just in case."

Cecilia used her perch on the arm of the chair to calmly pat Eliza's shoulder, "I can promise you that Victoire won't mind you calling her again if you're really worried."

"No, I called her like twenty minutes ago. It's way too soon to do it again. I'm probably just being overly anxious about it," Eliza said in a wavering tone.

"Your infant has a fever Eliza, I think you're allowed to be anxious about it," Baxter told her in a reassuring tone.

Eliza took a deep breath and nodded her head, "I'll wait another half hour and see how she is then."

Cecilia didn't look convinced by Eliza's decision, but she didn't have time to argue as her friend quickly turned her attention back to the quidditch magazine.

"It looks like she's going to fall asleep on me," Louis commented in a low voice several minutes later when the girls has gone back to discussing the praise Cecilia's editor had given her article.

Baxter smiled down at Rowan, and then smirked at Louis, "It's probably because you're boring her to sleep."

Louis rolled his eyes, "I have plenty of exciting stories about MLE training that I could recite, but I'm pretty sure that they would give her nightmares."

"She's not even a month old Louis, she doesn't understand what you're saying," Baxter pointed out.

His blonde cousin shrugged his shoulders, "It would still be impolite."

"So have they given you Jr. writers a new assignment yet?" Eliza asked Cecilia curiously.

"No, only about a third of us handed in interview articles that were worthy of being published in this week's issue so everyone has to take more writing courses," Cecilia explained.

Eliza made a sympathetic face, "That sucks. It's almost sounds like a punishment for everyone who did do well."

"Apparently they only really expected that many of us to succeed and produce something of that quality on our first try. Everyone has to take more writing courses, but those of us that did get published will get first choice of which Sr. staff writer we want to shadow starting next week," Cecilia told her evenly.

Eliza nodded, "There's that at least." She looked back down to the magazine and smiled, "Do you get to pick first out of everyone because they chose your article to be the featured piece out of all of the interviews?"

"I'm fairly certain that the reason why it was featured first was because Valentin was the seeker of a winning team, and because he's so new and hasn't done many interviews yet," Cecilia said.

Louis spoke up from the sofa across from them, "Don't listen to her Eliza, her article was the most well written one, and she did the best interview. She deserved to have her article featured."

"I appreciate the support Louis, and I know that _you_ know about quidditch, but you don't really follow it like the quidditch fanatics who read the magazine," Cecilia voiced with an indulgent roll of her eyes.

"I can still tell the difference between something that is well written and something that is just rubbish. Your article was really good; Freddie's essay about Jupiter's moons for astronomy that I proofread for him last year, rubbish," Louis clarified.

Baxter snickered, "He made me read his essay after you did because he was confident that it was better than what you said it was."

"And what was your opinion?"

"That while I appreciated the imaginative quality of guessing how many more moons Jupiter has that we don't know about yet and suggesting names for them, that I thought his professor would prefer it if he mentioned something in his essay that was actually based on fact," Baxter explained.

Louis nodded and pursed his lips, "You were definitely more polite than I was about it."

Eliza laughed and then stopped when she heard a knock on the front door. She stood up to answer it, and was more than a little surprised when she saw who was at her door.

"Hi . . ."

Benjamin awkwardly shoved his hands into his pockets and replied, "Hey, I got your text message about Rowan having another fever . . ."

"I called Victoire, she said if it stays low then it's probably just a temperature rise like last time. Besides, I texted you about it almost an hour ago. All you had to do was text me back, you didn't need to show up on my doorstep," Eliza said firmly as she tried to keep her eyes on Benjamin and stop them from wandering to the person standing just behind him.

Benjamin's brown eyes hardened and he pursed his lips, "I was worried about her. I got here as soon as I could."

Eliza felt the need to say something scathing about what 'I got here as soon as I could' meant, but before she could, Cecilia walked into the entryway.

"So Louis and I just took her temperature and Rowan's down from 100.1 degrees Fahrenheit to 99.7 degrees, so-" She paused when she saw who Eliza was standing with, "Hi Dickinson."

"Hello Wood," He replied, knowing that he wouldn't even be able to pull off a tired smile.

Cecilia put her hands on her hips, "So what are you doing here?"

"I came to check on _my_ daughter," Benjamin told her, emphasizing the word _my_ very distinctly.

Cecilia levelled him with a perfectly raised eyebrow, "Do you usually bring dates when you do so?"

She had finally pointed out the hippogriff in the room, and she, Eliza, and Benjamin all looked at the slight woman who was standing behind him and looking both bored and pissed off.

Benjamin looked at the woman behind him and then back at Eliza and Cecilia. When he didn't immediately introduce her, she stepped forward to introduce herself.

"I'm Benjamin's fiancée, Winnie Harris," She told Cecilia, her tone was polite but she didn't even attempt to hold her hand out for the other woman to shake.

Cecilia crossed her arms over her chest and looked less than impressed, "I know. I was only a year behind you at Hogwarts."

"And you are . . .?" Winnie asked Cecilia pointedly.

"Cecilia Wood."

Winnie's eyes finally lightened with some sort of recognition, "You used to date Louis Weasley."

"I still do actually," Cecilia replied in a nasty tone.

The other woman looked honestly surprised at this information, "Really? I'm rather impressed then that you've managed to keep that up."

Eliza didn't even have to look at Cecilia to know what kind of response Winnie's words would have on her friend, so she suddenly turned to Benjamin, "If you're really here to see Rowan then you'll need to step into the flat to do that."

Benjamin nodded, and within the next minute he and Winnie had stepped through the threshold. Benjamin continued on towards the living room, and as Winnie followed behind him she glanced at Eliza and gave her a perky smile.

"Hello Elena."

"It's Eliza," Cecilia corrected in a strict tone before Eliza could come to her own defense.

Winnie shrugged, "Whatever. I don't really need to know your name anyway. We're not going to be in each other's lives for very long after all."

She had just strutted out of hearing range when Cecilia turned to Eliza and asked, "Is she really that stupid?"

"She's actually not stupid at all. She's just confident that Benjamin will quickly lose interest in Rowan, and me by default," Eliza explained evenly.

Cecilia patted Eliza's arm and they began walking into the living room themselves, "No, she's definitely stupid if she thinks that Benjamin's just going to lose interest in Rowan as if she is some sort of brief fad."

When they entered the living room Louis was in the middle of transferring Rowan –who no longer looked drowsy and seemed to be wide awake– from his arms and into Benjamin's.

"Hey there little girl," Benjamin said quietly as he looked down at Rowan's still grey-blue eyes. He rubbed his hand against her cheek and forehead and then frowned, "She feels really warm."

Baxter, who was standing on Benjamin's other side, reached forward slowly and touched the baby's forehead, "She actually feels cooler than she did an hour ago."

Benjamin nodded, but didn't respond. He was glad that Rowan's temperature seemed to be dropping, but he wasn't exactly sure how to feel about hearing that Baxter had been there for at least an hour. The same timeframe in which Eliza had texted him about Rowan's fever. Benjamin really wanted to know whether Eliza had called Baxter, or if he had just shown up on his own, and if Baxter had stopped by before or after Eliza had texted him.

"She hasn't been fussy or anything?" Benjamin asked, looking directly at Eliza this time.

Eliza shook her head, her loose long hair flying out around her face, "She's been perfectly normal, just warmer than usual."

"That's a good sign then," Benjamin replied, his eyes automatically shifting back to his daughter.

"So she's fine, can we go now?" Winnie asked abruptly from where she stood stock-still in the corner of the living room closest to the hallway that led to the front door.

Cecilia gritted her teeth. It took a lot, but she held in her defense of Eliza to see if Benjamin would offer one of his own or not.

He ended up giving his fiancée a reprimanding glare and said her name sternly, but he didn't say anything else.

It made Cecilia and Baxter frown.

Ever the peacemaker, Louis began to babble politely about something or another, and then there was another knock on the front door. Cecilia noted the swift look of exhaustion that Eliza sent towards the direction of the front door, and she hurriedly offered to answer it for her friend.

It was less than two minutes before Cecilia was back in the living room, towing Victoire Weasley with her arm-in-arm.

Victoire took one look at the oddly assembly group of six and remarked, "Well this looks like a party."

"I told you that you didn't have to stop by to see her. I was probably just overreacting," Eliza told Victoire as she stepped forward to give the older woman a hug.

The newest guest returned the hug and then shrugged, "I don't mind stopping by. Besides, it gave me an excuse to leave a very awkward visit I was having with Teddy's grandmother."

"How awkward?" Louis asked curiously as he also stepped forward to give his eldest sister a hug.

"So awkward that I don't actually have a comparison for it," Victoire replied.

Baxter had also shuffled over to Victoire, and gave her a one-armed hug, "It must have been really strange then, because in our family we have an extended scale of comparisons for awkward things."

"Exactly," Victoire agreed. She turned to Eliza and clapped her hands together, "Now where's my baby?"

Eliza smiled for the first time since Benjamin and his fiancée had shown up, and pointed towards her daughter.

Benjamin was still holding Rowan, and he made to hand her over to Victoire when she came over to him, but stopped when he saw Victoire shake her head.

"It's easier to cast the diagnostic spells when I'm not holding her," Victoire explained, she then looked to the room at large, "What's her most recent temperature reading?"

Cecilia explained that she and Louis had checked it about ten minutes prior and that she was down to below one-hundred. Victoire nodded and then waved her hand over Rowan's form a few times. She didn't bother to pull out her wand to do it as the spells were simple ones that she could do both wordlessly and wandlessly, and it only took a few minutes before she announced, "She doesn't have any of the common infections, so it's probably just that she's running on the warm side."

"So she's okay?" Eliza and Benjamin asked at the same time.

Victoire smirked and held her arms out to Benjamin, "Perfectly. Now, I will accept payment in the form of cuddles, so hand her over."

The corners of Benjamin's lips turned up and he gently moved Rowan into Victoire's arms. The baby girl didn't seem to mind at all that she was being moved from person to person, and once Victoire had her cradled perfectly in her arms, Rowan stared up at her wide-eyed and with her little mouth opened in an 'O'.

"Hey there baby girl, are you giving everyone a scare again?" Victoire cooed to baby.

In response, Rowan opened her mouth a little wider a bit of drool came out. Victoire beamed down at her, magiked a tissue into her hand, and dabbed at the drool coming out of the baby's mouth.

"Oh you are quite the troublemaker aren't you? I have a feeling that you're going to give your parents a run for their money once you hit your teenage years," Victoire said, continuing to speak to only to the infant.

"She isn't even a month old yet and you're already going to brand her a mischief-maker?" Eliza asked skeptically.

Louis rolled his eyes, "Between Vic and Cecilia I'm sure they'll teach Rowan how to properly misbehave."

"That we will," Cecilia agreed with an approving nod of her head.

Eliza looked like she wasn't exactly sure how to respond, "Thank you?"

Victoire laughed, but it was cut-off by the ringing of her mobile phone from her bag. Since her hands and arms were full, Victoire asked Louis to go into her bag and tell her who was calling.

Once Louis fished the mobile out, he told her in an unruffled tone of voice that her caller ID said that the call was from Colton Knott. Victoire looked at the phone surprised. Not just because Colton was calling her, but because she had forgotten that Dom had set Colton up with a muggle mobile phone several months ago and forced him to use it instead of owls because they were less messy.

Victoire sat down on the sofa and shifted her hold on Rowan so that she was only using one arm. She took the phone from Louis, and held it up to her ear, "What do you want Knott?"

There was silence in the room while on the phone; Colton explained in short sentences why he was calling her.

"Well, that invitation sounds only slightly less painful than getting all of my teeth pulled out without the use of a pain killing charm," Victoire responded into the mobile.

Colton spoke again on the other line.

"I was kidding. Sort of. And no, you do not need to put Stasia on the phone to convince me. Oddly enough I'll agree even without having to listen to your wife plead and guilt me into it. So, what time were you planning for? I need to track down Ally beforehand and ask her something," She replied.

Another pause while Colton told her not to worry about finding Ally.

"Oh, you invited them too? Well that makes my life easier. I just need to stop by my flat and change out of my dressy work clothes and into something much more casual. I'll see you in twenty."

When she ended the call she gave Rowan one last squeeze and a kiss on the forehead before handing her to Eliza, "It seems that I'm going to spend the night seeing if I can make it through a dinner with Knott without trying to kill him."

"Good luck with that," Baxter muttered, Louis snickering a little beside him.

Victoire rolled her eyes at them and then smiled at Eliza, "Rowan should be okay, but if her fever spikes up again around 100 degrees, give me a call, okay?"

Eliza nodded, and then Victoire said her goodbyes to everyone there, minus Benjamin's standoffish fiancée, and left the flat.

* * *

 **5:34 PM**

"I am _so_ sorry that I'm late," Victoire apologized as she crossed the door's threshold and passed by Colton, who had answered the door when she knocked.

Colton just rolled his eyes as he closed the door behind her, "I know that this is where any other person would politely say that it's no problem and ask what kept you, but I really don't care."

"Good, because I really don't feel like going into detail and explaining the practically useless fifteen minute phone call I just had with one of my fellow residents who's working tonight," Victoire muttered as she followed behind Colton. He was walking further through the foyer.

"You never did have patience for stupid questions," Colton remarked with a smirk.

Victoire nodded, "That's why we never got along at Hogwarts. You were always full of stupid questions."

He rolled his eyes at her again and tried to jab her in the side. She only just dodged it and laughed, "Okay, okay. Austin Pennington and Pamela Mace asked stupider questions than you ever did."

They settled into a more comfortable silence as Victoire unabashedly gazed around the house they were in. Victoire had never been to Colton and Anastasia's home before, and even though she followed the directions she was given via text message, she had been hesitant at first about whether or not she got the right address. It ended up being the correct address as Colton had answered the door, but she was still a little surprised at what their home looked like. It _was_ an upscale townhouse, but both the outside and the inside had a distinctly homey feel. She wasn't sure why, but Victoire had always assumed that Colton and Anastasia's house would look more untouchably cold and sophisticated than anything else.

"So no mansion?" Victoire asked Colton conversationally but with a cheeky glint in her eyes.

Colton's smile was sly, "No. No mansion yet. I'm sure my parents will insist on us moving into a place much more appropriate for the heir to our family fortune once Stasia and I start having children, but until then they've graciously agreed not to comment on us living here."

Victoire glanced around the elegant yet comfortable and warm looking place again, "So what? They think you're slumming it here or something?"

He nodded.

"I would have loved to see what their reaction would be if you lived in a flat then."

"I'm pretty sure my mother's head would explode," Colton replied. The distant look in his eyes told Victoire that he was imagining said reaction himself, and the slight upwards turn of the corner of his lips told her that he was enjoying the hypothetical situation to a degree.

The conversation ended when they reached the living room as Victoire was then attacked with hugs from the others who were in the room. When Colton called Victoire, he invited her and Teddy to have dinner and hang out at his and Anastasia's home, emphasizing that it would be casual as Anastasia thought it would be fun to order muggle Chinese take-out. He had also told Victoire that he was inviting Ally and Xavier, and Sandra and Kyle. It seemed that Ally and Sandra had already arrived, but they were the only people Victoire could see.

"Where's everyone else?" Victoire asked them curiously.

Sandra's eyes moved towards one of the living room exits and said, "Kyle's in the kitchen answering a phone call from someone at the office."

"And Xavier and Teddy offered to pick up the Chinese order at the muggle restaurant and Stasia decided that she wanted to go with them," Ally explained as they all settled into seats on the sofas or armchairs.

Victoire had called Teddy the minute she left Eliza's flat, and told him about their new evening plans. He was supposed to be at the office until five o'clock, so they decided that he'd just head to Colton and Anastasia's directly after work, and that Victoire would meet him there after she stopped by their own flat and changed her clothes. With the delay because of the phone call she had to answer in the middle of changing out of her work clothes, she ended up at Colton and Anastasia's late, meaning that everyone else, including Teddy, had gotten there before she did.

"How long ago did they leave?" Victoire asked her cousin.

"They've only been gone for about ten minutes," Ally explained.

Victoire nodded and then smiled, "So Ally, Spence wants to know if you're free on Friday the sixteenth, he's planning for all of us from work to go out and get smashed."

"Xavier's got an away game that night but I'm totally free," Ally replied after taking a minute to remember Puddlemere's upcoming quidditch schedule.

"Excellent, I will let him know then," Victoire announced just as Kyle wandered back into the room, his mobile phone still glued to his face.

Kyle waved to Victoire when he saw her, walked over to her, and leaned down to press a kiss to her cheek. He then straightened up and began prattling into the phone again.

"Well I can't assure them of anything right now because we haven't got the figures in yet. We're still waiting to get the numbers from the Bertrands' associates so that we can calculate what the new profit margin with be," Kyle said to the person on the other end of the line.

Sandra sighed, walked over to her husband, and held her hand out for the phone. He eyed her inquiringly for a moment before relinquishing the phone to her.

"Hi Brady, it's Sandra," Sandra said into the phone in a tone that sounded pleasant, but that Victoire knew she could put on in a snap, "I'm well thank you, I just overheard you and Kyle discussing the Fosters' request and I thought I could shed some light on it."

She paused for only the briefest of moments to listen to a short reply before continuing, "It's past normal hours at both our company and the Bertrands' so we will most definitely not have the report on the profit margins that the Fosters are looking for until tomorrow-"

Sandra had to wait another second as Brady tried to interrupt her to say something else. Even though she didn't give him the chance to finish what he was saying on the other end of the line, she was still shockingly polite about interrupting Brady in reply.

"I understand that the Fosters are expecting something tonight, but it's just not going to happen, and in all honesty it will be better for them in the long run to wait and consult the reports before making any rash decisions. However, since they are obviously very impatient, I'll give you something to tell them. Get a quill and write this down."

She then went on to list out a string of numbers from previous business contracts that were very similar to the one the Fosters were signing, as well as explaining Kyle's company's general growth of stock.

"Those numbers should tide Mr. Foster over until tomorrow morning, and you can promise him that myself and Lloyd Palmer will personally handle calculating the profit margins for the contract, which he will have in his hands by nine tomorrow morning," Sandra said into the phone a smile in her voice.

The phone conversation was pretty much done by that point, and Sandra said goodbye, hung up, and then gave Kyle back his phone.

"All handled," She told him with a grin.

Kyle kissed her cheek and then shook his head at her, "I thought we had a deal Sandy. I'm in charge of the clients and you're in charge of the numbers."

"Yes, and what your client wanted was the numbers, which I handled," She replied with a sly smirk.

He wrapped his arms around his wife's waist and pulled her tight to him, "Thank you for the help Honey, you definitely saved me from spending the rest of the night on the phone, but you're going to make me look bad in front of my parents if you keep this up. We already know that they love you more than me."

Sandra rolled her eyes and hit his shoulder before resting her head on said shoulder, "Don't worry, I have absolutely no intention of taking your job as the face of the company."

"You might want to rethink that Sandy, you have a much prettier face than Kyle does," Victoire called to them, not at all apologetic for interrupting whatever _moment_ the husband and wife were having.

"It _would_ be interesting to see how quickly it would take for your stock to go up if Sandra did take over public relations," Colton commented as he handed out some butterbeers.

Kyle faux glared at him, "I think I liked it better when you and Victoire couldn't agree on anything."

"They've come a long way Kyle, don't go ruining all their hard work," Anastasia cheerily chastised him as she stepped into the living room, Xavier and Teddy right on her heels. All of them were carrying bags and boxes of Chinese take-out.

Everyone started moving around, grabbing plates, napkins, cutlery, drinks, etc., and Victoire stood up to greet her fiancé.

"How was your day?" Victoire asked Teddy just after giving him a peck on the lips.

He smiled tiredly at her and gave her another kiss, "Long, full of research and paperwork. How was your day?"

"It was okay, full of learning new rules."

There was a slight pause in their conversation as Anastasia had walked by them and wanted to greet Victoire. They shared a quick hug and then she left to find a seat next to her husband.

"So you stopped by Grandmum's and told her that we're going to have to push dinner back a little on Saturday?" Teddy asked Victoire as they settled down onto a loveseat.

She paused a moment before replying, "Yes I did."

He didn't miss the slight hesitancy in her response, "And she was okay with it?"

"Oh, of course she was fine with it, yeah," Victoire replied hastily. She had tried to backtrack quickly so that he wouldn't be suspicious, but her rushed answer seemed to do the opposite.

He grabbed her hand and squeezed it tightly, "Did something happen while you were there?"

She knew that this was a point when she _could_ tell Teddy about who else had been visiting Andromeda when she was there, but she also knew that _that_ side of his family was a touchy subject with him. It was definitely not a topic that she wanted to bring up with when they were supposed to be enjoying a laidback evening with their friends.

"No, there's nothing that we need to talk about right now," Victoire told him softly as she squeezed his hand in return.

* * *

 **A/N:** I hope this chapter was somewhat worth the wait. I know it sounds like some filler, but as most of you should know by now, almost everything I write has a point.

Anyhoo, some of you were curious about Benjamin's fiancee and how they are together, so I thought now would be as good a time as any to introduce her. So, I hoped you liked this chapter, we got to see a lot of our fav characters and we're setting up for some more parts of the story to come, both in long term and more immediate.

Also, you guys know that I like writing about Andromeda, so don't worry, I fully plan on delving into what her relationship (and Teddy's) might be with the Malfoys.

I know I don't deserve it because it's been forever since I updated, but please leave me your comments, questions, and concerns in the form of a review or PM, they really do help motivate me to write and update.

 **New One-Shot:** For those of you who don't have me on their author alerts, a few weeks ago I did post a longish one-shot about Oliver and Katie. It occurs a few years post DH, but well before the start of the my next-gen series. You can find it on my profile if you'd like to read it.

 **Next Update:** As you can no doubt see, my writing and updating schedule has changed because I've finished school, and I'm honestly not sure what my updating schedule will be. Some of you have asked, but I do want to reiterate that no matter how long the updates between this story are, I have no plans to abandon it. I still have ideas, and eventually (hopefully as quickly as possible) those ideas will come out in something organized enough to be posted.

 **Next Chapter:** We get to see Vic work some of her healing mojo. Victoire and Teddy have dinner with Andromeda and a surprise visitor, and then the next day they go to a Weasley family dinner and Victoire finds out why Uncle Charlie never told them about his girlfriend before. We'll hear about Xavier storming out of a Wood family brunch, and Victoire gets an offer that she can't refuse.

Teaser for Next Chap:

 **"Cecilia bit her lip, "Plans had to change a little. Oh, and if Dad asks, I spent the night here."**

 **Malcolm snorted from the armchair he had sunk into, while Xavier pinched the bridge of his nose and muttered, "Honestly Cecilia.""**

A huge thank you as always to everyone who has followed, favourited, read, and especially reviewed!

Thanks again to:

 **Seher Syed, rosesnlilies, Rosi Loves Pi, KawaiiOtaku0405, Gio, GryffindorsRock, zvc56, Jennifer Jules, unofficial potterhead, no cure for crazy, silverlover02, liverpoolss, jeremiah123, WokfGirl,** and **Izzydev03**.

 **Rosi Loves Pi** : I'm not entirely who you think is expecting a baby soon, so I really can't answer that question.

 **Gio** : I can definitely do more Dom and Vic, I think we might see more of them anyway, but Dom's job isn't exactly dangerous so I' not quite sure how I would put in a life-saving situation . . . I'll think about it though.

 **GryffindorsRock** : I hope you didn't get sick, but trust me, I know all about taking care of very young children who are ill.

 **zvc56** : I have a summer job until September (which is good because I can live from home and carpool), and then I'll have to find a real adult post-uni job for September and beyond.

 **unofficial potterhead** : We will learn more about Andromeda and Narcissa's relationship throughout this story, so I hope you're okay with that. I left this chapter ambiguous at the end about Teddy's feelings about them for a reason.

 **silverlover02** : I do have ideas for the as of yet unmentioned Alicia Spinnet, and if I ever get around to writing more about Oliver and Katie you will hear about it there. If not, I'll see if I can work a bit of it into this story. As for who knew Xavier first (Ally or Victoire) since they were all pretty young when they first met each other (literally in Vic and Xavier's case when Vic was a few weeks old) they can't really remember who knew him first. And you'd be correct in assuming that the Woods would have been closer to George and Angelina first, but again (if I get the chance to write more Katie/Oliver) you'll see Katie strike up an interesting friendship with Fleur. I know it's very vague, but that's all I can say without giving away potential future plot info.

 **WokfGirl** : Honestly, I'm just trying to focus on finishing this story. But, if I did have unlimited time to write fanfiction and I could write all the stories I have ideas for, there would be another story after this that will be shorter, and then there would be another story about Vic and Teddy that would be more into the future, and may or may not involve their children.

 **Izzydev03:** I have no plans to abandon this story, but real life does get in the way and it may be a while until my updates get regular, if they ever do. If this story ever gets abandoned, it won't be because I don't know where it's going or because I lost interest.

 **I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter,**

 **Please leave me a review if you have any comments or questions,**

 **Until next time, DFTBA!**


	16. Family Meals

**A/N:** Hello everyone, thanks for waiting patiently for this update, a lot of stuff has happened between now and my last update, not the least of which my university convocation, so I am now officially a university graduate!

If you guys love it when I talk about Andromeda's past, you'll probably love part of this one, and this chapter takes place directly after the last one. Also, Victoire fan-girls hard in this chapter.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own _Harry Potter_

* * *

 **Recap of previous chapters:** Victoire needs to find another part-time healing placement, or a healer to do research with to pad her resume. In the last chapter Victoire and her friends went to Colton and Anastasia's for muggle Chinese, and Victoire and Teddy are going to go to Andromeda's for dinner on Saturday, and then they have a Weasley family dinner on Sunday.

* * *

 **Family Meals**

 **Friday, September 9** **th** **2022**

 **8:00 PM**

"Thank you so much for coming in on short notice Victoire," Healer Rhee told her with a tranquil smile while she shrugged into her green healers' robes.

She nodded her head and straightened the collar of her dress shirt before doing up the front of her robes, "I don't mind, I'm sure Wesley had his reasons for having to switch shifts. Besides, I've got to get my first night shift over with at some point."

"Remember how happy you are to do this, because I can promise you that in six months from now, you're going to be resenting those sudden calls asking you to come in late at night when you're already coming off a twelve hour shift," Healer Rhee said with a small smile.

Victoire shrugged, "Everyone's got to pay their dues at some point. Might as well start early."

Healer Rhee's smile broke out into a full grin, "I knew there was a reason why I gave you such a glowing recommendation to the others while we were considering who should get the four residency positions."

"Did you really?" She asked him timidly as she slowly clasped her hands together.

The elder man nodded his head serenely, "Of course I did. Your grades and other recommendations spoke for themselves, and besides that, I had a good feeling about you both during your formal interview, and when you were a patient here."

"I don't see how I could have made a good impression while I was lying in a hospital bed."

He smirked, "I beg to differ, you were the first patient I ever had who researched through half a dozen books just because you were trying to help cure yourself."

"I would have thought that that was more annoying than anything," Victoire replied in a self-deprecating tone.

Healer Rhee pursed his lips, "It could have been, but you were never rude or condescending about it, you just wanted to learn and find something that would heal you. You were very industrious and impressive. Speaking of, have you decided how you're going to spend your time away from the ward? Are you going to get a part-time residency somewhere else, or do research?"

Victoire picked up some files from the station at the entrance of the ward and began to alphabetize them, "I haven't figured it all out yet. I think a part-time residency might be just too much work, but I also don't know who I could contact about research."

"You don't have to pick a very difficult part-time residency, you could choose something a little simpler like obstetrics and gynecology," Healer Rhee suggested.

She shook her head, "I don't do things half way and I don't like to take the easier route. If I chose another part-time residency I'd probably end up working at it as if it was full time."

"And that would definitely keep you very busy, probably too busy," Healer Rhee agreed, "So what about research with another healer at St. Mungo's?"

Her black high-heel-shoe covered feet started to tap against the floor, a minor sign of the anxiety she was feeling, "I could . . . but I don't want someone to give me a research spot just because they know Aunt Angelina, or because I'm a Weasley. I want to feel like I've earned one or that I've impressed a healer enough to give me it, and that will probably take some time as well."

"I don't think you'll have to worry about that for very long, as I said before, you're very impressive," Healer Rhee told Victoire as he gave her a pat on the shoulder in a way that reminded her of her grandpa Arthur.

She smiled and straightened out all the newly alphabetized files, "I appreciate your words Healer Rhee, may I ask you something?"

"Of course," The elderly healer replied, his ever-present smile on his face.

A blonde eyebrow rose up on her forehead without her even trying, "You've been here since six o'clock this morning, why are you still here? Healer Seward's scheduled to supervise this evening."

He smiled at her again, "You sound like my wife and my adult children. But don't worry, I have no intentions of working even more overtime this week, I was just on my way out when you arrived."

"Well then don't let me stop you any longer," Victoire replied with a small smile as she stepped away and gestured towards the doors that led to the D. A. R. ward's entrance/exit.

Healer Rhee patted her on the shoulder once more and then offered her a goodbye. Once he was gone Victoire went to check in with Healer Seward, who directed both her and the other resident –Malachi Fabius– to spend their ten hour long shift in the emergency medical ward.

Even though she didn't expect to enjoy spending the night working with Fabius, she was glad that they'd be spending their time in the emergency medical ward, it would go at a slightly faster pace than spending the night in just the D. A. R. ward.

The first several hours of Victoire's shift went by how she had learned to expect from the emergency medical ward. Another resident or intern would call her or Fabius, or both, when they had a patient come in whom they suspected might be suffering from some sort of dark magic. And like the two other times that week that she had been in the emergency medical ward, she hadn't had to do any magic more complicated than lifting a couple low level hexes and curses.

It wasn't until around midnight that the emergency medical ward finally saw some action in the form of about a half dozen injured and argumentative thirty-year-old men. Half of the patients were wearing Falmouth Falcon quidditch jerseys, the other half Tutshill Tornado ones, and even though they all seemed to be in various states of physical injury, they were loudly and not so clearly quarrelling about which team was better.

Victoire took a minute to roll their eyes at the men's childishness –some of them were still trying to fight each other even though they were being admitted into the hospital– and then moved to make herself busy. She checked up on two of the men, one supporter of each team, when their emergency medical healing residents asked for her help, and from those check-ups she pieced together a few bits of the story.

Apparently, a game between the Falmouth Falcons and the Tutshill Tornados had ended about a half hour ago, and a group of each team's supporters got into a fight as they were leaving the arena. The injuries seemed to be minor for the most part, but in the mayhem of the emergency medical ward she did notice a few MLE agents wandering around. Their presence told Victoire that it must have been bad enough to consider pressing charges on some of the men.

"He should be fine, the smooth cut of the skin points to it being a simple severing hex," Victoire explained to one of the residents who was from the spell damage ward.

They were in a small area, sectioned off by thin curtains, and Victoire was taking a look at a patient, in a Tutshill Tornados jersey, at the request of the resident who had originally been assigned to the patient. At the moment, she was pointing out a rather deep gash that crossed the patient's left bicep. The bleeding had already been stopped, but the spell damage resident wanted to get the D. A. R. resident's opinion on the injury before trying to close it up with the regular spell.

The resident from the spell damage ward nodded his head, "I wasn't sure originally sure if it was a severing hex because of the damage to the veins and arterioles. Normal severing hexes don't cause damage in the spider-web pattern that this has."

"True, but this damage would be consistent with a severing hex that was cast while the target was twisting away," Victoire explained to the other resident. She addressed the patient next, "I assume that you tried to dodge this spell instead of putting up a shield charm?"

The man in the jersey –who still sounded a smidge intoxicated– grimaced, "I didn't see it coming until the last second. I didn't have time to try my hand at a spell."

"It's alright," Victoire assured him, "Since it was just a slicing hex Healer Novosad here should be able to fix you up in a jiffy."

The man nodded to her in thanks, and she turned around to exit the examination area, she had just moved the curtain out of the way when the resident from the spell damage ward, Healer Novosad, stopped her.

"Thank you for your help, but how could you tell that the vein and arteriole spider webbing was from the slicing hex and not a different curse?" He asked her curiously.

"I've seen slicing hexes do this type of damage before. Usually we assume that every part of an injury from a slicing hex will be clear and smooth because we make the automatic assumption that the person who got injured was completely still at the time. When you take into consideration how both the caster of the spell and the target move while the spell is being cast, it reminds you that the not all injuries from spells look the same as they do in images from our healing school assigned textbooks," Victoire told him with a shrug.

Healer Novosad nodded and then went back behind the curtain to heal his patient. Victoire only got a few steps away from that examination area before she heard someone from another section of the ward call out her name. When she found the person who had requested her, one of the heads of the emergency medical ward, the healer told her to see the patient in area 24 directly.

Just outside of examination area 24, Victoire found a familiar face.

"Auror Burton?"

Auror Genesis Burton turned and faced Victoire upon hearing the younger woman call her name. She was obviously on duty as she was wearing her auror robes and badge, but she did offer Victoire a curt smile.

"Hello Victoire."

Victoire felt her foot start to tap again with unease, "Did I miss a serious case come in during all this chaos?"

Auror Burton hurriedly stopped Victoire's worry, "No, we're really only here in an investigative fashion. The MLE agents at the quidditch arena confiscated the wands of everyone involved in the brawl and used _Prior Incantato_ to try to figure out who was responsible for casting what. When they did so they found a _Cogunto Actionemus_ curse in the wand of one of the patients. We were called in to interview him and to figure out if he used the spell to compel someone to do something they normally wouldn't do, which would be illegal."

Victoire nodded, _Cogunto Actionemus_ was kind of like the middle child spell between an imperious curse and a confundus charm. It was worse than a confundus charm, but not as harsh and free-will stealing as an imperious curse. In terms of legality it was also between an imperious curse and a confundus charm, and whether or not someone could get arrested for using it pretty much depended on what they use it for.

Auror Burton nodded her head in the direction of the closed curtains around emanation area 24, "The man who supposedly cast the spell is injured, so he was brought here. I have an auror trainee in there with him trying his hand at getting the facts. There isn't any evidence as of yet of dark magic being involved, but we have to investigate any uses of _Cogunto Actionemus_ to make sure that it wasn't used for a dark purpose because-"

"Of amendment seventy-three B to the special investigations decree," Victoire finished for her. Auror Burton shot her a look with a raised eyebrow and Victoire continued, "I was twelve I think when Kingsley passed that amendment. I remember there being a lot of talk and argument about the passing of the law, and I recall specifically asking Uncle Ron about it because I figured that he'd be the candidate most likely to explain it to me without using confusing terminology."

Auror Burton shook her head in amusement, "That doesn't surprise me."

Victoire smiled and then the two entered the examination area. Behind the curtains were two men, one was a patient in a Falmouth Falcons quidditch jersey, the other was a man who couldn't have been older than twenty, and was wearing auror robes with a badge that named him as a second-level trainee.

The trainee had just finished saying something in a stern voice to the patient as Victoire and Auror Burton entered. His overshadowing auror spoke to him immediately, "Did you find anything O'Toole?"

Victoire was fairly certain that she heard a bit of a smile in the carefully crafted neutral tone Auror Burton used.

"I've done my best and I think I've picked up on something important . . ." O'Toole trailed off when his eyes drifted away from Auror Burton and towards Victoire who was standing just behind her.

The trainee auror's mouth went slack, and his eyes looked like they were going to pop out of his head. Victoire, who was at least used to that type of reaction from men even if she didn't like it, did a good job at holding back her eye roll. She stepped up to the other side of the patient, picked up his intake chart, and introduced herself.

"Hello Mr.-" She looked down at his chart, "Rudaski, I'm Healer Weasley."

Her patient nodded at her and waved. She glanced down at the chart again, "It says here that you're not talking and that you can't open your mouth."

She bit down on her lip to hold in a smile. Victoire knew now why Auror Burton had tried to hold in her amused tone when speaking to her trainee, apparently she had instructed him to get information out of a man who couldn't talk. That definitely sounded like a type of trainee hazing.

Auror Burton pursed her lips and glanced at her trainee, "Tell Healer Weasley what we know about Mr. Rudaski, O'Toole. Cooperation between the Auror Department and the healers of the Dark Arts Reversal ward is very important."

The auror trainee nodded hurriedly, and began an explanation. It seemed that he had gotten over his shock at seeing Victoire, and hearing her last name, "It's, um, probably just a silencing charm but the Auror Department needs to investigate his injury because of the last spell he cast."

Victoire nodded at his words, "The Hesphaestus Gore principle; the caster of an illegal spell is also very likely to have had dark magic cast upon them. You need me to make sure that it was a silencing charm and not something more serious."

Auror Burton smirked while trainee O'Toole looked surprised at Victoire's knowledge of the Gore principle.

"Yes, I'm not sure what else it could be exactly besides a silencing charm . . ." O'Toole paused and noted the raised eyebrow Auror Burton was giving him. He took that as a sign that he needed to offer more suggestions to impress his supervising auror, "Maybe someone magically forced his mouth closed, or glued his tongue to the roof of his mouth?"

Victoire bit her cheek to hold in a smirk, "Good suggestions, but in both those cases he would be able to make some sort of sound, and neither spell is specifically dark. If you're looking for a dark curse, it could have been a spell that melted the vocal cords, vanished the larynx, or even damaged the parts of the brain that are responsible for oral speech. With an added spell to keep his mouth closed so that any visible damage wouldn't be immediately observable."

Auror Burton and O'Toole looked impressed, but Victoire patient's eyes narrowed with confusion.

"Those spells would cause a lot of pain though Mr. Rudaski, which would obviously be very perceivable," Victoire told her patient with a reassuring smile.

She pulled out her wand to cast the counter spells to the silencing and mouth closing charms, "I don't see anything worse than a silencing charm here."

Mr. Rudaski opened his mouth to sigh in relief, but no sound came out. His eyes widen and he glanced up at Victoire with apprehension. She leaned forward, lit the tip of her wand, and looked at his mouth and throat.

"There's no physical damage. Considering that you were in a brawl with other quidditch fanatics, I'd hazard a guess that whoever put the silencing charm on you also locked the spell. Give me a few minutes to try to unlock it, I've got a lot of experience with locked spells," Victoire reassured her patient.

As she twisted her wrist and wand to try to unlock the silencing spell, the trainee auror looked at her interestedly, "Do you see a lot of patients come in with spells locked on them?"

"Yes and no, I just have a lot of experience with locking spells on people," Victoire replied in a bubbly tone as she flicked her wrist sharply. She glanced briefly at O'Toole and noticed that he was looking at her with an expression that was a mix of impressed, perplexed, and a little unsettled.

Her patient on the other hand, just looked impressed and even gave her a bright smile. She smiled back and told him to try speaking again. He attempted it, and this time he could hear his own voice. The second thing he said was a thank you to Victoire. She nodded at him and picked up his chart again so that she could work on writing out his discharge. As she did so, she quietly assured Auror Burton that Rudaski was perfectly fine, and that once he was discharged he should be able to be taken to the Auror Department for further interview. Auror Burton patted her shoulder in thanks, and then Victoire signed off on her patient's chart with a flourish.

* * *

 **Saturday, September 10** **th** **2022**

 **9:15 AM**

Ally giggled and then pushed Xavier away from her.

She stood up, took a few steps away the sofa, and held her hand out to keep some distance between them, "I'm serious this time Xav. We need to be at your grandmother's house in fifteen minutes for your family breakfast, and if I show up with messy hair and a hickey on my neck your grandmother will think that I am, and call me, a harlot."

Xavier knew better than to argue with his girlfriend, especially since he couldn't deny the fact that his Grandmother Eilionoir would feel no remorse in calling Ally a harlot.

"I swear that I didn't give you a hickey," Xavier told her defensively as he ran a hand resignedly through his dirty-blonde hair.

Ally rolled her eyes at him, "I still need to fix my hair."

He grinned before he could stop himself. She _definitely_ needed to fix her hair after what he'd done to it.

She glared and pointed a finger at him, "Don't look so smug."

He did a poor job of hiding his smirk and she rolled her eyes once more before turning around and heading to the bathroom.

Xavier smiled lazily. He had a quidditch game that evening in Holyhead, which is why his grandmother had scheduled a large family breakfast for that morning instead of a dinner for that evening. He was just musing on whether there would be enough time for him to get Ally back to his flat after breakfast, but before he had to leave for Holyhead with his team in the late afternoon, when he heard a knock on his front door.

Upon opening the door, he found himself face-to-face with his most exasperating cousin, "What are you doing here Malcolm?"

Malcolm Wood smirked and leaned against the side of his cousin's doorway, "Nadia's just finishing getting ready for breakfast, so I thought I'd give her some privacy as she attempts to give herself a pep talk."

"Why is she giving herself a pep talk? She loves playing the Harpies, especially when she can chuck the quaffle right past their keeper's face," Xavier said confusedly.

His cousin rolled his eyes at him, and reached forward to condescendingly pat him on the top of his head, "Not everything's about quidditch Xavier. Nadia's worried about spending the morning with our whole family again."

"She doesn't need to be, your parents and everyone else like her," Xavier reminded him.

"I think she's more worried about having to talk to Grandmother Eilionoir."

Xavier nodded, "I don't blame her. Grandmother's been even more unpleasant than usual lately.

Malcolm rolled his eyes, "Whatever, I'm just hoping that she doesn't say anything too horrible that will cause Nadia to want to break up with me."

Xavier patted Malcolm on the shoulder and gestured for him to come into his flat, "Don't worry, Nadia's tough. And look on the bright side, maybe Grandmother will pick on my mum the whole morning and leave both Nadia and Ally alone."

"Maybe," Malcolm agreed a little forlornly. He did love his aunt, but a part of him did hope that his grandmother would spend her time criticizing Katie instead of his girlfriend. Katie had known Eilionoir for twenty-four years; she knew how to handle her mother-in-law's censures.

Malcolm slipped into the flat, and just as Xavier was about to shut the door, the lift at the end of the hallway opened up and Cecilia came skipping out of the elevator.

"Hey big brother," She sang as she bounced up to him and through the open doorway of his flat.

Xavier blinked in surprise at her rather quick movements, and his eyebrows furrowed, "What are you doing here Cee-Cee? I thought you were going to Louis's this morning to get him before meeting us all at grandmother's for breakfast?"

Cecilia bit her lip, "Plans had to change a little. Oh, and if Dad asks, I spent the night here."

Malcolm snorted from the armchair he had sunk into, while Xavier pinched the bridge of his nose and muttered, "Honestly Cecilia."

He didn't say anything other than that, so she was fairly certain that her brother was going to cover for her, even if he didn't particularly want to. Malcolm however, seemed to be a whole other issue.

"But what if your father asks _me_ about where you were last night?" Malcolm asked her in a tone that only partially sounded like teasing.

Cecilia frowned and crossed her arms over her chest defiantly, "I would hope that you would go along with it as well."

"And if I didn't?" He questioned, a wicked smirk on his face.

She put her hands on her hips defiantly, "Then I might have to tell your mother and our grandmother that I overheard you and Teddy discussing going to a jewelry store to look at engagement rings."

Malcolm's face went white, "That's a complete _lie_ , I have had no such conversation with anybody!"

"Do you really think that your mum or grandmother will care about the truth once the gossip is out there in the open?" Cecilia asked evilly.

He eyed her speculatively and pursed his lips, "You're being a pain in the arse right now, but I respect your deviousness. I promise not to tell Uncle Oliver about where his baby girl was definitely _not_ spending the night."

"And I promise not to spread lies about you and Nadia to your mother or our grandmother," Cecilia responded, they both held their hands out and shook on it.

Xavier watched them with a tired expression and ran a hand down his face, "Merlin you two are exhausting."

"Did I miss something?"

The three of them snapped their heads toward the direction of the door, which it seems was still open, and saw Nadia standing there in slacks and a floral print blouse.

"It's nothing Baby," Malcolm said quickly as he hurried to her side and pressed a kiss against her cheek.

Nadia turned her head slightly and kissed Malcolm softly on the lips, before pulling back and levelling him with a look, "I don't believe you, but I'm honestly too worried about seeing your family again to care about whatever's going on with you lot right now."

"We're just helping Cecilia with her teenage rebellion," Malcolm explained with bright smile.

"This is not teenage rebellion!" Cecilia yelled, stamping her foot against the floor at the same time.

It was at that exact moment that Ally chose to re-enter the living room. She took in the three new visitors with a casual glance that only someone who was used to being barged in on by numerous nosey relatives could muster.

"I'm not sure what's going on, but Cecilia Sweetheart, that outburst did sound a little angst-y," Ally told her apologetically as she moved to stand at the younger woman's side.

Cecilia pouted and folded her arms across her chest, "Let's just get to breakfast on time."

Since Xavier's front door was still open, he gestured towards it and they all began to spill out into the hall. Xavier was just closing the door behind him when the door across the hall from him opened and Mark stepped out.

The beater took in the five of them and smiled brightly, "Morning all, don't you lot look spiffy. Headed somewhere special this morning?"

"Family breakfast," Cecilia explained with a pout on her face that everyone around her would have referred to as 'angst-y-teenager-like' if they hadn't been sure that she would hex them for it.

Mark eyed them all curiously one-by-one, "I hope you have fun then, I guess."

"What are you spending your morning doing? I hope it's something relaxing before the game tonight," Xavier said to Mark conversationally.

His teammate shrugged, "I told Clark that I would stop by Tabitha's with him. He got Zach a new broom and wanted to give it to him as soon as possible."

"And you're going with him, to watch him give his nephew a new broom?" Ally asked Mark with a knowing smirk.

Mark's ears went red, "I don't have anything else to do this morning . . ."

"Uh-huh," Ally agreed sarcastically, "That's _definitely_ why you're going."

Before Mark could retort, the doors to the lift down the hall opened up again and the other Puddlemere United beater stepped out. Clark smiled brightly when he saw everyone out in the hall, "It's nice to see that everyone's up, although I doubt you'll want an audience for this Xavier."

Xavier, who was oddly tired by that point even though it wasn't even ten o'clock in the morning yet, sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. At that moment he heartily wished that breakfast with the family would go by quickly so that he could get back to his flat and spend time with Ally; alone.

"What do I not want an audience for?" Xavier asked Clark worriedly.

Clark held up a copy of _Witch Weekly: Special Saturday Edition_ , "This."

Xavier hesitantly reached out and accepted the magazine from his beater. He didn't even need to open it to see what Clark was referring to, it was right there on the front page.

"Good Godric Gryffindor not again."

* * *

 **6:26 PM**

Victoire finished her first night shift at St. Mungo's at six that morning, and went straight back to her flat and collapsed onto the bed. Teddy, who had been getting ready for work as she stumbled in, staunchly avoided getting in her way and only interrupted her when he went to press a kiss to the top of her head before leaving for the day. She ended up sleeping for a solid twelve hours, admittedly a few hours longer than she had planned, and tried to get ready as quickly as she could once she did wake up.

She and Teddy were expected at Andromeda's at six-thirty, barring Teddy having to stay late at work for some unforeseeable reason, and Victoire found herself ready to leave with a few minutes to spare.

Upon padding out to the kitchen to wait for Teddy to arrive back home, she found that morning's _Daily Prophet_ sitting on the counter, along with an unexpected copy of _Witch Weekly: Special Saturday Edition_. She picked up the copy of _Witch Weekly_ , and sighed heavily at seeing the cover page.

It seemed that Xavier's comings and goings were once again worthy of the front page of the gossip sheets. This time it showed a picture of him –his face rather clearly visible– and the back of a blonde woman wearing designer muggle clothing. The picture had been taken while there was a bright smile and a laugh on Xavier's face as he looked at the blonde woman, and they were both holding containers of muggle Chinese take-out.

Victoire couldn't pick out the face of the blonde woman, but she immediately knew that it couldn't have been anyone other than Anastasia Knott. She recalled how earlier in the week Xavier, Teddy, and Anastasia had went out to pick up the take-out for the evening that they spent hanging out together. She pursed her lips as she wondered whether or not Ally was getting used to seeing her boyfriend in the newspaper with different women, and then belatedly read the caption that went along with the picture: _Quidditch's Most Captivating Keeper is Spotted Out with New Muggle Mistress_.

She was still staring horrified at the cover when she heard Teddy enter the flat.

"Vic, I'm baaaaaa _ck_!" Teddy called cheerily as he kicked off his shoes in the entryway. She heard him walking into the kitchen while he continued, "I'm just going to change into a new shirt and we're good to go to Grandmum's."

His smile fell a little when he saw her standing at the counter, and staring down at a magazine with an open-mouthed expression.

"What's wrong?"

Victoire turned the magazine around, "I take it that you've seen this?" She had been asleep all day so the only way the magazine could have made it into the flat was if Teddy had gotten it from the delivery owl before he left for work.

He nodded slowly when he realized what had stunned her, "Yeah, it's shocking to see for the first time. I don't think Xavier or Stasia will take it too harshly though. Colton as well should be able to see the humour in it I think."

"I think Stasia will be pissed at being called a muggle more than anything," Victoire commented.

Teddy shrugged his shoulders and began to walk towards their bedroom, not needing to turn around to see if Victoire would follow him or not, "Personally I think it will be the whole mistress thing that will piss her off. I mean, Dom got called a beauty when she was front page news with Xavier, and the best that Stasia got here was being called a mistress."

"They probably only did that because of the alliteration factor," Victoire suggested as she plopped down onto their bed and watched Teddy take off the shirt that he had worn to work.

"True, they did call Xavier a 'Captivating Keeper' after all. So what time did you wake up today if you're only just looking at the papers right now?" Teddy asked while he searched through the closet to find another shirt.

When his fiancée didn't respond, he turned around –new shirt in hand– and glanced at her. Victoire was sitting on their bed staring at his bare back and chest with a faraway look in her darkened blue eyes. He smirked and crossed his arms against his chest, "Enjoying the show Sweetheart?"

"It could use some more flexing and gyrating now that you mention it," She retorted nonchalantly.

He leaned forward and flicked her ear, "Smart mouth."

"Then perhaps you should do something to keep my smart mouth busy."

It was a challenge and they both knew it.

Teddy settled down on his knees in front of the bed and slid his hand to the back of Victoire's head. Her eyes sparked mischievously and she moved her own hands to rest at the back of his neck. Their heads moved closer until their noses touched, and he whispered something soft against her lips before finally closing the distance between them. Her heart beat so quickly that it felt like it was going to burst out of her chest, but she was rather too busy with kissing her fiancé back to worry about it.

They broke apart a very short time later because they both knew that it was passed the time by which they needed to be at Andromeda's. Teddy stood up to put some space between them and to put on his new shirt, and she began asking him questions about his day to distract herself.

"So how was work today?"

"It's still a little boring since we're not allowed to start anymore ongoing investigations with the trial starting in two days, but I did run into Auror Burton when she was leaving the ministry this morning. She told me that at least part of your shift at St. Mungo's last night was interesting," He recounted, smiling at her as he did so.

She blushed a little, "I might have acted a tiny bit like a know-it-all."

"Maybe, but Burton was very glad that they had a healer who knew what she was talking about, and who didn't get angry at the aurors for trying to do their jobs. She also said that you intimidated her trainee a little, which she emphatically enjoyed."

"I didn't think that I was that bad," Victoire replied with a frown, "I hope that I wasn't too much of a show off."

Teddy smirked, "On the contrary, Burton has a habit of making sure that her trainees know their place, and rumour has it that O'Toole can be a bit of a prat. She also said that you freaked him out when you told him that there was a spell that could melt vocal cords, and now he's going to be searching through books trying to learn up on other dark spells that he's never heard about."

"Well if I inspired someone to pursue higher knowledge then it can't have been that bad," She decided.

He nodded his head in response and then they were ready to go to Andromeda's.

They apparated there together, and Andromeda was at the door to greet them not even two minutes after they knocked on it. The elder woman didn't comment on them being almost ten minutes late, and they had barely stepped inside the house before she swept the both of them into the dining room.

Victoire and Teddy paused upon entering the room, it seemed that they weren't the only ones who were invited to dinner that night.

Already in the dining room was a grey-haired man who was dressed in a smart set of robes, and who looked to be around the same age as Andromeda. The most surprising thing about him was that neither Victoire nor Teddy recognized the man.

Andromeda noticed right away how they were looking at the man, and she kicked straight into her hostess role, "Victoire, Teddy, this is Shawn McDavid. Shawn this is my grandson Teddy Lupin and his fiancée Victoire Weasley."

Teddy reached forward to politely shake the man's hand, but Victoire just stood next to him stock still.

"Shawn McDavid," Victoire began in a slightly high-pitched tone, "As in Healer Shawn McDavid?"

The pleasant looking man glanced at Andromeda briefly before smiling at Victoire, "Yes, I guess that would be me."

Victoire let out an unintentional noise that sounded like an ' _eep_ ', and automatically reached out and grabbed Teddy's forearm in an attempt to steady herself.

Her nails dug into his arm, "Oh my Merlin."

Teddy looked at his fiancée questioningly, "What is it?"

"What is it? This is Healer McDavid! He's the man who almost singlehandedly founded the Dark Arts Reversal ward at St. Mungo's. It was the first ward of its kind in pretty much the entirety of the magical world, and it sparked the deeper research of healing injuries caused by dark magic. He's pretty much a legend," Victoire explained, her words flowing very quickly because she was so excited.

Healer McDavid smiled reticently, "That's quite the accurate summary."

"I wrote a paper about you for a History of Magic during my seventh year, we were supposed to pick a person who made a large contribution to the wizarding world post-second war. It was about twenty pages when I was done with it," She told him. She wasn't entirely sure why she was acting like a fangirl in front of him, all she knew was that she couldn't really get her mouth to stop moving.

Her healing idol chuckled, "Twenty pages, you must have been quite committed to do that."

"I spent almost a month in the hospital wing at Hogwarts while I wrote it, so I did have a spot of free time to work on it," Victoire clarified.

"Oh no, a month in the hospital wing? What were you doing in there?" Healer McDavid asked curiously.

Victoire knew that she probably should have kept her mouth shut a few minutes ago, but she really couldn't stop her verbal vomit at this point, "I was just recovering from a manticore attack. Its tail kind of impaled me."

There was a bit of a pause before Healer McDavid asked interestedly, "You survived manticore venom?"

"Yeah, my Aunts Angelina, Hermione, and I are still not entirely sure how I survived, but we do go back and try to figure it out again from time to time."

Healer McDavid glanced at Andromeda with an amused expression, and then grinned at Victoire, "Andromeda told me about you, but I must say that you sound much more impressive in real life."

Victoire thought that she was going to faint from the praise.

"Although I do highly doubt the word choice of calling you a legend," Andromeda piped up in a cheeky tone.

Healer McDavid smirked at Andromeda and even rolled his eyes at her, "I don't see why you should, I am a bit of a legend after all, and I did beat you at Charms in our seventh-year if you can recall Black."

"You did beat me at Charms, but I believe that I had the highest overall average of anybody in our seventh-year, did I not McDavid?" Andromeda countered with a perfectly raised eyebrow.

Beside Victoire, who was still a little star-struck at meeting Healer McDavid, Teddy stood both confused and a little shocked. He was confused as to why his grandmother had invited a renowned healer to dinner, and shocked that said healer seemed to know her well enough to refer to her by her maiden name without getting threatened with a nasty glare.

"I would have beat you if it wasn't for the fact that you were Slughorn's favourite student in Potions," Healer McDavid argued, a smile still on his face.

Andromeda scoffed, "I worked hard for that top spot in Potions, and if you had spent more time studying and less time goofing off you might have scraped an 'O' instead of that deplorable 'E' that you managed."

"Yes, because you spent every minute of those late nights in the library with Ted _studying_ ," Healer McDavid countered with a raised eyebrow.

"Well I did get an 'O' in potions, so you tell me," Andromeda replied with a smirk.

Victoire and Teddy had been silent throughout the exchange, both for their own reasons, and their silence was something that Andromeda picked up on.

"Dinner should be ready if everyone would like to take a seat."

Everyone realized that the request was more of an order, and in the span of a few minutes the four of them were sitting at the dining room table, filling up their plates with food and their glasses with drinks.

"So Grandmum," Teddy began as he handed Victoire a basket that held some bread, "How do you know Healer McDavid?"

Andromeda smiled at her grandson, "Shawn was Head Boy to my Head Girl when we were in our seventh-year, so we were forced to spend time together."

"Yes, _forced_ ," Healer McDavid repeated her words sarcastically and rolled his eyes at her. When he was finished he gave Teddy a soft glance, "I was also a Hufflepuff and a friend of your grandfather's. In fact, I had to listen to him mooning over your grandmother way before he got the courage to ask her out."

Andromeda delicately snorted into her wine glass, "You were also the _geniu_ s that suggested he send me flowers that exploded into confetti the Valentine's Day before we started dating."

Healer McDavid bowed his head, "Not one of my finest moments, but I honestly thought that he could tell that I was being sarcastic when I suggested it."

"At least you didn't let him put his name on the note that came with the flowers, if I had known that he was responsible for it I probably wouldn't have ever spoken to him again let alone agreed to go out with him," She told him with an affectionate roll of her eyes.

Victoire noticed that Teddy was looking between his grandmother and her guest with a frown, and she decided to slightly change the topic of the conversation, "So Andromeda, did you invite Healer McDavid here so that you two could catch up?"

"The main intention of this visit is actually so that Healer McDavid can meet you Victoire," Andromeda told the younger woman with a supportive smile.

"Me?" Victoire repeated perplexedly.

Healer McDavid nodded, "Yes, Andromeda has told me a lot about you Miss Weasley, not the least of which being that you are now a resident healer at St. Mungo's D. A. R. ward."

Victoire nodded.

"Andromeda also told me that you're looking for a part-time residency in another ward, or a healer to research with."

Her heart began to beat quicker and Victoire nodded again.

"When she told me this, I thought that I could help," Healer McDavid told her with a smile.

Victoire's blue eyes narrowed, "May I ask how so? You are retired after all Healer McDavid."

"I may be retired, but I still like to keep my mind sharp with some research now and again. I've been meditating for a few months now on researching and experimenting with healing burns and scars created by dark magic, and Andromeda informed me that you had recently been reading up on the same topic," Healer McDavid explained to her, a captivating glint in his eyes.

She swallowed thickly. While she had been in the St. Mungo's in May, and at home in the months after it, she had read every textbook and medical article about curing scars that she could get her hands on.

"I might have read a bit about it," Victoire admitted slowly.

McDavid smiled at her and then sent a glance at Andromeda again, "This must be that modesty you were talking about." He faced Victoire again, "I have it on good authority that you are very well read on the subject, and I've even had a peek at your grades from healing school."

"Really?" Victoire questioned, her foot starting to tap on the floor with her agitation.

"Yes, I have also spoken to some of your professors from healing school like Professor Honeycutt, and just this morning I spoke with Healer Rhee," He admitted.

Victoire's foot started to tap faster, and beside her Teddy placed his hand on her knee to stop it from jigging the table, "Why?"

He grinned at hearing her shy tone, "Because Miss Weasley, I like to know about my research assistants' scholarly backgrounds before offering them a chance to work with me."

There was a long pause filled with silence.

"You want me to do research with you?" Victoire asked Healer McDavid slowly. After he nodded she continued, "Research on healing burns and scars created by dark magic?"

He nodded again and Victoire covered her mouth with her hands so that he wouldn't be able to tell how close she was to hyperventilating.

When she had her breathing down to a regular rate, she spoke in a measured tone, "This is an amazing offer Healer McDavid, and I would love to accept it . . ." She didn't know why, but she found herself pausing and her eyes wandering to Andromeda, "I-I just-"

She hesitated again, but Healer McDavid seemed to know where she was going. He gave her a reassuring smile.

"I can guarantee to you Miss Weasley that the only reason why I am asking you to join me in my research is because your marks and your recommendations were superb, and not because Andromeda and I used to go to school together. Although, I will admit that her glowing recommendation of you did capture my attention. As you know, Andromeda's not the type to give credit and praise where none is due. In fact, she hardly ever gives credit when it is due," Healer McDavid said, the last part directed right at Andromeda.

His old schoolmate rolled her grey eyes at him, "I can't believe that after all of this time you are still sticking to the _incorrect_ notion that you were the one who came up with the topic of our group Transfiguration project in seventh-year."

"That's because I did."

Andromeda scoffed and then handed a bowl of peas across the table to Teddy, "You need to eat more vegetables."

Teddy sighed, but held in his eye roll because he knew that that move would not go down well with his grandmother.

"So you want me to be your research assistant?" Victoire asked Healer McDavid to clarify.

He gave her a winning smile, "Are you free to meet on Wednesday?"

Her response came swiftly and enthusiastically, "Yes."

"Vic Honey, you haven't even checked your work schedule," Teddy reminded her.

Healer McDavid chuckled and promised that they would work their research and experimentation around her residency schedule.

Victoire was slightly calmer after that, and dinner passed by with comfortable conversation.

* * *

 **Sunday, September 11** **th** **2022**

The day after their dinner with Andromeda, Victoire and Teddy found themselves standing at the doorstep of her grandparents' house, arriving for their customary weekly family dinner.

"What are the chances that Pennington won't be able to make it tonight?" Victoire mischievously asked her fiancée before attempting to open the door.

Teddy rolled his eyes, "Well considering that he hasn't missed a dinner since Lucy first began inviting him to them, I'd say that he's probably already here."

"Darn," She replied with a sigh as she finally opened the front door and entered the house. She was trying to be nicer to Austin Pennington for Lucy's sake, and she was a little impressed that he was dedicated enough to her to come to dinner every week, but he was still a pain in the arse.

The minute they entered the house they were mauled by Dom –who had a surprisingly wide reach– and by Molly. Everyone from the family was already there besides Ally and Xavier, and Victoire could hear Louis, Cecilia, and Baxter's voices floating into the entryway from the living room.

After shaking off Dom and Molly, Victoire and Teddy travelled further into the house to greet their other family members. Before anything more than casual pleasantries could be exchanged, Harry entered the living room and told Victoire that her father wanted to see her. She thanked Harry for the message, gave him a kiss on the cheek, and left him and Teddy to talk about whatever it was that they couldn't find the time to talk about during work hours.

She found Bill in the kitchen helping her mother and Aunt Audrey cook.

"Hey Dad, Uncle Harry said that you wanted to speak to me?" Victoire asked him while hugging her mother and her aunt hello.

"Yeah, we should take this to the dining room though," Bill told her as he slung an arm around her shoulder and steered her out of the kitchen.

When they were alone in the dining room her father pressed a kiss to the top of her head, and began, "So I got a letter from your Uncle Charlie yesterday."

"And?"

"And in it, he told me why he didn't tell any of us about his girlfriend before," Bill explained with a sly smile.

Victoire clapped her hands together, she loved gossip, "Why?"

"Because, apparently, his girlfriend is a muggle."

There was a slight pause before Victoire replied, "Like a muggleborn or an actual muggle?"

"An actual muggle," Bill clarified, "He said that she's some type of psychological therapist or something like that."

Victoire's forehead creased, "How in the world does a man who works with dragons for a living meet a muggle therapist?"

"He has yet to tell me that story," Her father confessed.

She crossed her arms over her chest, "I take it then, that the reason why he's hesitant to introduce us to her is because she's a muggle."

"Obviously she doesn't know about him and our world, and he's hesitant to bring her here and introduce us to her at Christmas because he's afraid that the family won't be able to rein in their magic," Bill expounded.

"With Freddie, James, and Hugo in the mix at Christmas, I don't blame him," Victoire agreed.

Bill nodded, "Yeah, so over the next few months I think we're going to have to work towards warming everyone up to the idea of having a muggle over for Christmas, and more specifically maybe practice _not_ using magic during dinner."

"Good idea."

They left the dining room to rejoin the others in the kitchen, and Victoire smiled brightly when she saw that Ally and Xavier had arrived. She gave her favourite cousin and Puddlemere United's first string keeper some hugs, and then the three of them grabbed drinks, and were forced out of the kitchen by Victoire's mother, who said that they were taking up too much space. They entered the living room, and Victoire saw that all of the younger generation, including Teddy, were stuck listening to Austin give some sort of speech that only Lucy seemed interested in hearing.

With their entrance, Dom figured that it would be a good time to cut off Austin's monologue and change the subject.

"So Xavier, _Witch Weekly_ has informed me that you've dumped me for Stasia."

Xavier just let out a huff, while Ally's face turned into a pinched expression, "Please Dom, let's not talk about it."

"I doubt that Dom would be able to say anything worse than what Grandmother Eilionoir said yesterday," Cecilia muttered with a petulant eye roll.

Victoire made a face, "I take it that breakfast didn't go well yesterday then?"

Ally crossed her arms over her chest and Xavier rubbed her back. Neither replied, so everyone looked towards Cecilia and Louis.

"Grandmother might have told Xavier that if what he really wanted to do was play the field, then he'd need to drop the dead weight," Cecilia told them in a quiet tone.

Molly's eyes looked like they were going to pop out of her head, "She did not."

"She did," Xavier said with a grimace, "And it was at that time in which Ally and I said our goodbyes to them and left."

"And directly after they left, Malcolm and grandmother shared some choice words," Cecilia re-counted.

Teddy pinched the bridge of his nose. He knew his best mate, and he knew the kinds of things Malcolm could say to someone when he was pissed off. He knew that whatever Malcolm said to his grandmother, it probably wasn't pretty.

Victoire glanced at Ally and noticed that she was staring down at her hands. She shifted and wrapped her arms around Ally, "I'm so sorry Hon."

Ally tried to put on a brave face, "It's alright, according to Katie, Eilionoir has said much worse things to her."

"It's not alright Ally," Xavier told her, a bit of anger in his tone.

Ally bit her lip and looked down at her hands again. Victoire grabbed Ally's hand, squeezed it, and waited for her cousin to squeeze it back.

"So how was dinner with Andromeda?" Louis asked his eldest sister in an attempt to change the subject. He had had a front row seat to the Woods' disastrous family breakfast the day before, and he definitely did not want to relive it.

Victoire and Teddy shared a look, the former not sure if she should share her good news or not, and there was a slight pause in the conversation as she decided what to do.

"Well . . . I've found a healer that I can do research with."

* * *

 **A/N:** So, what did we think of this chapter? Did you like seeing Victoire finally get to do some sort of healing? What about Xavier and Ally's surprise with the newspaper article? And did we enjoy the dinner with Andromeda?

Also, if you skipped the short A/N at the beginning of this chapter, I officially graduated from university last weekend, so maybe I could pretty please get some reviews for this chapter in lieu of gifts ;)

 **Next Update:** Well this is the last full chapter that I have written on my computer, so as I said last time, I have no plans on abandoning this story, it might just be a while until the next update, and until I can get into the swing of things with writing while still at home. (It's more difficult than it sounds because it seems like there's always someone peering over my shoulder and asking me what I'm doing.)

 **Next Chapter:** We will get to see the first day of the trial that Teddy, the aurors, and Konstantin and Nikolina are working on. As well as seeing some Eliza and Rowan, and if my writing plans go correctly, we will seem some Ally and Xavier and perhaps a bit of the magazine article fallout, and find out why Xavier was so upset with it.

Teaser for Next Chap:

 **""Where are you going?" Spencer asked her curiously.**

 **Victoire spared him only a minute smile as she began to pace away, "I'm off to see a man about a baby.""**

I really want to thank everyone who has followed, favourited, read, and especially reviewed this story. And hey, we're over 400 reviews which is fantastic, so thank-you everyone!

An especially BIG thank you to:

 **KiMaYa, B. arendes, no cure for crazy, rosesnlilies, emeraldeyes0731, NicoleTheSmith, KawaiiOtaku0405, Jennifer Jules, Seher Syed, Izzy, jeremiah123, Jilly98, Rosie Loves Pi, silverlover02, Sierra Siya Potter, HP Queen, BenFanFiction365, GryffindorsRock, Wolfgirl,** and **LoneWolf1999.**

 **no cure for crazy** : Don't worry, I'm not going to introduce a whole bunch of questions about Andromeda and Narcissa's relationship and then never expand on it. However, that could be further into the story, but it will be discussed in this story.

 **rosesnlilies** : How'd you like this Andromeda visit?

 **emeraldeyes0731** : We will get more of everything you asked about in your last review, at some point in the story.

 **Jennifer Jules:** Is it bad that I'm kind of glad that you can't tell where this is going yet? I like to keep you guys guessing and wondering, as you all know. I hope that doesn't make me a horrible person.

 **Izzy** : Thank you so much for your lovely review, I love hearing everyone's comments and insights as well as some of the things they would like/expect to happen, and it's nice to hear that you've been reading these for a while.

 **Sierra Siya Potter** : The thing about me as a writer is, I have more ideas about what I could write, than I have the time to actually write something. I hope to do an Ally/Xavier one-shot just as I hope to do a one-shot of mostly everyone, but I honestly don't know when that will happen.

 **HP Queen** : Yes, Jilly is still dating Professor Cooke, you'll hear about the both of them in that context eventually. DFTBA stands for Don't Forget to be Awesome, but you can always just google the acronym for more info about it, it's not mine originally.

 **BenFanFiction365** : I would love to do a Louis/Cecilia one-shot if I ever find the time.

 **Wolfgirl** : Thanks. Not without a lot of buildup and hopefully a plot point that you won't be able to see until it happens. And, yes, at some point I plan to tie it in with this series.

 **LoneWolf1999** : There may or may not be some at a later point in this story. That's definitely not in this story's year range. Not without working it much deeper into the plot so therefore at a later point.

 **I hope that you enjoyed this update,**

 **Please leave me any questions, comments, concerns,**

 **And especially some nice reviews!**

 **Since I definitely won't be updating later in the week,**

 **Happy Early Canada Day all my Canadian readers,**

 **Until Next time, DFTBA!**


	17. The Trial Begins

**A/N:** Hi everyone, I know that you've all probably been waiting forever for this update, so I'll leave all of my apologies and explanations for the end of the chapter. Enjoy!

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Harry Potter.

* * *

 **Previously:** Victoire got a research assistant spot with a Healer McDavid who happened to be an old school friend of Andromeda's. She went to a family dinner in which she found out that the articles of Xavier with other women is starting to annoy the both of them. The trial is about to start, the Ministry is the prosecution (using evidence that Teddy and the rest of the aurors discovered), and the defendants are Anton Danchev (Konstantin and Nikolina discovered his connection with the Holmwoods and the antiquity smuggling ring), another nameless man that is involved with him, and 'Unnamed Patient' (who is Spencer's patient from LAH that Victoire saved with the unauthorized magic, and had the same illness that Victoire found in the boys who were in the tunnels in Peru, and illness that seemed to originate in Peru). Dom and Colton's client Mr. Emil Minkov is a witness that is involved in the case because he ended up with the stolen vase that Dom brought to Jilly and Kurt in the beginning of LAH).

* * *

 **The Trial Begins**

 **Monday, September 12** **th** **2022**

 **6:02 AM**

To be clear, like the majority of both the muggle and magical populations, Victoire did not like having to wake up early Monday mornings. To be clearer, unlike the majority of the population, Victoire disliked having to wake up early on Monday mornings because she was usually extra exhausted from Sunday night family dinners the evenings before. To be clearest, Sunday evening dinners weren't exhausting because it made her to stay up too late, but because they were usually very emotionally draining.

For example, last evening was so emotionally arduous, not only because Ally and Xavier were going through some sort of emotional turmoil put in place by the incomparable Eilionoir Wood, but also because of the still present passive-aggressive tension between Baxter and Uncle Percy. Add in an always headache-inducing Austin and a version of Dom who couldn't have been bitchier even if she was PSMing, this all meant that even though dinner broke up well before the late night hours, Victoire and Teddy were still tempted to pass out from fatigue the second they entered their flat.

However, even though Sunday night dinners were sometimes so draining that she would traitorously think that it wasn't necessary to host family dinners in a weekly fashion, especially if all it was going to do was mess with everyone's equilibrium, she still forced herself to wake up early on Monday. Not because she particularly needed to, but because she had a feeling that Teddy was about to have a long day of work ahead of him, and that this would probably be the best time to actually talk to him. Or _not_ talk to him.

From his position stomach down on the bed beside her, Teddy still looked asleep. For her plan to work, she needed him to be awake, so she smirked to herself and started to plant soft kisses on the bare skin of his broad shoulders.

He only started to twitch with something that resembled consciousness when her lips trailed up to the side of his neck and she pressed a kiss to the spot underneath his ear that she _knew_ was super sensitive. As she had hoped, he started to groan when he felt her lips against his skin, which only spurred her on, and encouraged her to suck on the skin there.

It seemed that he had decided to pretend to be asleep once he realized what she was doing, so she smirked to herself again and gently grazed her teeth against the skin. He jolted much more noticeably that time, and could no longer pretend to be dozing.

"Morning," She whispered to him in a cheery tone before going back to planting kisses along his shoulders.

He turned his head slightly, his hair having turned a burnt orange while he was asleep, and eyed her drowsily, "It's sleepy time."

She rolled her eyes and halted her kisses. After adjusting her positioning so that she could look him in the eyes, she leaned forward so that her nose touched his.

"What if I promise to do all of the work?"

His eyes, presently a golden-brown colour, darkened as he took a few moments to consider her words, "And if I say no, what are you going to do?"

She heaved a dramatic sigh and flopped back onto the pillows, "I guess I'd just have to respect your decision, and leave you alone while I go have a _shower_."

A mismatched coloured eyebrow rose up on his forehead as he pretended to consider her, "W _ell_ , I guess it wouldn't be gentlemanly of me not to help out a young lady when she's in _need_."

A giggle escaped her lips as she considered how entertaining and ludicrous his overly formal speech was.

"Really? Is that what they taught you in those etiquette classes Andromeda made you take when you were younger? Or is this something you learned from Malcolm? Because it certainly sounds like him," She replied with a small smirk.

He rolled his eyes in response and reached out to her for the first time, pulling her towards him so that she was pressed right up against his body with no space between them, "How about we don't talk about my grandmother or best mate when we're in bed together, yeah?"

She suddenly rolled them over so that she was on top of him, and straddled his hips. She sent him another smirk and she pressed her hands onto his chest, "Alright, but you're going to have to change your hair colour. Normally I wouldn't care what it looks like, but the shade you're wearing now makes you look _way_ too much like my-"

"I get it," He interrupted her hurriedly, closing his eyes briefly to concentrate on changing it to any colour other than orange or red, "I'd rather not hear specifically which relative of yours it makes me look like. That'll kill the mood faster than talking about my Grandmum."

She slowly slid her hands down to her thighs, grabbed the hem of her nightie, pulled it off and tossed it behind her, "Does this help bring the mood back by any chance?"

He tilted his head to the side and pursed his lips as he considered her, "This could work."

His hands slid up her smooth back and he slowly pulled her down to him so that they could finally share a kiss. Her mouth attacked his right away and within a few seconds their tongues were battling for dominance and their hands grabbing at each other. He rolled her over, and she was so impatient that instead of trying to tug off his pyjama bottoms, she used wandless magic to vanish them.

If their mouths hadn't been more pleasantly engaged, he would have smirked at her eagerness. As it was, he was too busy trying to get her to make the cute breathless noise she would do whenever he found _just_ the right spot to kiss, than to spend valuable time trying to tease her about not being able to wait.

He pried his mouth away from hers and started to leave a trail of sucking kisses down her neck and towards the valley between her breasts. Her nails dug into his back as his mouth got lower, and without realizing it, she began breathlessly panting out a disjointed string of French and English expletives.

Her nonsensical swearing spurred him on and he grabbed her around the knee and hitched her leg up around his waist. The movement caused her to arch into him, triggering him to groan deeply. Their mouths met again, and one of her hands went straight to his head and grabbed at his hair.

She sucked on his lower lip and when she let go, he whispered against her mouth, "Merlin I love you."

The response that slipped past her lips was more poorly enunciated than his declaration, and sounded much more like an incoherent moan, but he got the gist of it.

It wasn't until later when they were finally getting ready for their respective days at work that Teddy noticed how deep the marks on his back were. They were obviously caused by her nails and a few looked like they even drew blood. Although it was a little difficult to tell from his twisted position as he gazed into the mirror whether or not they were still bleeding.

Upon exiting the bathroom, where she had been casting a drying spell on her hair, Victoire found him trying to get a good view of his back through the mirror.

She walked up behind him and pressed her lips against the small semi-circular shaped scratches on his skin, "Sorry about that. I can heal them for you."

Teddy turned around to face her and held her hands, "It's alright. You can leave them."

He was actually rather fond of the idea of leaving them there. They were a reminder of how tightly she had clung to him, how tightly she usually clings to him. For someone like Victoire who was always so independent, and who liked to be in control, the fact that she was so willing to give up her control and to trust him so completely was almost overwhelming.

It wasn't exactly that Victoire had some sort of emotional trust issues, it was just that it took her a while to really trust people, and sometimes even longer to fully open-up to those people. Even her own siblings were on different levels of the spectrum when it came to trusting people. Louis was the type of person to trust everyone until a person proved himself or herself unworthy, while Dom barely trusted anyone outside of her family circle. It was the reason why Victoire was trying so hard with Colton and Anastasia Knott; for whatever reason, Dom trusted them and that was why Victoire first decided to give them the benefit of the doubt.

Trust didn't seem to come very easily to certain members of the Weasley clan, and that was something that Teddy thought was important to remember even though he knew that he had gained Victoire's hard-earned trust years before he even realized that he wanted her to trust him in every way.

They finished getting ready, and while they were in the kitchen, Teddy filling a bowl with cereal, Victoire sent him a concerned look over the rim of her tea mug, "Your hair was orange when you woke up."

"I know, you already mentioned it once this morning," He told her before shoving his spoon in his mouth.

She took a sip of her tea, "Orange hair means that you were worried. I'd hazard a guess that you're worried about the trial that starts today."

There was a pause as he chewed a mouthful of cereal and then swallowed, "We still don't bloody know who unnamed patient zero is."

Victoire set her mug down and reached forward to grab his hands. She gave them a reassuring squeeze.

"They can still charge him even though they don't know who he is."

Teddy sighed heavily, "It's not that I'm worried about losing the case, although I am. I just . . . I don't like the fact that we can't figure out his identity. It makes it feel like he's winning somehow."

She wasn't sure how to respond to that. She knew that even though she was usually the sore loser of the pair, he still didn't like to lose. Especially when he felt that figuring out the man's real identity would help further the case.

"He's not winning, he's going to get in trouble for what he did, and probably go to Azkaban. The others who are connected to the Holmwoods are also going to get what's coming to them, and let's not forget that this is going to lead to the dissolution of a black market smuggling and trading ring specializing in stolen antiquities," Victoire pointed out.

He frowned, "It'll stop some of the main players, but it won't stop the Holmwoods. At most it'll just be an inconvenient headache."

She leaned forward and pressed a kiss to his temple, "You Sir, are starting to sound like me with your impatience. Ending the Holmwoods is going to be a marathon, not a sprint."

"Only in this case, the longer the marathon goes on the more chances there are for other people to get hurt," He told her as he pulled one hand away from hers and pinched the bridge of his nose.

Her nose nudged over to his ear and she whispered, "Take the small victories."

The words caused a small smile to slip onto his face and he shifted his head so that their noses touched. His free hand slid onto her knee, "You mean like you?"

"Yes. Although I'd say that I'm more of a medium-sized _victoire_ , and that you already have me," She replied with a smirk.

He pressed a quick kiss to her lips and then pulled away, a wicked smile on his face, "Any chance that I can have you again tonight?"

"If you get home within a reasonable time, maybe," She responded, a smirk of her own twisting around her lips.

He chuckled and kissed the tip of her nose, "You're adorable when you try to pretend that you're _not_ easy."

She scoffed and smacked his chest, "I'm not easy!"

"Did you or did you not wake me up earlier than necessary this morning?"

She rolled her eyes, sharply poked his chest, and then leaned her head against his shoulder, "You're a git."

"But I'm _your_ git."

* * *

 **8:40 AM**

"Ted, I think that you're going to pace a hole into the floor," Kurt commented warily as his eyes followed his fellow auror's progress across the floor. They were waiting outside the courtroom, as the proceedings were to start at nine o'clock on the dot.

Teddy may have been the one who was most outwardly showing his stress, but standing next to him was Kurt –who was picking at a scab on his forearm– and Hayden –who was biting his nails. Both of them seemed to be displaying their own nervous ticks as well.

They only had a few more minutes to irritate each other with their stress signals before Jilly finally came back to them, bringing Konstantin Krum and Nikolina Krastev along with her. Teddy stopped his pacing to shake both of their hands and to greet them, and then he introduced the Bulgarians to Kurt and Hayden, Jilly already having introduced herself to them when she met them a few minutes ago in the Ministry's atrium.

"And this is Auror Kurt Williamson, and Auror Hayden Summers," Teddy was saying specifically to Nikolina as Konstantin had met them before.

"Hel _lo_ ," The pair accidentally chorused together while giving Nikolina identical appraising looks.

She folded her arms over her chest and gave them a derisive look complete with a raised eyebrow, while Jilly sighed and slugged both men in the arm.

"Hey!"

The other four ignored tweedle-dee and tweedle-dumb and started to discuss the case that was about to start. They had to put an end to their conversation when the doors to the courtroom opened, and they found seats in the spectator section. The proceedings were going to begin with the main prosecutor stating the reason for being there and a summary of the case and the charges, and they probably wouldn't even get to hear the defendants' statements until just before the break for lunch.

A few more people trickled into the spectator section, and Teddy frowned when he noticed that agents MacKenzie and Brown from the North American Multi-Cultural Organized Crime Investigations Division were not there. He had expected them to be there for the beginning of the trial since they were the ones who were working hardest on the Holmwood connections, so their absence definitely started to worry him.

The main entrance doors to the courtroom closed tightly, and a smaller door opened, it was close to where the defendants and their lawyers were supposed to sit. Anton Danchev, and the other Bulgarian that they were charging in the antiquities smuggling ring, walked in through it with a man who looked just as dark and foreboding. Niko quietly pointed the other man as being the Bulgarians' shared lawyer.

A few steps behind the Bulgarians was Unnamed Patient Zero along with his lawyer; a fiftyish woman in a heavy suit and sensible shoes. When everyone was finally seated, the Ministry's prosecutor stood up and turned to face the handful of members from the Wizengamot who were assigned to proceed over the case. He had just opened his mouth to begin his opening remarks when a suit-clad man, who seemed to be in his mid-thirties, burst into the room via the main doors.

From his side Teddy heard Jilly's sharp intake of air, but he figured that she was just surprised by the dramatic entrance and interruption.

The man smoothly strolled over to the front of the courtroom, ignoring the startled looks he was getting from both the spectators and the Wizengamot representatives, and went straight to the chairs in which unnamed patient zero and his lawyer were sitting. The members of the Wizengamot who were assigned to proceed over the case glared at the newcomer as he began to speak without even asking for permission to.

"There has been a change of counsel, and I'm afraid that I'm here to replace Ms. Rennly," The sharply dressed newcomer explained to the members of the Wizengamot in a congenial yet commanding tone.

"A change of counsel?" One of the female members of the Wizengamot repeated as she noted the sharp look of surprise that graced the face of 'Patient Zero's' first lawyer, "Only the accused can agree to a change in legal counsel."

The new lawyer smiled and pulled an envelope out of an inner pocket of his dress robes, "I have a letter here for my potential new client to read. It will only take a few moments and then this should all be handled."

The members of the Wizengamot didn't have a chance to agree or disagree before the man handed the letter to Unnamed-Patient-Zero.

"This is just a ploy to stall the trial before it can even begin," The Ministry lawyer in charge of the prosecution argued.

"I do apologize for the delay this has caused, but as you can see, the issue has all been solved by now," The well-dressed lawyer explained as he gestured to Unnamed-Patient-Zero who was whispering to his female lawyer, and giving her her marching orders.

There was a small shuffle as the accused's original lawyer huffily got up from her seat and left the courtroom. While the lawyers shuffled around, the head lawyer for the prosecution disputed the change in counsel, "This is still just a stall tactic. They're going to want to call for a recess so that the new lawyer can get better acquainted with the case."

"My name is Mr. Bronson, and I require no recess of any kind. I am well acquainted with this case and ready to start when you are," Unnamed-Patient-Zero's new lawyer announced to the members of the Wizengamot.

They nodded and announced for the lawyer for the prosecution to begin.

Teddy heard Jilly inhale sharply once more, and chanced a glance at her from the corner of his eyes. She was sitting rigidly in her seat, with her fists clenched tightly.

"What's wrong?" He whispered quietly to her.

Jilly swallowed thickly, her eyes trained on the new lawyer, "I recognize that man."

"So-" Teddy began only to have Jilly interrupt him in a very solemn tone.

"This is _not_ good."

* * *

 **11:24 AM**

"I still can't believe that you're going to be doing research with Healer McDavid. _The_ Healer McDavid," Cassidy remarked excitedly to Victoire as they ate in St. Mungo's cafeteria.

"And I can't believe that it was Teddy's grandmother of all people who introduced you to him," Spencer commented from behind the lip of his Styrofoam cup of coffee.

Victoire had tried to act casual as she told Cassidy and Healer Rhee (who was the first person to ask her) that morning that she'd gotten a healer to agree to take her on as a research assistant. Healer Rhee was unsurprised by her announcement as Healer McDavid had contacted him to ask about her before even meeting her and offering her a spot, but all the other healers and residents within listening distance of her were astonished. Some were even still shocked.

"I know that it's surprising, but is it really that astounding? I mean, Fabius is still staring daggers at me as if he doesn't think that I deserve such an opportunity," Victoire commented as she glanced behind her and caught said pompous D. A. R. resident staring unabashedly at the back of her head from halfway across St. Mungo's cafeteria.

Cassidy rolled her eyes, "Fabius is just jealous that the founding father of dark arts healing wants you to be his research assistant and not anyone else. Namely him."

"He's never even met Healer McDavid so how could he think that he'd offer him a spot?" Victoire asked perplexedly.

"Because he's an idiot," Cassidy scoffed as she sent Fabius a long glare in Victoire's defense.

Victoire sighed heavily and decided to change the topic so that she didn't have to dwell on the fact that apparently one of her fellow residents didn't believe that she was worthy of a good research assistant spot.

"So have you found something yet Cassidy?"

Her friend gave her a bright smile, "Well as it turns out, my weekend was just as productive as yours."

"You found a research spot?" Victoire asked excitedly.

"Actually," Cassidy replied, "I found a part-time internship with the Spell Damage ward."

Victoire smiled in response, "That's just as good."

"I'm excited about it, it should keep me on my toes being there, and there's usually a lot of criss-cross between our two departments."

"It's always good to widen your skill base," Spencer agreed with an authoritative nod of his head.

Cassidy snorted, "I'm glad that my choice has met your approval."

"Good, and now that y'all are happy with where you are in life now, we should hammer out the details of our night out this Friday," Spencer said clapping his hands together and looking very serious.

Victoire rolled her eyes and even though she didn't particularly want to, she asked him, "So exactly how many people have you invited to this get-together?"

Even though she was getting good at pretending to, Victoire still didn't enjoy going to places where there were going to be many people that she barely knew.

Spencer reached forward and patted her hand, "Don't worry Princess, you can do some pre-drinking if it will make you feel more comfortable about it."

"Oddly enough, I don't think that would," She responded with a roll of her eyes before glancing down at her watch.

She smiled to herself and stood up to leave, "Well as fascinating as this conversation has been, I've got to leave."

"Where are you going?" Spencer asked her curiously.

Victoire spared him only a minute smile as she began to pace away, "I'm off to see a man about a baby."

"WHAT!"

She was still smirking to herself five minutes later as she took the lift down to the floor that held the combined obstetrics and pediatrics ward. Upon spotting Donnie in his healing scrubs near the secretary's desk, Victoire decided to take advantage of the fact that he had his back to her and ran up behind him.

"Boo!"

The bloke didn't even jump.

"Hello Victoire."

He turned around to calmly face her, clipboard of some sort in hand, while she pouted at him, "C'mon, how did that not startle you?"

Donnie rolled his eyes, "I could hear you coming."

"Nuh uh," Victoire argued staunchly, "I got a ninety in stealth and tracking."

"That's an auror's course, not a Hogwarts one," He reminded her with a raised eyebrow.

It was her turn to roll her eyes, "My godfather is the Head of the Auror Department, he's been training me like an auror candidate since I was thirteen."

"But we weren't allowed to use magic outside of school until we turned seventeen."

She nodded, "Which is why I have a photo album filled with letters from the Improper Use of Magic Office about all the under-aged magic I did throughout my childhood."

Donnie whistled, "It must be nice to be a pureblood, if I had done that as a muggleborn student I would have gotten in _so_ much trouble."

"It's more because of who my family was that I didn't get in trouble, but it's still not fair to you," She agreed.

It was an upsetting notion, so Victoire changed the topic since they really didn't have time to debate it, "So is she here yet?"

"Ms. Parker's appointment isn't until 11:40," Donnie replied.

Victoire looked at her watch again and then belatedly remembered that she had specifically set it so that it was five minutes early so that she would not be late for the appointment, "Oh, she's still got five minutes then."

Her friend nodded, but then glanced at something behind her, "Although, seeing as I'm free right now I can take them in early."

Behind Victoire, Eliza Parker had entered the ward carrying Rowan, who was clad in a pink and turquoise coloured onesie that had a frilly tutu attached to it.

After exchanging hello hugs with the young mother, and indulging in a girly squeal over the adorableness of the outfit the one-month-old was wearing (which was something that Victoire had bought for the baby after she was born), Donnie whisked the two women and the baby into an examination room.

"Are you and Rowan ready to start her one-month-old check-up?" Donnie asked Eliza brightly after gesturing for her to lie her daughter on the examination table.

Eliza bit her lip for a moment, glanced down at her purse where her mobile phone was, and then glanced back at Rowan.

"I guess, yeah."

Victoire read into Eliza's look and asked as nonjudgmentally as possible, "Are you expecting Benjamin to show up?"

The eighteen-year-old mother ran a hand tiredly through her long black hair, "I told him about her appointment when I made it, but he didn't give me a response one way or another. I messaged him about it last night to remind him, but he sent me an owl this morning saying that he was going to be very busy with his work for his law courses and that he might not be able to make it."

"Well that's too bad for him because he's going to miss out on it," Victoire announced loftily as she stood next to Eliza.

It was Victoire's tone of voice more than her actual words that made Eliza crack a smile, "At least I have you."

"Yes, and I'm sure if Cecilia had been able to switch her lunch hour she'd be here too," Victoire reminded her.

Once a more genuine smile filled Eliza's face, Donnie began the regular medical check-up for a one-month-old infant. The time flew by smoothly, and in no time, they got to the end of the check-up where Donnie asked Eliza if there was anything about Rowan's health that was of particular concern to her.

Eliza shot Victoire one quick look and waited for a reassuring nod from her before telling Donnie, "She's gotten a series of fevers over the past two weeks. They're only low grade and everything else seems fine with her except for the fact that she's warm."

It was Donnie's turn to look at Victoire, "I take it that you examined Rowan on at least one of these occasions?"

"All viral and bacterial detecting spells I cast on her came out negative," Victoire replied.

He nodded, "It's probably that she just runs on the warm side then. She's met all of the benchmarks for this check-up and passed with flying colours, and she's within normal range for all weight and size percentiles."

Eliza let out a sigh of relief, "So she's fine?"

Donnie picked Rowan up off the examination table and cradled her in the crook of one arm, "She's perfect."

Eliza grinned brightly and opened her arms so that Donnie could transfer Rowan back into her other's arms, "Thank you."

"There's no need thank me," Donnie replied as he did a quick scan of his clipboard to double-check that he'd done all of the tests and spells, "You're the one who's taken such great care of her, not me."

He then took a minute to search the pockets of his healer's robes and pulled out a wrapped sweet attached to a stick and handed it out to Eliza.

"A Tootsie Roll® Pop?" Eliza said recognizing the candy immediately, "I think Rowan's a little young for one of these."

Donnie chuckled, "It's for you."

Eliza pursed her lips and then shrugged, "Alright then." She held Rowan in one hand while she used magic to unwrap the lolly and pop it into her mouth.

"I haven't had one of these in years."

Victoire and Donnie both smiled.

* * *

 **12:30 PM**

By the time the trial let out on an hour recess for lunch, Teddy was ready to bang his head against the wall until he passed out. Konstantin and Niko had similar tired expressions on their faces, while Kurt and Hayden's eyes had glazed over a little from all of the legal-ese roughly an hour ago. Jilly on the other hand, had seem to freeze once the trail had begun and had only thawed out enough for Teddy to grab her by the elbow and pull her out of the courtroom so that the group of them could discuss how the proceedings had gone.

Before Kurt could ask anyone to translate and summarize what had actually happened in the courtroom, Teddy glanced at Jilly, "So how exactly do you know the opposing counsel?"

Jilly pinched the bridge of her nose, "I don't know him. I recognize him."

"From where?" Hayden asked the obvious question while everyone around them started curiously at Jilly.

"From another court case about five years ago."

Both Teddy and Kurt's eyes narrowed with both worry and understanding, while Hayden, Konstantin, and Niko still looked confused.

"Was he Lassoder's lawyer?" Kurt questioned as he tried to think back to the trial after the Tri-Wizard Tournament a few years ago. It was all a bit of a blur to him. Probably because he had joined Jilly in a few drinks after each day of the trial, just so that they could make it through to the next day, until Teddy noticed what they were doing and made them stop of course.

"Not the lead lawyer, but I recognized him as an assisting counselor to the lawyer that Lassoder had," Jilly explained.

Teddy was the quickest to connect the dots in the information, "The lawyers defended Lassoder, but that were most likely paid for by the Holmwoods."

"What else do we know about this counselor Mr. Bronson?" Hayden queried.

"He has fantastic taste in fashion and an ego the size of a griffin."

Almost everyone's head snapped in the direction from which the statement came from, everyone except Teddy. He had recognized the voice immediately, and sighed in exasperation instead. When he did turn around, she was closer than he expected her to be.

"So he's the male version of you?" Teddy asked as he smirked at his future sister-in-law.

Dominique Weasley, who was presently dressed head to toe in a designer outfit, wrapped an arm around her future brother-in-law's shoulder, smacked a kiss against his cheek, and then frowned at him, "No, my ego's much smaller. More the size of a hippogriff than a griffin."

"Is there actually much of a difference in size between the two creatures?" Kurt asked curiously.

Dom opened her dark red lipstick-covered mouth to answer Kurt's question, but Teddy stopped her so that he could ask a question that was actually important.

"What exactly are you doing here Dom?"

"I'm here for work, can't you tell?" She replied as she gestured towards the tailored blazer, semi low-cut sheer blouse, tight skirt, and stiletto shoes that she was wearing that apparently made up her 'work clothes'.

Part of Teddy wanted to comment that he knew that Dom would wear any piece of clothing to any event if made her legs or butt look good, but that would only sidetrack the conversation and probably cause Kurt, Hayden, _and_ Konstantin to take turns staring at said legs and butt.

"So you're here for a case."

Dom smiled angelically and poked Teddy's chest gently, "I'm here for _your_ case."

He sent her a raised eyebrow and she expanded her response, "Colton and I came here with our client Mr. Emil Minkov because he's been asked to sit through the second half of today's trial in case they have questions for him."

Teddy nodded his head at her simple and believable answer.

"Alright then. So what do you know about this Mr. Bronson?" He asked her. Dom opened her mouth again, but Teddy stopped her once more, "Besides the fact that he likes couture and could match you in conceitedness."

Dom rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest, "He's a very successful lawyer that only takes on the highest profile cases. We learned about him specifically in one of my law classes. Since he became a Jr. Partner in his law firm a few years ago his track record for winning cases is unbelievable."

"He must be something if you actually sound legitimately impressed," Colton Knott commented, having walked around the corner and finally found his Jr. Associate.

"The fact that he can pull off a muggle Armani suit as well as he does probably has an effect too," Niko commented in a tone that was both casual and slightly teasing.

Dom shot her a glance and a wink, while Colton –who could probably sense that his Jr. Associate was about to get sidetracked– gave Teddy more pertinent information, "He's the top lawyer at a firm that is one of the best and most expensive firms in the wizarding world. He didn't get there just by looking good in a suit and spouting words that he memorized from a legal textbook. He's determined, fierce, and he doesn't go down without a fight, which is why it's rare for him to go down at all."

"Obviously this is going to be an uphill battle then," Kurt sighed, already starting to feel tired even though it was barely past noon.

"You shouldn't discount the lawyers for the prosecution though; just because they're hired by the Ministry and paid less doesn't mean that they're any less capable," Hayden reminded.

Colton nodded, "Very true, but the Ministry hired lawyers have certain rules and guidelines that they need to follow. Bronson is going to be ruthless."

"Makes sense, we're assuming that he is hired by the Holmwoods after all," Teddy pointed out.

"Speak of the well-dressed devil," Dom muttered looking slightly behind her.

About five metres away, Mr. Bronson was standing and speaking in low tones with the older female counselor that he had taken over for. The woman did not seem impressed with what he was saying, and she walked away in as much of a huff as she could while still looking slightly dignified. When she was gone, Mr. Bronson looked towards the group that was staring at him. His eyes flitted over the aurors, Konstantin, Niko, and Colton, only to land on Dom. He gave her a sweeping but scrutinizing stare, and when he finally reached her eyes, he sent her a smirk.

Dom gave him a perusing look back before returning the smile, just a little more coyly. Mr. Bronson raised an eyebrow at her, and the look on his face was lascivious enough that it made Teddy decide to step around Dom and stand between her and the lawyer's gaze.

Before Dom could roll her eyes at the overprotective not-yet-her-big-brother, Colton coolly asked her to go back to the main entrance of the hall, where they had left their client to get himself some coffee, and see how Mr. Minkov was doing. Dom then completed an eye roll that was aimed at both Teddy and Colton, before she strutted away on her heels. Somehow, she was able to send Konstantin a lascivious smirk of her own before she slipped away, and Teddy felt like he wanted to bang his head against the wall again, but for a different reason this time.

"This is going to be a long trial," Teddy muttered quietly as he heard Niko and Hayden ask Colton about his opinion of the past few hours of the trial.

* * *

 **3:42 PM**

"How is it that every time someone ends up in the emergency medical ward under a simple _confundus_ charm, they ask a resident from D. A. R. to deal with it? It should be pretty obvious that it's not an _imperious_ curse when you can't even get the patient to agree to give up a blood sample because they have a phobia of blood," Victoire ranted as she stepped off the lift and walked back into the D. A. R. ward from said visit to the emergency medical ward.

"Well not everyone is as much of a medical genius as you are Dr. Quinn," Spencer Green drawled from where he stood at the healers' station next to Cassidy.

Victoire was too tired at that point of the day, and too confused by his presence in the ward to ask him who Dr. Quinn is and why he was calling her that instead of some sort of Disney princess name that he usually used for her. So, instead she just filed away the patient's chart she had been holding in her hand and asked him what he was doing in the D. A. R. ward.

"Well, I came here because I got an interesting letter sent to me, and I wanted to see if you got a similar one," Spencer explained as he gestured to the piece of parchment that was in his hands that was clearly from the Ministry.

"I highly doubt both you and I would be getting love letters from the same person Spence," Victoire told him sarcastically.

Cassidy pulled something out from behind the counter and handed it to Victoire, "I can't say that this letter looks like it's from the same person as Spencer's, but you did both get one at the same time."

Victoire took the envelope and frowned down at it, "What's your letter say Spence?"

"It says that the Ministry appointed counselor for the prosecution would like Resident Healer Spencer Green to be available during the following week of the trial in case they need to bring me in as a witness and cross-examine me," Spencer explained, not even needing to open the letter to repeat what was written in it.

With the envelope ripped open, Victoire unfolded her own letter that was written on parchment that was definitely not Ministry issued. Her blue eyes skimmed over the fancy letterhead to the body of the letter, but once she read it through, her eyes went back to the letterhead and her eyebrows narrowed in confusion at it.

Spencer frowned at the frown on her face, "Does yours not say the same thing?"

"Something similar, but not completely the same," Victoire said quietly, still a little shocked at the words she had read.

Her friend titled his head, "What exactly does it say then?"

"It doesn't matter what it says. I need to visit the Ministry."

* * *

 **4:07 PM**

The trial had let out at exactly four o'clock PM on the dot, and when Teddy, Jilly, Kurt, Hayden, Niko, Konstantin, Colton, and Dom converged again, almost everyone started talking at the same time as they tried to grasp what had actually been covered in the past several hours.

As it was, everyone agreed that not much had come to light during that day's trial proceedings. The two opposing lawyers had gone over both their opening statements, and then spent the rest of the day nitpicking the details of the history of the case. They did so to make sure that all of the points were displayed and ready for the next day of the trial when they would finally start to call the witness for both the prosecution and the defense.

"Really it was a smooth move on the defense's part. He tried to spin every detail in favour of his client and when that wasn't possible he put doubt on the details that the prosecution was highlighting so that it could be to their own favour," Colton mused, he was impressed even though he would never admit it past the words he had already said in praise of Mr. Bronson.

Teddy pursed his lips, "I don't know. I understand his move in trying to paint his client as innocent, but that's something that would work better in the muggle law system than in ours. He doesn't have a jury of peers to impress and sway; it's just the representatives of the Wizengamot that decide whether he's innocent or guilty."

"True, but all of his grandstanding and attempts to canonize his client weren't just to try to sway the Wizengamot representatives, it also ate up all of our time today, allowing him the rest of the day to prepare for calling witnesses to examine and cross-examine. They would have started the cross today if they had the time, but he pushed the proceedings back until tomorrow, without even seeming as though that was what he did," Dom pointed out shrewdly.

Kurt pinched the bridge of his nose, "Like I said earlier; uphill battle."

Teddy nodded his head and then felt the urge to gaze around the room, coming to a rest on the entrance to the floor of the Ministry that they were on. As his eyes aimlessly flitted to the lifts, one opened to reveal the angry form of Victoire Weasley, and the confused looking form of Spencer Green.

"This can't be good."

Everyone heard Teddy's exclamation and turned their heads and gazes so that they too could witness the tsunami wave of fury that was about to hit them in the form of the medium-height blonde healer. They were all smart enough to read the rage in her eyes, so no one said a word until the two healers joined the group, Victoire speaking as soon as she was within hearing range.

"Spencer received a letter from the Ministry this afternoon informing him that he is now a witness for the defense for this case," She announced as she folded her arms over her chest.

Her fiancé arched an eyebrow as he observed her heated expression, and then the envelope he just realized she had in her hand, "And I take it your outrage over this is because the letter you have in your hand asks you to do the same thing?"

"Worse," Victoire replied tersely.

Hayden snorted, "What's worse than having to be available for the rest of the week to be a witness for the prosecution?"

"Being informed that you have no choice but to be a witness for the defense," She ground out.

Teddy's eyes widened and he took the envelope that Victoire held out to him so that he could read the words on the letter himself while Victoire expanded, "It's written on the letterhead from the firm of Newton, Smyth, and McClinton, and signed by some prat named Mr. Bronson."

"That prat would be the smug arsehole that's standing off to the side over there looking like the dragon that caught the goat," Dom said as she nodded her head in the direction which Mr. Bronson was standing.

"Why in the world would they ask you to be a witness for the defense?" Kurt asked uncomprehendingly, "You're engaged to an auror who works for the prosecution."

Victoire rolled her eyes at him, "I'm aware of that." She glanced back at the man that Dom pointed out as Mr. Bronson, "And I'm certain that he is aware of that too. Which begs the question, why in the world did I receive this letter?"

Before someone could try to answer her rhetorical question, Victoire paced away from the group and towards the well-dressed tosspot who had signed the letter she was sent. She had stalked away so fast that no one was able to stop her. Instead, Teddy followed behind her.

"Mr. Bronson?" Victoire called out as she strode over to him. She was still wearing her dress shirt and dress pants from work, so she looked professional enough as she accosted him.

"Yes?" He replied, a charming smile on his face that started to fade when he noticed Teddy coming up behind her.

Victoire held out the letter she had received, "I would like to know what this is all about."

Mr. Bronson glanced down at the letter and then back up to her, "You must be Ms. Weasley then, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"Well it won't be when we're done speaking with each other," Victoire muttered to herself even though she didn't try to speak _too_ quietly.

The lawyer just smirked, "Ms. Weasley, it doesn't matter what you feel towards me. You are now officially a witness for the defense and by law you have to be available to be called for cross-examination this week."

"You understand who I am right?" Victoire asked him, not conceitedly, but exasperatedly.

"You are Healer Victoire Weasley, a resident in St. Mungo's Dark Arts Reversal ward, and the woman who healed my defendant when he almost died at St. Mungo's in March. Therefore, it would be remiss of me not to call on you as a witness," Mr. Bronson told her with a bright smile, "And if you were previously referring to the fact that you're engaged to an auror who is working on the case against my defendant, then don't worry, I am quite aware of your relationship with Auror Lupin."

Victoire frowned, "So you want me to be what, a character witness?"

"Actually, you're going to be an expert witness, but if you're going to have a problem with being a witness for the defense, we could always list you as a hostile witness," Mr. Bronson told her a sly smirk slipping onto his lips.

Teddy spoke up before Victoire could, "There's no need for that Mr. Bronson."

Victoire looked like she wanted to argue, but Mr. Bronson spoke first, "Perhaps it will be needed anyway."

The pompous lawyer walked away then, leaving Teddy to be as the only person standing close enough to Victoire to hear her question.

"What exactly does being a hostile witness mean?"

Her fiancé ran a hand through his hair anxiously and pulled at it, "If he can officially get you listed as a hostile witness, then you will have to be under veritaserum while they question you on the stand to make sure that you are not lying or falsifying facts. You'll be forced by the law to go up on the stand, and you'll be forced by the law to take the veritaserum before you answer questions."

* * *

 **A/N:** I hope that you guys liked this chapter even though it was very long in coming. Please let me know your thoughts on it, if you guys are still with me on this story.

 **Updating:** I am so, so sorry about how long it took me to update. My summer job is over now, and I'm presently jobless while I look for something more permanent, or half permanent. I'm still not fully certain what I'm going to do with my life at this moment, which, as you can imagine makes it difficult to get the energy to write when I'm filled with anxiety about what I'm going to do next. I will try my best though, to get the next chapter up within this month.

I want to thank-you all again if you're still with me, and again I'm sorry that it took so long to update, and I will do my best to get back into the writing grove. I promise though, that I will not be giving up on this story.

Thanks again to everyone who has followed, favourited, read, and especially reviewed!

 **Please let me know what you thought,**

 **Until next time, DFTBA!**


	18. Important Questions

**A/N:** Hi everyone, here's the latest update!

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Harry Potter.

* * *

 **Last Time:** Victoire got a letter saying that she is now obliged to be a witness for the defense in Teddy's case which has gone to trial, and if she's not careful she may be labelled as a hostile witness which means she would have to answer the questions under the influence of veritaserum. Spencer was sent a letter asking him to be a witness for the prosecution. And Dom and Colton were sort of involved in the trial because one of their clients is also a witness in the trial. The lawyer for the defense is named Bronson, and he was eyeing Dom up in the last chapter. Rowan had her one-month-old check-up last chapter, and Benjamin didn't show up to it even though Eliza messaged him about it. Ally and Xavier are still upset over the fact that the media keeps publishing photos of Xavier 'with' other women.

* * *

 **Important Questions**

 **Tuesday September 13** **th** **2022**

 **5:54 AM**

Cecilia woke up to the sensation of water spraying her face. It caused her to jolt into an upright position in the bed, swearing in Gaelic as she went. It only took her a second to figure out who did it: it was the prat who was still leaning over the side of the bed with his wand pointed at her face.

The bedroom may have been dark, but it was not so dark that it made it impossible for the man to see the frightening flash of her eyes.

"What in Hades name was that for?" Cecilia demanded of Baxter in a tone that was both appropriately scathing and threatening.

Baxter smirked at her and shoved his wand back into the pocket of his flannel pyjama pants, "Just returning the favour Cecilia."

She grumbled in response and flopped back down onto the bed, pulling the duvet up over her head.

"I thought I'd wake up Daddy's Little Princess so that she could get back home before he has the chance to realize that she didn't end up sleeping in her own bed last night-"

Cecilia sat bolt upright once more, swearing again, but her eyes wide with panic this time.

Baxter chuckled at her expression as he quickly backed out of the room and closed the door behind him. Cecilia groaned and looked at the clock to see exactly what time it was and then judged whether her parents would be up to see that she wasn't at home, as she was supposed to be. Considering that Puddlemere had played a late game last night, she figured that she was in the clear for at least another half hour.

She was just about to force herself out of the bed when the door on the other side of the room –that led to the bathroom– opened up to reveal an almost-naked-except-for-the-towel-he-was-wearing-around-his-waist Louis, who was using another towel to dry his hair, making him look like he was supposed to be in an advert for some sort of shower product. An advert that would probably sell-out everything it was promoting at that.

"'Morning Beautiful," Louis greeted her with a bright smile when he noticed she was awake.

Cecilia would have responded in kind if the sight of her boyfriend hadn't completely melted her brain. Inside, she was wondering why it seemed that Louis only ever took his clothes off when she had to leave.

"Cee-Cee, hellooooo?" Louis asked as he moved forward and snapped his fingers in front of her face. He was trying to break through her far-away expression.

She shook her head quickly and grabbed his hand, pulling him to sit down on the bed next to her. He let her do so and then asked, "Why are you up so early?"

"Your bloody cousin –who I'm going to murder before the day is over by the by– bloody woke me up by spraying water in my face," She ranted with a fierce frown.

Louis smiled before leaning forward and pressing a gentle kiss to her lips, "But now you're up and we have time to properly say good morning to each other before I have to leave for work."

Cecilia's eyes glazed over at hearing his words and he took her silence to mean that he had melted her brain again. He assumed that if she didn't want him to keep kissing her, then she would most definitely tell him so. Thus, he continued his kisses across her cheek and then down her neck towards the collar of his shirt, which she had slept in last night.

She started to breathe heavily as his lips trailed softly against her skin and she couldn't do much more than grab Louis's biceps and hold on tight to him. Her heart started to beat faster as she felt his hands grasp the edge of the Holyhead Harpies shirt she was wearing, which she had stolen from Louis's dresser the night before. Puddlermere had actually played against the Harpies the night before and won, so she thought it would be ironic to wear it.

"Bugger."

Louis pulled away from her and seemed worried over the distressed expression that had slipped onto her face, "What's wrong?"

She sighed and leaned forward so that her forehead was pressed against the bare skin of his chest, "I'm going to need to get home before Dad wakes up."

He pressed a kiss onto the top of her sleep-tangled hair, "Alright."

"But I don't want to go," She pouted as she wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him tight.

"I don't want you to go either," He replied softly, running a hand through her hair only to catch his fingers on a few tangles near the end.

She groaned and pressed her face harder against his skin, as if the harder she did it, the more likely she would be to melt into him, "But I need to."

He rubbed a soothing hand on her thigh, just below the hemline of the Harpies t-shirt, "I know."

"Would you just stop agreeing with everything I say? Damnit you're not making it any easier! Every time you use that understanding tone it makes me want to suck your face off," Cecilia complained as she pulled herself away from him and flopped back down onto the bed.

Louis tried his best to hold in a chuckle at her expression, which made her seem like a pouting child, and apologized, "I'm sorry."

Cecilia grumbled a few swear words out under her breath and forced herself out of the bed, "You're doing it again." She made herself busy as she searched around his room for the clothing she was wearing when she arrived the night before.

In between finding one sock and searching for the other, she straightened up and sent her boyfriend a glare, "Staring at me like that isn't really helping the not-jumping-your-bones-so-that-I-can-sneak-back-home-before-my-father-wakes-up situation you know."

Louis, who was sitting on the bed in a very relaxed position, just smirked at her, "You could always use an _accio_ you know."

She turned her back on him and grumbled as she continued to manually gather her clothing. She didn't respond to his remark because she was too embarrassed to admit that her half-melted brain hadn't come up with the idea to use a summoning charm.

When she finished collecting all of her clothing, she slipped into the bathroom and changed clothes, used the facilities, brushed her teeth, and then exited the bathroom just in time to see Louis slip on the trousers he was going to wear to work that day.

They shared a goodbye kiss that was both too short for Cecilia's taste, and too long for her own good, before she left to go back to her parents' house. Fortunately for Baxter, Cecilia was in such a rush to get home that she didn't have the time to attempt to murder him for his ultimately helpful but incredibly irritating stunt with the water.

There were no lights on at the Wood home when Cecilia apparated, which she took as an encouraging sign that her parents weren't up yet. She didn't have to worry about Brogan; he rarely woke up on his own or without the help of others.

After silently closing the backdoor behind her, Cecilia sent a surveying glance across the kitchen and towards the stairs that led to the second and third floors.

She didn't see anyone around. It seemed she was in the clear.

"Good morning Cee-Cee," A soft voice called out to her.

Cecilia spun haphazardly to face the connecting hallway between the kitchen and the living room. Standing there looking extremely calm and nonchalant in her dressing gown while holding a mug of tea was Katie Bell-Wood.

"Mom!" Cecilia called in stunned tone as she resisted the urge to flatten down her hair to make herself look more presentable. She hadn't wasted the time to run a brush through it when she left Louis's, opting instead just to throw it up in a ponytail.

Her mother smirked a little and then glanced towards the floor above them, "Quiet Cee-Cee, you don't want to wake your father up, do you?"

Cecilia's eyes widened and she looked like she was about to start hyperventilating. Katie quickly calmed her daughter's fears.

"He's asleep for now dear. He had a few drinks last night with the team after the game, and well, you know how he is . . ."

The word that was left unsaid was; lightweight. Cecilia knew very well that her father was a lightweight when it came to alcohol. After all, she had to have inherited that trait from someone, and she most definitely _did not_ get it from her mother.

"Oh," Cecilia replied in a quieter tone of voice, "Well I was just-"

Katie smirked, "Coming back home after spending the night at Eliza's? Or were you at Xavier's this time?"

"Umm . . ."

"You've waited too long to reply Cee-Cee, have an actual alibi ready for when your father asks you," Katie told her before taking another sip of tea from her mug, "Unless you're going to tell him the truth."

Cecilia sighed and slumped against the counter behind her, "What are the chances of Dad trying to kill him if he does find out?"

"A lot higher if he doesn't hear it from you first," Her mother told her softly.

She sighed once more, "Oh Circe."

Katie walked over to her daughter, "You don't have to tell him now. In fact, I would advise against it since he's probably going to wake up with a nasty hangover. But I do think that it's important to be honest with your Dad at some point in the near future. I know he doesn't make it easy to be honest with him since he still seems to think that you're twelve years old or something, but this has gone on far too long."

She hadn't realized it when she woke up, but Cecilia definitely felt way too tired for this type of discussion at the moment. Her mother seemed to notice her fatigue.

"Go upstairs and get a few more hours sleep before you need to get to work."

Cecilia nodded and then lethargically started to walk up the stairs. She was barely halfway up before Katie called out.

"Oh Cecilia, I didn't ask you any questions, but there is one I would feel better about getting the answer to."

The eighteen-year-old shrugged in response.

Katie rolled her shoulders and put a motherly look of concern on her face, "You are using protection ri-"

"Mom!" Cecilia interrupted in a harsh whisper, her face turning bright red.

Her mother crossed her arms, "It's a legitimate question Cecilia."

"I'm fine Mum," Cecilia muttered just loud enough for her to hear.

"Cecilia Kathryn," Katie chastised firmly.

Cecilia pinched the bridge of her nose and groaned, this was definitely not the best morning she'd ever woken up to, "Mum, I can promise you that I will not be following in your footsteps and get pregnant while still a teenager, probably not even before I turn twenty-two at the earliest."

Katie smiled, "Thank you, that's all I needed to hear."

Cecilia waved half-heartedly at her mother and continued to trudge up the stairs. She really did need more sleep, but if her anticipated dreams of a towel clad Louis turn into semi-nightmares about her father killing her boyfriend because she somehow ended up pregnant, she was definitely going to blame her mother.

* * *

 **9:16 AM**

"What are you doing?" Cassidy whispered a little harshly to Victoire while they took samples from the unconscious patient that was lying on the bed in between them.

"Well you see, this wand I have in my hand is going to help me take a sample of this woman's blood so that we can test it for-"

Cassidy stopped her before she could finish, "I know what you're doing to the patient. I want to know what you are doing here at the hospital. Aren't you supposed to be at the Ministry waiting to see if you'll get called to testify in Ted's case?"

"Yes, however I think my talents could be better used to help figure out what's wrong with this woman and to make sure she doesn't die. Instead of standing in a drafty antechamber waiting to see if the defense lawyer has the bollocks to call me to the stand and force me to drink veritaserum," Victoire ranted as she continued to use magic to cast some simple diagnostic spells. She wrote down the results on the woman's chart as she went.

Cassidy sighed and took the chart out of Victoire's hands when the blonde finished writing the last item down.

"The trial started at nine o'clock and you're already fifteen minutes late. Do you really want to be charged with contempt of court for not showing up on time or even being there in case you do get called?"

Victoire took a step back and allowed Cassidy to work on the woman, "I think you've let Spencer force you to watching too many muggle cop and lawyer shows. The wizarding law system doesn't have something called contempt of court."

"No, they'd probably just use some sort of spell to semi-permanently glue you to a chair and then force veritaserum down your throat," Cassidy remarked scornfully.

Wesley Hall, the fourth D. A. R. resident, strode into the room then and immediately began helping Cassidy and Victoire with their patient. As he cast a diagnostic spell with a perfect flourish he said, "Weasley, there's someone here to see you."

"Did you tell them I'm busy?" Victoire questioned as she took the woman's pulse.

"I was going to, but then he told me to tell you that you need to get your flat sanctimonious arse out to the healers' station A. S. A. P.," Wesley told her without pause.

Victoire raised an eyebrow at the message and then slowly left the patient's room. Standing at the healers' station, and talking in a low tone with Healer Seward, was Colton Knott. The only person she knew who would even think to say that she had a flat arse.

Healer Seward nodded at Victoire, "Are you still here Weasley? Your night shift was supposed to end at eight o'clock AM." And without waiting for her to respond he walked away with a patient's chart, and Victoire got the odd feeling that she had been dismissed for the day. Or at least until her next night shift started at midnight that night.

"What are you doing here anyway? And why are you spreading rumours about me to my fellow residents?" Victoire questioned Colton as she put her hands on her hips.

"First, I'm here to drag you off to the Ministry so that you can wait in a drafty antechamber to probably not even get called in to be cross-examined until next week, although you still need to be there and available. Second, I didn't spread a rumour about you to your co-worker," Colton replied with a roll of his eyes.

Victoire pinched the bridge of her nose and started to pull off her healers robes to reveal the simple blue blouse and grey pencil skirt she had on underneath it, "A). What makes you think that you have any right to drag me to the Ministry? And B). Wesley's going to think that I have a flat arse right now, which means I'll probably catch him staring at it sometime this week to see if you were right, so thanks for that."

Colton gestured for her to follow him towards the lift once she put her healers' robes away, "One, I'm going to drag you to the Ministry because I'm now your lawyer, and someone has to look out for your best interests because we all know that you certainly can't. Two, You're working nights this week so unless his shift gets changed, he won't have the chance to ogle you just yet."

She followed him into the lift.

"Since when are you my lawyer?"

"Since you decided that you were going to be unreasonable about this witness situation and because one more wrong move will ensure that Bronson lists you as a hostile witness. So, unless you fancy being forced to drink veritaserum and answer any question that Bronson throws at you, I think we should get you to that drafty antechamber before he discovers that you didn't show up at nine o'clock like you were supposed to."

It was a little surreal for her to see for the first time the attitude that she assumed made Colton such a good lawyer, but she wasn't going to argue when he put on his haughty you-know-I'm-right-so-just-get-in-the-damn-lift-Weasley expression.

They were only a total of thirty-two minutes late, but it seemed that all of the other witnesses were already in the antechamber by the time Colton delivered Victoire to the room. He gave her a stern look and a specific glance towards one of the empty chairs in the antechamber, which wasn't actually that drafty, before extracting a promise from Spencer Green to make sure that Victoire would not leave the room until the court appointed break.

When her 'new lawyer' was gone, Victoire rounded on her friend, "Since when do you listen to Mr. Mega-Slytherin-Prat?"

"Since he's trying to keep you from being forced to down veritaserum in front of a courtroom full of people," Spencer explained easily.

She sighed in response since she didn't have a comeback for his common sense reply, and just sulked into her chair like a pouty child. She surveyed the handful of other people that were in the room with them, none of which looked concerned with her sudden appearance.

"Do you think any of these people are going to tattle on me for being late?" Victoire asked her friend in a whisper.

Spencer shrugged, "Who knows."

* * *

 **12:30 PM**

"Finally!" Kurt exclaimed a little too loudly as one of the witches from the Wizengamot called for an hour recess for the case.

The wizard with a bald spot in the shape of raspberry scone (Hayden's finding and description not Teddy's) turned in his seat and glared at both Kurt and Teddy even though the latter hadn't said anything. He looked like he was about to chastise the both of them, when Kurt pulled aside his coat and flashed his auror's badge from an inside pocket. The man just frowned at them in response and huffily stood up from his seat and walked away.

Kurt smirked while Teddy just rolled his eyes at him. They both stood up and slowly made their way out of the courtroom along with the rest of the spectators. Just outside of the trial room, Teddy found Jilly and Niko whispering together. Just beside them was a talkative Hayden who did not seem as though he had the undivided attention of Konstantin Krum. Teddy followed Konstantin's gaze and found that the man was staring at Dom, who was standing a few metres away from him and speaking to Colton, using her hands to gesticulate something important.

A quick glance at Konstantin didn't clarify whether he was staring at Dom because of veela magic, or because he was non-magically enchanted by her, but Teddy knew that if his observations were accurate, he would not want to be around to witness what would happen when whatever was going on between them came to an end. Because whatever was going on between Dom and Konstantin would come to an end. Even if it turned out to be the best thing to ever happen to Dom, it would come to an end; especially if it was the best thing that ever happened to her.

Teddy absentmindedly patted Konstantin on the shoulder as he walked away from their small group and towards where Dom and Colton were.

"Do you really think that dress is appropriate for work?" Teddy asked Dom with a bit of a smirk even though he wasn't really joking. Her dress did look professional enough for a court of law, but it also looked way too short on her. Or maybe her legs just looked way too long. She was in high heels, and she did have long legs to start with, so that might have been helping the illusion.

As he expected, the redhead just tossed him a saucy look, "I think it's extremely appropriate for work. I wore it specifically in case I needed to distract Bronson today. Don't think I didn't see how he was looking at me yesterday."

Standing next to her Colton pinched the bridge of his nose and muttered something about how he would hand her his jacket if he thought it would actually work to cover her legs.

"While the offer to use yourself as bait to divert the attention of the defense lawyer is very kind, it has the unfortunate side-effect of also distracting the people who are working on this case. Namely Konstantin, and most likely Kurt and Hayden if they get past staring at Niko and look at you," Teddy told her.

Dom shrugged unapologetically.

"Anyway," Teddy began, changing the topic, "Did you find Vic?"

The question was aimed at Colton, who answered succinctly, "She was at the hospital. She didn't give me the details, but I think she got caught up at work earlier. You said she was doing a night shift in the emergency medical ward, and I found her in the D. A. R. ward, so I'm going to assume that they found themselves a case of dark magic that was serious enough for her to put her ass on the line and risk getting into further trouble for arriving here late."

Teddy pursed his lips, "Doesn't surprise me."

"Well it looks like I might have to put Plan: Use-My-Excellent-Legs-As-A-Distraction, into effect," Dom commented airily as she looked at something behind Teddy and Colton.

They turned around in time to see Mr. Bronson walking out of the antechamber the witnesses were waiting in, with Victoire right behind him. He looked like he was the cat that caught the canary, and she looked like she was a few seconds away from setting something on fire.

"Damnit," Teddy and Colton swore at the same time. They both quickly paced over to where Victoire was having a heated conversation with the defense lawyer.

When they got within hearing range and they really did not like what they heard.

"So what if I was a little late today? You haven't called me in yet, and considering that only one of the six witnesses has been called in so far, I highly doubt that you're going to get around to me today," Victoire told Bronson firmly but a little sassily.

Mr. Bronson smirked at her, "It is your duty as a witness to be available to _me_ the defense attorney, in case I need you during trial hours this week."

Victoire clenched her fists and tried to push down the anger that might cause her hands to burst into flames, "I have a job to do, same as you, so I'm sorry if trying to make sure that my patients don't die interferes with your grandstanding in the courtroom. So here's an idea, if I'm being such an awful witness, how about you just subpoena someone else who's actually willing to help you get your client off the hook."

Colton and Teddy reached them at that moment, Teddy grabbing her gently yet determinedly by the arm and pulling her to his side to guarantee that she wouldn't try to scorch someone.

Colton put himself in between Bronson and Victoire and said, "We're in a recess counselor, so I think you are done talking to my client."

"On the contrary _counselor_ ," Somehow Bronson was able to both sneer the word and sound pompous at the same time, "I'm not even close to being finished with your _client_. I just think that there are a few other people who need to be in on this next conversation."

Victoire opened her mouth to say something, but then both Teddy and Colton gave her the exact same look that said keep-your-trap-shut, so she thought it might be to her advantage to follow their advice. The three of them slowly followed a swaggering Bronson down the hall a little and towards another antechamber.

Inside the antechamber were two of the wizards and one witch from the Wizengamot who were overseeing the trial, and Victoire knew that whatever Bronson had up his sleeve, it wouldn't be good for her.

Mr. Bronson started to showboat right away, "Mr. Meyer do you recall my mentioning to you that there was a witness who I might have to list as a hostile witness?"

Victoire's eyes narrowed angrily and she felt Teddy wrap an arm around her waist in an attempt to calm her down with his closeness.

The wizard from the Wizengamot who must have been Mr. Meyer, nodded at Mr. Bronson's words.

"Well it seems that we will have to take that drastic step. Ms. Weasley here has proved to me that there is no way that she will be able to be objective during my eventual questioning of her as a witness for the defense, which will in turn affect the reliability of her statement," Mr. Bronson said authoritatively.

"Mr. Meyer," Colton began in a wheedling tone, "I don't think that listing Healer Weasley as a hostile witness is necessary, surely one of the diluted versions of an unbreakable vow would suffice-" He stopped speaking when he saw Mr. Meyer wave him off.

Mr. Meyer folded her hands together, "I actually agree with Mr. Bronson's suggestion to label her as a hostile witness, counselor. I suggested that he do so from the beginning since she, understandably, might have some preconceived prejudices against the client that might stem from her _relationship_ with the Auror Department. It was actually Mr. Bronson that suggested leaving off on labelling her as a hostile witness right away. He wanted to give her a chance."

" _Her_ can speak for herself," Victoire muttered under her breath. Fortunately, Teddy was the only one close enough to her to hear her.

Colton sighed, "Well then why don't we give Healer Weasley another chance?"

Mr. Meyer shook his head, "I'm afraid that I do not believe that that will be a good idea. As of now, Ms. Weasley is to be treated as a hostile witness."

He looked directly at Victoire for the first time since they entered the room, "Do you understand what being labelled as a hostile witness will entail Ms. Weasley?"

"I'll have to drink veritaserum before answering any questions posed at me during the cross-examination. That is if I ever end up getting called in to be questioned," Victoire responded. She had done well and was polite during the first sentence; it was the second one that was a little less than respectful.

"Good," Mr. Meyer responded with an unreadable expression, "Then you know what's expected of you when you finally get called up as a witness."

* * *

 **3:30 PM**

Eliza loved her daughter.

She really did.

However, sometimes she wished that Rowan wasn't such a good eater.

Or she wished at least that Rowan didn't have quite as strong of a latch with her mouth as she did.

Eliza had just finished feeding said well-latched one-month-old daughter when the doorbell to her flat rang. She opened up the front door, Rowan still resting in one of her arms, and came face to face with the other person directly responsible for her daughter's existence in the world.

"Benjamin," Eliza greeted rather stiffly.

"Hi," Benjamin replied a little awkwardly as he stepped past her and into the flat, "I just finished classes for the day and I thought that I'd stop by and visit."

Eliza didn't reply, but Benjamin didn't really need her to. He gestured towards Rowan, who was awake in her arms.

"Can I hold her?"

She handed the baby over and then closed the door. She watched him walk further into the apartment, and her anger at him for ditching Rowan's doctor appointment the day before and not messaging her to ask about it, broke to the surface.

"I see that you only seem to remember that you have a daughter when it suits you."

Benjamin's mouth dropped open, "Excuse me?"

"You heard me. Apparently, you think that Rowan and I are only here when it's convenient for you. You can't just waltz in here for a few minutes once a week and ignore us the rest of the time!" Eliza berated him. She didn't want to yell at him in front of their daughter –even if she was only a month old– but she couldn't stop the fury in her tone once she started.

Rowan was still cradled to Benjamin's chest, but his arms shook a little in surprise when he heard the barely contained rage in Eliza's voice. He also didn't seem to want their daughter to be in the middle of their argument, literally if not figuratively, so he moved into the living room space and set her down on the play mat and out of reach of anything she wasn't allowed to have.

When that was done, he turned around to face Eliza again, "What in the world are you talking about Eliza? I come and see her much more than once a week!"

"I-" She tried to reply, but he didn't let her finish.

"Heck, I've said plenty of times that I would take her home with me and take care of her for any amount of time if you needed a break!"

"I-"

"You were the one who said that you wanted to wait until she was a little older to fully share custody because you wanted to breast feed her, and because you didn't want her to drink from a bottle just yet because you're worried about nipple confusion or whatever the hell it was! I'm the one who has grounds to complain that I'm not getting the full amount of custody hours that I deserve as her father!" Benjamin said, his voice getting slightly louder than he expected because he too seemed to be letting out some hidden frustrations.

Eliza put her hands on her hips defiantly, "We don't have a written custody arrangement."

"No," Benjamin agreed pinching the bridge of his nose as he spoke, "We didn't get one written up because we promised that we would make this work. Right now it doesn't seem like we're making this work though."

"Well maybe if the only people that were involved in this were you and me, instead of you, me, your parents, and that tart you call your fiancée; we'd be able to make it work!" Eliza shrieked.

Benjamin scowled at her, "Well maybe if you weren't such an anal control freak it would be easier to work this out!"

"Well maybe if we had a set custody arrangement I wouldn't have to be an anal control freak all the time!" Eliza growled back.

"Sounds perfect to me!" Benjamin shouted in return, "Hopefully a custody agreement will make it easier for me to acquaint my daughter with her own grandparents. They're never going to accept Rowan if you keep her hidden away from them like she's a dirty little secret you're ashamed of!"

Eliza's blue eyes flashed with anger and she moved forward and poked Benjamin in the chest. Very hard.

"How _dare_ you imply that _I'm_ ashamed of my daughter? But yes, let's make an official custody agreement, and not forget to write in it that Rowan's father should show up to her medical appointments. Especially the important ones like her one-month check-up that you skived off on yesterday!"

She was breathing heavily by this point, and she hadn't realized that they had gravitated so close to each other while they were arguing. At least not until her heavy breathing made her chest brush against his.

There was a charged silence after she spoke, and she stared into Benjamin's eyes long enough to notice the anger drain out of them and become replaced with another type of passion.

Before she took another breath, Eliza found her back pressed against the wall behind her and Benjamin's tongue in her mouth. Even though she knew that she would probably hate herself later, she threw her arms around his neck and tangled her fingers into his short brown hair. His hands drifted down to her thighs and ass, and he hoisted her up so that she could wrap her legs around his waist.

The situation was familiar, even if it had been several months since they found themselves in such a position, and Eliza didn't have the energy to protest or put a stop to what they were doing. Instead, she closed her eyes, tilted her head back, and allowed Benjamin's mouth and hands to wander.

As Benjamin's mouth trailed down her neck, he muttered out words that were so soft that she didn't think she was supposed to hear them.

"-can't believe Rowan's a month old."

Eliza's eyes popped open as she registered the words and she immediately pushed Benjamin away. It wasn't the mention of their daughter that completely killed the mood, although it should have, but it was the reminder of Rowan's doctor appointment, which he had skipped, that did it.

"What's wrong?" Benjamin asked her a little breathlessly once he'd taken a step back to give her some space.

"What's wrong?" Eliza asked, "How about the fact that you're trying to seduce me so that I'll be too distracted to yell at you for ditching our daughter's one-month check-up yesterday!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Benjamin said holding his hands up, "What checkup are you talking about? Rowan didn't have a doctor's appointment yesterday."

Eliza put her hands on her hips, "Yes she did. I took her to St. Mungo's where Healer Jarvis did a check-up and told me that she's perfectly fine. Victoire came down to be with me for moral support, which was a good thing because you messaged me and told me that you couldn't be bothered to come to the appointment."

"What appointment? You spoke to me about scheduling her an appointment like a week and a half ago, and said that you'd let me know about it when you had a definitive appointment set," Benjamin told her confusedly.

Eliza's eyebrows narrowed, "Yes, and once it was scheduled I texted you about it. On Saturday. You sent me back an owl right away saying that you couldn't show up for it on Monday because you were too busy with class."

"Eliza," Benjamin began, his face puzzled, "I did not receive a text message from you about an appointment. Which isn't surprising since I don't really know how to make this muggle phone thing work, but I definitely couldn't have owled back responding to a message I didn't receive in the first place."

She didn't look like she believed him, but he stuck his hand into his pocket and pulled out the mobile phone she had given him (at Cecilia's insistence oddly enough) and thrust it towards her. Eliza took it and quickly found what she was looking for.

"Didn't receive a text message? Then why is the one I sent you in the rubbish bin?" She questioned him.

His eyes narrowed as he glanced at the face of the phone she was showing him, "How does a rubbish bin fit in there?"

Eliza tilted her head to the side, "You don't know what a rubbish bin on a mobile is? A deleted bin?"

He looked like she was speaking in goblin, which she might as well have been as she was spouting off unfamiliar muggle words. It made her start to doubt her collection of facts.

"Did someone have access to your phone on Saturday? That's when I texted you about her appointment."

Benjamin's eyes darkened and he sighed suddenly, "Ugh, Winnie could have taken it. I was busy helping dad with something on Saturday and she was left alone in my room for a few hours."

"Alone in your room?" Eliza repeated before she could stop herself.

Benjamin looked at her, "Alone as in by herself. Without me. Because I was somewhere else."

"But with potential access to your phone?"

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, "You may not think that I spend enough time with our daughter, but Winnie is extremely jealous about all of the time I do spend with Rowan. I wouldn't put it past her, although how she figured out how that muggle contraption works is beyond me."

Eliza sighed as well, she'd only met Benjamin's fiancée a few times, but she wouldn't exactly be surprised to hear that his fiancée did delete a message meant for him and then forged his handwriting onto a message and sent it to her.

"God your fiancée's a witch," Eliza exclaimed before she could help herself.

A smile quirked up the edges of Benjamin's lips, "No need to sensor it Eliza. Winnie is a huge bitch and the next time I see her, she is going to have to sit through every insignificant detail of Rowan's doctor appointment, and she's going to pretend to be interested in it as an attempt not to fall out of my good graces. If you'll share the details with me of course, I feel awful for missing it. I wish that I could have been there."

Even though she knew that they had more to talk about concerning Winnie, Eliza was tired of arguing for the time being. Therefore, instead of keeping the argument going, she gestured for him to follow her into the living room so that they could sit more comfortably while she described Rowan's check-up from the day before.

* * *

 **4:08 PM**

When the second day of the trial was finished, Teddy was glad to see that more had been accomplished than during the first. They had actually called a few witnesses to speak at the trial, and although neither of them were Spencer or Victoire, one of the witnesses was Mr. Emil Minkov –Dom and Colton's client. His testimony made it pretty obvious that Danchev and his other Bulgarian crony were going to go down for their part in the smuggling ring, but that was about as far as the trial had gotten. They hadn't even started questioning the witnesses involved in 'Patient Zero's' part of the smuggling ring, but it did seem like they'd get to them the next day.

More specifically, this meant that Victoire would probably have to swallow some veritaserum tomorrow so that she could be cross-examined by Mr. Bronson.

Teddy pinched the bridge of his nose at the thought and followed his fellow aurors out of the courtroom. Colton and Dom had somehow made it out of the room before him, and they were already collecting Victoire from where she had been waiting in the antechamber with the rest of the witnesses.

Spencer was saying goodbye to Victoire just as Teddy reached her. The metamorphmagus shook one healer's hand, and then pressed a quick kiss to the temple of the other. While Spencer did attempt to convince Teddy to give him a little peck as well, the endeavour was half-hearted at best and he quickly said his goodbyes so that he would have some time to stop by St. Mungo's and check up on the patients he didn't have the chance to attend to during the day. Unlike Victoire who had to work midnight shifts for the rest of the week so that she could be available during the day for the trial, Spencer pretty much got the week off thanks to Aunt Angelina.

"Well," Victoire mused when the other aurors, Konstantin, Niko, Dom, and Colton wandered over, "As fun as spending the last several hours sitting in a room filled with people who don't appreciate the intricacies of a game such as Eye-Spy is, I'd like to go home and crash for the next six to seven hours before I have to clock in for my next midnight shift."

Teddy and Colton shared a look, and Colton spoke, "Actually Victoire, we need to prepare you for tomorrow in case you get called in to be cross-examined."

"Well in the spirit of trying to be as realistic as possible, how about I just have Teddy ask me questions while I try to fall asleep? Make it realistic to what will happen on the stand tomorrow?" Victoire asked only partially sarcastically.

Colton smirked, "I'm glad that you're thinking along the lines of realistic, because your dear fiancé and I have decided that you should prepare for your cross-examination by taking actual veritaserum."

Victoire blinked and looked between Teddy and Colton.

"Seriously?"

Teddy nodded, "We're going to have to take a detour to the Auror Department. Kingsley agreed to allow us access to veritaserum, but he only wants you to take it in a controlled environment, so he's arranged for us to use one of the conference rooms."

"So you're not kidding," Victoire sighed resignedly.

Her fiancé shook his head and she told him to lead the way.

It didn't take them long to get to the Auror Department seeing as they were only a few floors away from it. Konstantin, Niko, and Jilly packed it in for the day and left, while Hayden and Kurt stayed because they just wanted to see if Victoire would reveal anything embarrassing by being under the truth potion.

"And why exactly did you stay?" Victoire asked Dom as she spun around in her wheelie chair.

The group of them had travelled right to the conference room that Teddy had booked.

Dom, who was also spinning around in one of the wheelie chairs, smirked at her elder sister, "I just want to find out what happened to those Jimmy Choo strappy sandals I _lost_ a year ago."

Victoire rolled her eyes, "I already told you Dom, you lent those to Molly to wear on a date but forgot that you gave them to her because you were sloshed at the time."

"I guess we shall see about that," Dom replied laughingly.

Victoire turned from Dom to face tweedle-dee and tweedle-dum, "And what are you two numbskulls here for?"

Kurt and Hayden sent her identical roguish looks, "We just want to see if we can sneak in some embarrassing questions while Ted's not paying attention."

The words were barely out of his mouth before Teddy came back in with Colton, and oddly enough Ally, following behind him. Before anyone could ask, Ally explained that Kingsley had asked her to stop by so she could be there to administer the proper dosage of veritaserum, since she was a fully qualified potioner after all.

The room was rather quiet as everyone got seated and Ally poured out the proper amount of veritaserum –which she had obtained from Kingsley before coming to the conference room. Teddy sat down next to Victoire, while Colton stood up across from her. Ally slid the glass with the potion down the table as if it was a shot of vodka, and Victoire grabbed it and downed it as if it burned like tequila.

"Bronson will start with simple questions," Colton said taking off his dress robes to reveal a tailored muggle-like suit underneath, "So, will the witness please tell me her full name, including any titles."

Victoire took a deep breath, "I am Healer Victoire Weasley, and I'm a resident healer in St. Mungo's Dark Arts Reversal ward."

Colton tilted his head to the side as he considered her and mused, "Interesting tactic there Victoire."

"Tactic? What tactic?" Kurt asked confusedly, "She told the truth."

"She told the truth, but she circumvented part of it and didn't tell the whole truth," Colton said, visibly impressed.

Kurt still looked confused, so Colton explained, "She told me her title and her name, but she didn't tell me her full name. She left out her middle name, but told me extra information about her occupation that I didn't ask for. The extra information makes it seem like she's either freely forthcoming, or that she's just spouting out the answers because of the potion, when in reality, she's giving me extras to hide the fact that she held back on some of it."

Kurt nodded, Hayden looked impressed when he heard Colton's explanation, and the lawyer turned back to Victoire and asked the important question that was on his mind, "How did you circumvent the question? Does it not hurt when you pause to think about how you're going to respond? It's supposed to."

Victoire shrugged, there was a bit of pain while she took a few seconds to decide how she was going to answer, but it wasn't too uncomfortable, "Didn't hurt more than a punch in the stomach."

"When were you punched in the stomach?" Hayden asked curiously.

"Xavier and I scuffled sometimes when we practiced quidditch when we were younger. He got me in the gut once or twice," Victoire admitted.

Colton looked surprised, "Wood hit a girl?"

"In his defense, he didn't really realize that I was a girl until I hit puberty, and even then I don't think it sunk in until the first time I wore a sports bra to practice in fifth year," Victoire replied.

Ally snickered, "I remember that day, Teddy tried to stop practice for a whole twenty minutes so you could run up to the tower and grab a sweater to cover up."

Hayden, Kurt, Colton, and Dom looked at Teddy.

"Hey," He said defensively, "I didn't want her distracting the team."

"No, you wanted to keep looking at Victoire as your childhood best friend, and not as an almost fully-grown woman," Dom retorted.

Teddy pinched the bridge of his nose, "Can we get back on track please?"

"Yes indeed, my turn to ask a question!" Kurt replied gleefully.

"Kurt-"

He ignored the warning and faced Victoire, "So Vic, are you actually engaged to this dunderhead over here?" He punctuated the sentence by jerking his thumb towards Teddy's direction.

"No."

"What?" Kurt asked uncomprehendingly, "Are you being truthful, or lying?"

Victoire smirked and titled her head to the side, "Is that another question Auror Williamson?"

"Yes it is."

"Well then, yes, I am telling the truth," Victoire began, "And no, I'm not engaged to that dunderhead over there."

Hayden raised his hand, "I'm confused."

She chuckled, "I'll explain it to you then. I am telling the truth about not lying to you. And I'm telling the truth about not being engaged to _that_ dunderhead. I am engaged to Teddy, but he got all Os on his N. E. W. T.s and he graduated top of his class in Auror Department training, so he's not a dunderhead."

"Very Slytherin of you Weasley, stretching the truth to fit your needs, and purposely misunderstanding parts of the questions posed to you," Colton complimented, "If you can keep this up all through the trial tomorrow, you might just make it through with your dignity intact."

Ally raised her hand this time, "This might sound like a stupid question, but why are we testing to see if Victoire can circumvent the veritaserum? It's not like she's actually going to lie during court to the members of the Wizengamot, is she?"

Colton decided to let his Jr. Associate clarify their plan. Since Ally was very familiar with how veritaserum worked, she quickly understood what Dom was explaining to her. Not only did veritaserum force the drinker to tell the truth, but it also made the drinker feel very uncomfortable until they answered the questioned posed to them, which usually caused the drinker to 'blurt out' the truth instead of finding time to consider their words before answering. The real problem with Victoire being forced to drink veritaserum was not the fact that she would have to tell the truth, but the fact that it would take a lot of self-restraint to not blurt out the answers to the questions. It was important for her to take the time to frame her answers in a way that would make it clear that the defendant was guilty. Colton didn't want to take any chances that Bronson would be able to take Victoire's testimony and twist it to be in favour of his defendant. They also wanted to make sure that Victoire would be able to handle the effects of the potion, without blurting out something insulting to the defending counselor or someone else in the room. If she did that, it would be very unprofessional and disrespectful, so they needed to form a plan to curb her tongue and to make it so that she wasn't completely at the mercy of all of Bronson's questions.

"Anyone else got something they want to ask me while I'm under this?" Victoire asked the room at general.

Kurt opened his mouth immediately but Teddy slapped him on the back of the head before he could say anything, "You are not going to ask her that."

"Ask me what?" Victoire asked curiously.

Hayden snorted, "Trust me Vic, you don't want to know."

She was even more curious now that it seemed that Hayden was also in on the topic.

"My turn then," Dom announced excitedly, "So what exactly happened to my Jimmy Choo strappy sandals?"

* * *

 **7:03 PM**

When Xavier finally walked through the front door of his flat that evening, a small smile was coaxed to his lips at the sight of Ally standing at his kitchen stove cooking dinner. He kicked off his shoes and paced over to her, his smile subconsciously widening the closer he came to her.

He wrapped his arms around her waist from behind and rested his chin on her shoulder, "Hello Honey."

"Hi Sugar," Ally replied with an un-lady-like giggle as she stirred the pot on the stove.

Xavier wrinkled his nose, "I was just trying it out."

"I just think it's weird of you to liken me to food," She explained as she turned around to face him and wrapped her arms around him in return.

He chuckled, the sound rumbling through his chest and into hers, "And what if I started calling you potion related pet names like my amorentia?"

"Now that could probably get me going," She agreed with a wicked smirk.

He laughed one more time before his smile faded. He sighed and closed his eyes as he pressed his forehead against Ally's, "I'm sorry that I'm late."

She rubbed a hand up his arm, "It's alright Xav."

"No it's not. I was supposed to be home early, and I was supposed to cook for you tonight," Xavier pouted. He felt awful for breaking his promise to her.

Ally pressed a kiss to his cheek and then stepped out of his arms so she could serve up dinner, "Honestly Xav, it is fine, no harm no foul."

They took their plates over to the breakfast bar and sat on the bar stools. Ally continued while Xavier poured her a glass of water, "Why don't you tell me about what made you so late? Did practice run long?"

Her boyfriend shook his head sadly as he shoved a forkful of food into his mouth, "No, practice was on time. It was my meeting with the coaching staff and the publicists that ran really late."

Ally set her fork down, "Why were you meeting with the team's publicists?"

"They cornered me when I left the changing rooms," Xavier lamented, "They wanted to discuss my love life, because apparently they've been getting piles upon piles of interview requests from different magazines, all trying to arrange interviews with me so that they can ask about said love life."

His girlfriend picked her fork back up and started to move her food around on her plate, "It doesn't surprise me. There are so many rumours flying around about our relationship, or more accurately about your relationship status, people just want to know what the truth is."

"But why is it any of their business? This relationship is between you and me, so the only people that should care about what's going on in it are you and me," He complained as he stabbed a vegetable a little too harshly with his fork.

Ally smiled sadly and reached out to place her hand over his, "The thing is Xavier, with all of the articles recently, some people are under the impression that our relationship isn't just between you and me. And since they believe that there could be more people in this relationship than just you and me, they have decided that it is there business to know about this relationship, especially if they harbour hopes about being one of those other people in this relationship."

Xavier dropped his utensils and clenched his fists even though Ally was trying to hold his hand, "Ugh, that is _never_ going to happen."

"You're a professional quidditch player Xav, you're a celebrity and an icon, and people idealize you. You can't blame people for idealizing you when all they see is a quidditch legacy. They don't know you well enough to know your faults, like how you like to squeeze the toothpaste from the middle of the tube as opposed to the end like most intelligent people," Ally explained.

He sighed and unravelled his hand so that he could hold hers, "I don't want to keep talking about this. There was actually something else I wanted to discuss with you."

Ally smiled, pulled her hand back so that she could pick her fork back up, and told him to go ahead.

Xavier took a deep breath to steady himself before beginning, "I want to make sure that we're honest with each other so that we don't have any miscommunications like last year . . . Ally, sometimes the best part of my day is coming home to see you here. It doesn't matter if you're cooking, or doing extra work, or joking around with Cecilia because she stopped by to visit, I just like knowing that you're here. And-and when I come home to find that you're not here because you're at yours and Dom's apartment instead . . . I don't like it."

Ally's eyebrows narrowed as she heard him continue.

"And that sounds rather controlling and childish when I hear myself say it aloud, but that's how I feel. I want to be able to see you and be with you as much as possible. I know how you felt about things last year when you thought they were moving too fast, so if you don't want to you can tell me and we'll keep things the way we are-"

She interrupted his word vomit there, "Xavier, I can't tell you whether I want to or don't want to, because you haven't asked me a question yet."

His eyes widened and the expression on his face read 'Oh'. He swallowed thickly and took a deep breath to calm himself before asking, "Ally, how would you feel about living together? You can move in here, or if you don't fancy the idea of living in a building full of my teammates –which I would completely understand considering how tiring Mark and Clark can be– we can find our own place. I don't care where we are, just as long as we can be together. I want us to live together."

* * *

 **A/N** : Sorry about the cliffhanger, but the chapter was getting long and it needed to end here. Also, since when do I let you know everything when it comes to Ally and Xavier's relationship ;). I hope that you liked this update, I'm sorry that it took so long.

 **Next Update** : Not sure when, but it shouldn't be longer than a month.

 **Next Chapter** : On the plus side, it's almost finished so it will be out sooner rather than later. In the next chapter we get a whole lot of info about the trial, including Victoire under the influence of veritaserum and being questioned by Bronson.

Thanks again to everyone who has followed, favourited, read, and especially reviewed the story!

BIG thank yous to:

 **LadySnowTheStark, liverpoolss, Jilly98, Encypher, emeraldeyes0731, no cure for crazy, crumer, Guest (1), NicoleTheSmith, rosesnlilies, PhoenixGravity, GinevraFangirl, Jennifer Jules, zvc56, Guest (2), Izzy, ntlpurpolia, Guest (3), MuggleCreator, GryffindorsRock, cpnjky, julylily23, Guest (4),** and **kawaiiotaku0405**.

 **liverpoolss** : As you can see, Kingsley already knows about the Victoire-being-a-witness-situation, and he's trying to help even though there's not much he can do.

 **Encypher** : Did you enjoy seeing Eliza and Rowan in this chapter?

 **emeraldeyes0731** : There was a wee bit of Ally/Xavier in here, so how did you like it?

 **no cure for crazy** : I'm doing my best to try to make the trial coherent, but also interesting.

 **crumer** : I'm glad that you like the story so much.

 **rosesnlilies** : No, actually I wrote Dr. Quinn because of the old tv show Dr. Quinn medicine woman. she was a female doctor. Sorry to burst your bubble.

 **PhoenixGravity** : Thank you for the energy :)

 **GinevraFangirl** : I'm glad that you like the facts I put into this story, I do do a lot of research to make sure that what I'm writing is correct.

 **Izzy** : I'm actually rather glad that you're confused as to why she'd been called as a witness for the defense. Victoire is confused about it too, and I can promise that it will make sense once the next chapter is posted. I'm also amazed that you've remembered all of the details of the last story and are thinking about how they connect to each other.

 **I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter,**

 **Please leave a review and let me know what you think of it,**

 **I hope everyone is doing well,**

 **Until next time, DFTBA!**


	19. The Truth Can Hurt

**A/N:** Hi everyone, I have this chapter finished and I know that you have all been waiting expectantly and patiently for it, so I won't make you wait any longer.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Harry Potter.

* * *

 **Previously:** Victoire and Spencer have both been called to testify in a trial. Spencer was called for the prosecution (which is a Ministry appointed lawyer that the Auror Department works with), and Victoire was called as an expert witness for the defense (A.K.A. the bad guys). In the last chapter she got labelled as a hostile witness, meaning that she will have to drink veritaserum before her questioning, and she practiced that in the last chapter.

 **Summary of the case:** There's a lot to remember from earlier in the story and from LAH, so here's a bit of a reminder. Through the combined months of work from Jilly and Kurt, Hayden and Teddy, and Konstantin and Niko, they ended up discovering a ring of smugglers who were stealing ancient artifacts (specifically from the the Moche ruins, via the underground tunnel system), and they discovered that the Holmwoods were connected to it. Several people within this smuggling ring are on trial for their different parts in the crime (Some physically stole the artifacts, some transported them, some sold them, some bought them, etc.). One specifical man who is referred to as patient zero or unnamed patient (who was sick at 's and under Spencer and Healer Singh's care until Victoire helped heal him), is thought to be a main party to the crime, specifically physically stealing the artifacts. The prosecution's proof is that patient zero had the same disease as the two boys Victoire healed in the tunnels, which they assume originated from the tunnels as the Moche people were familiar with it. Specific details will be explained again in this chapter, but this was a quick summary to refresh your memories.

* * *

 **The Truth Can Hurt**

 **Wednesday September 14** **th** **2022**

 **12:48 AM**

Victoire knew that it was going to be a long day. Her shift at St. Mungo's was to start at midnight on the dot, and would end at eight o'clock AM. She then had one hour to get ready for the trial, where she would probably sit in the antechamber of the courtroom for the better half of the day before being called in to swallow some veritaserum and answer some questions. She couldn't even crash at home once the trial was over for the day, because she had an appointment to meet Healer McDavid for the first time to discuss her new job as his research assistant.

Teddy had told her to contact Healer McDavid to see if she could arrange a time to meet him when she wasn't coming off a midnight shift and a day spent in a courtroom, but she was too excited to cancel their meeting. Her best hope for some full sleep within the next few days was to have her questioning period be completed during court that day, so she would no longer have to be available at any time for the trial for the rest of the week.

She had been filling out some forms in the D. A. R. ward not even an hour into her shift, when she got a message from Donnie –who was working the night shift down in the obstetrics ward– asking her to come down to his floor to run a test for him. Even though she was a little confused at what test he thought she could run better than he could, she made her way down to his floor.

He was waiting for her when she exited the lift.

"So why have you called me down to do your job?" Victoire asked him with a raised eyebrow.

Donnie rolled his eyes at her, "A couple has come in tonight and they wanted to be tested to see if the woman is pregnant. She is and I've completed most of the tests on her, however there is a small wrinkle. They are both purebloods, and therefore the _frater ad fetura_ test needs to be completed."

Victoire followed him further into the ward; she understood why she was there now. The _frater ad fetura_ test only had to be performed when both parents of a fetus were pureblood, but it could only be cast by someone who was also a pureblood. Donnie, the lucky muggleborn bugger, didn't have to spend three weekends during exam period at healing school learning how to cast the test with all the other healing students in their year who were purebloods, as Victoire had to. As such, Donnie could not preform the test, and had needed to call someone from the hospital who could perform it.

"You can't tell me that there is not even one pureblood resident or healer in the obstetrics ward," Victoire told him.

Donnie led her past the first few examination rooms, "Of course we have a few pureblooded healers and residents working in this ward. However, it is almost one o'clock in the morning, and none of them are working at the moment, so I had to search outside the ward."

They stopped in front of a particular room and Victoire, who really didn't mind having to perform the test as she presently had nothing better to do, asked Donnie one more question, "So I was the first pureblood outside of your own ward who popped into your mind?"

"Yup," Donnie agreed with a smirk as he opened the examination room door for him.

When they entered the room, Donnie introduced Victoire to the couple who were waiting in the room. As it was, an introduction wasn't strictly necessary, as Victoire had gone to Hogwarts with both the wife and the husband. They weren't exactly friends or even acquaintances as the man and woman had been in Slytherin house, but they knew who each other were.

Donnie explained that Victoire was there to do the test that he had described to them earlier, and for a minute, the husband looked like he was going to argue about it. He kept quiet instead when his wife sent him a silent look, and the non-verbal conversation was over in an instant.

Victoire completed the test quickly, found nothing about the test that worried her, and told the couple that the preliminary test was clear, but that a sample for further tests was standard practice. She also told them that she didn't see any reason why the results of the further test would say anything different, and that within a few days they would be contacted when the new results come in.

The explanation seemed to satisfy the couple, and once Victoire had gotten her blood samples –one from the husband and one from the wife– she sidestepped out of the room so that Donnie could finish speaking with his patients. She didn't move too far off the ward though, as she needed to drop the samples off with the witch who was at the obstetrics centre healing station. She had just finished labelling the samples and handing them off to the witch at the station when Donnie came by, having just escorted the husband and wife to the lift.

He had a bit of a smirk on his face when he stopped by Victoire at the station, and he tapped her on the arm with a chart before handing the chart over, "Oddly enough, I think my last patients would have rather had me, a muggleborn, complete that test than you, a pureblood."

"Oh I know that they would have preferred for me to have nothing to do with them," Victoire retorted with a roll of her eyes.

"I hear a story," Donnie said in a singsong voice.

She shrugged her shoulders but obliged, "It's not much of a story. We were in the same year at Hogwarts but different houses. They didn't like me because I was a Gryffindor, and a Weasley. In addition, I didn't like them because they didn't like me, which is childish I know. Anyway, sometime in fifth year, the husband asked me out, and even though he still claimed to dislike me, you can imagine what was actually running through a fifteen-year-old boy's mind. I said no of course, but even though the Mrs. and the Mr. weren't together at the time, she still held a grudge against me because of it for that rest of the year. I guess she had always wanted to be stuck in an arranged marriage with him, so she always felt some sort of ownership over him. I really didn't care about either of them though, and I'm pretty sure I hexed the bloke once or five times over the school years."

Donnie snickered while the witch at the healing station came towards them and handed Victoire a note, briefly telling her that the Emergency Medical ward had sent a patient right up to the D. A. R. ward for her and her colleagues to work on.

Victoire skimmed the note that held more details about the patient's symptoms and told Donnie, "Injuries oozing a purple puss and emitting a sulphurous smell like rotten eggs."

"Sounds like fun," He replied making a face at her description.

She started towards the lift, "I'd rather deal with _this_ than with your last patients again."

* * *

 **9:46 AM**

"The prosecution will call Healer Spencer Green to the stand," The Ministry appointed lawyer for the prosecution called almost an hour into the trial.

Both Spencer and Victoire were asked to sit through the trial in the courtroom that morning, a sign that seemed to anticipate that they would be called in for questioning at some point that day. Spencer was called first, and he quickly took a seat in a chair that made him visible to both the wizards and witches from the Wizengamot, and the spectators seated in the courtroom.

"Healer Green," Mr. Penzik –the Ministry appointed prosecution lawyer– started, "What is your position at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies, and when was the first time you ever saw the defendant, the man who will be hereby be known as Patient Zed?"

Spencer folded his hands together, "I first saw Patient Zed on Monday February 7th of this year, and at the time I was a healing intern with the Magical Bugs and Illness ward. At present I have completed healing school, and am now a resident healer in St. Mungo's Magical Bugs and Illness ward."

Mr. Penzik nodded, "And what were the circumstances surrounding Patient Zed's arrival and treatment at St. Mungo's?"

"Patient Zed was brought unconscious into St. Mungo's Emergency Medical ward. He did not have any identification on him, and he immediately showed symptoms of an illness that was first thought to be dragonpox. As such he was moved from the Emergency Medical ward to the Magical Bugs and Illness ward where a few interning healers including myself were assigned to his case. He did not respond to the normal treatment for dragonpox, so the next working theory was that he was suffering from a strain of dragonpox that was incurable by the regular treatment. The healing staff nicknamed it medieval dragonpox because it was the closest strain that we could compare it to," Spencer explained.

"So was the patient suffering from a strain of medieval dragonpox?" Mr. Penzik questioned.

Spencer shook his head, "No, it took us quite a while to diagnose what he had. By February 28th we had discovered that the bacterial infection the man was suffering from was from a strain called _Bacillus Zicterrvalloes_. It is a very old strain and very rare, but even though it has a name, it does not have a set treatment or even many cases of it to study symptomology."

Mr. Penzik looked around the courtroom chamber and then back at Spencer, "Now Healer Green, keeping in mind that there may be a few people in this room such as myself whose eyes glaze over when there is mention of too much science jargon, can you please explain to us what happened on March 19th?"

"By March 19th the patient was getting progressively worse, and as we did not yet have a cure, we were trying to focus on treating the symptoms. On the 19th he started to quickly deteriorate, parts of his body were showing extreme blood clotting, while other parts were showing extreme blood thinning."

Mr. Penzik nodded, "And what is the danger with blood clotting and blood thinning?"

"Blood clotting would essentially lead to certain organs dying of asphyxiation, while blood thinning would be like organs drowning in their own blood. Many illnesses include either blood clotting or blood thinning, but there are very few that include both at the same time, and even fewer that have blood clotting and blood thinning in such an extreme case," Spencer explained.

"So you were treating Patient Zed for some organs' blood clotting and others for blood thinning?" Mr. Penzik asked.

Spencer took a deep breath, "Treating the symptoms as they arise can contain the effects of the illness, but it doesn't help cure the underlying cause. Patient Zed's health was declining so rapidly that we decided to try a different intervention with the permission of the healers in charge of his case. The treatment was very experimental, so we needed to enlist the help of someone who was at least somewhat familiar with the treatment. Healer Victoire Weasley, who was a healing intern at the time, helped Healer Singh create and administer the experimental treatment. In the end the treatment saved Patient Zed's life."

"Had you seen the illness or even the treatment before encountering Patient Zed?" Mr. Penzik queried.

"I never saw either the treatment or the illness before Patient Zed, but I did see both after."

Mr. Penzik smiled, "And where did you see the illness and the treatment?"

"Another Healer and I found several cases that shared similarities with the illness Patient Zed had. All of the cases were connected to a small area of Peru where we believe the outbreak of the disease took place, and all of the additional patients were treated with a standardized version of the same treatment, all patients showing similar results upon their healing."

"Do you believe, Healer Green, that Patient Zed's illness could have been caught anywhere other than an isolated area in Peru that we previously discussed as the disease breakout zone?" Mr. Penzik asked Spencer.

Spencer cleared his throat, "During an earlier point in the investigation into this case, myself, and several other healers did a large study of medical cases of people around the world who arrived at both Magical and Muggle hospitals with similar symptoms. The connection between all of the patients, who did end up with a diagnosis of the same disease, is this location in Peru. It is ground zero for the disease breakout. It is my professional opinion that all of the facts and statistics point to Patient Zed having visited disease ground zero just before arriving at St. Mungo's in February."

"Thank you Healer Green."

Mr. Penzik moved away at this point and Mr. Bronson stood up from his seat next to Patient Zed.

"I have no questions for the witness."

One of the witches from the Wizengamot nodded and told Spencer that he could go back to his seat, and then told Mr. Bronson that it was his turn to call a witness. The lawyer for the defense did so with a not-so-hidden zeal, and soon Victoire found herself sitting in the seat that Spencer had just vacated.

Her heartbeat started to speed up as she failed at ignoring the crowd full of people who were staring intently at her. She'd gotten better with being the centre of attention, she no longer faced each situation with what Dom liked to call 'her-resting-bitch-face', but she could still feel the physical effects of negative arousal turning into anxiety. A speeding heartrate was one thing, but she needed to keep track of her breathing as well to make sure that she wouldn't start hyperventilating.

Victoire was so concerned with trying to appear as though she wasn't about to pass out that she almost missed Mr. Bronson's actions. He had popped the cork on a Ministry obtained vial of veritaserum and did a surprisingly good job of hiding his glee as he handed the vial over to Victoire. She held in her eye roll at his excitement, and then chugged the potion down. For a potion that had no scent or taste, Victoire's facial expression after drinking it was like that of a person who had to drink a kale and fish oil smoothie.

Mr. Bronson took a minute to explain, rather redundantly, to the members of the Wizengamot that Victoire was a hostile witness, and therefore would be legally questioned under the influence of veritaserum for the duration of the cross-examination.

"Now Healer Weasley, what is your official position at St. Mungo's?" Was Mr. Bronson's leadoff question.

Victoire didn't need to try to circumvent the potion with her first answer, "I am a resident healer in St. Mungo's Dark Arts Reversal ward."

Mr. Bronson nodded his head, "And as Healer Green mentioned a few minutes ago, when you first met Patient Zed you were an intern, is that correct?"

"Yes," Victoire replied curtly. There was a slight pinch in her stomach that was supposed to implore her to elaborate on her answer, but she didn't plan on doing so until Mr. Bronson asked her specifically to expand on it.

To her surprise, his next question was not that, but something else on a different train of thought.

"Healer Weasley, when was the first time you met Patient Zed?"

Victoire could answer this one easily too, "March 19th was the first time I met Patient Zed."

"As Healer Green also said, that was the day that he began to deteriorate, correct?"

She nodded in response and then belatedly remembered that she needed to verbalize her answer, "Yes that is correct."

Mr. Bronson folded his hands together and smiled slyly at her, so Victoire knew that his line of questioning was finally about to get interesting.

"Could you please explain to me Healer Weasley, from your own point of view, what happened on March 19th?"

Victoire took a deep breath and began her summary, "Spencer Green contacted me in the afternoon on March 19th, he told me that the Bugs and Magical Illness ward had a patient whose health was quickly deteriorating and that he thought that my opinion would be useful. When I went to St. Mungo's I saw the patient and quickly read up on the case. The healer in charge, Healer Singh, asked me if I could help her create a treatment for the patient."

"And did you help Healer Singh create a treatment for Patient Zed?" Mr. Bronson asked.

"Yes."

Mr. Bronson's eyes narrowed as he looked directly at Victoire, "And could you please explain as best as you could for everyone here what that treatment was, and what it did for Patient Zed?"

"Healer Singh and I used the research of another group of healers to create a treatment of programmable bacteriophages." Victoire paused for a minute and then tried to explain the concept like she had for Kurt and Hayden a few months ago; it had been her second attempt because their eyes had glazed over the first time.

"Bacteriophages are a type of virus that can infect bacteria. The theory behind the programmable bacteriophages was that we could create these viruses to infect the bacterial infection that Patient Zed had, and to turn off the bacteria so that it would no longer multiply, but also so that it would no longer cause the symptoms of blood clotting and blood thinning that Healer Green explained earlier."

"So essentially, you helped create a treatment that stopped the bacterial infection, and the symptoms of the disease?" Mr. Bronson abridged.

"Yes," Victoire replied. She expected next that he was going to point out that what she did was technically illegal before St. Mungo's gave her a pass for it.

Mr. Bronson didn't end up going there though, "Is it safe to say Healer Weasley that Patient Zed would not be alive today if not for the medical intervention that you helped create?"

"I do not believe that Patient Zed's body would have survived the havoc that the bacteria was raging on it, if it were not for the bacteriophage medical intervention," Victoire explained clearly but without emotion. She wasn't entirely sure where he was going with the line of questioning anymore.

"Now Healer Weasley, would you consider this bacteriophage treatment as a cure for the disease my client had?"

Victoire took a few moments to collect her thoughts and to figure out how to frame her next reply. Because of this, her stomach was starting to cramp and she felt a twinge of pain with each potion-induced contraction of her intestines.

"The bacteriophage treatment did not necessarily cure the disease. The word cure implies that it kills the bacteria and the symptoms at the same times. The bacteriophages turned off the bacteria and caused it to go into a dormant state, and because the bacteriophages were turned off, other treatments were then able to be used to deal with the symptoms of the disease, which were the blood thinning and blood clotting," Victoire said.

Mr. Bronson smiled brightly, and it immediately made Victoire feel very, very nervous, "So the bacteriophages treated the diseases and the symptoms, but it did not altogether cure it."

"Correct."

"But using the bacteriophage treatment was an important part of the cure?"

"A very important part. They pretty much acted as an immobilizing charm on the bacteria and made it possible for the other parts of the medical intervention to do their jobs."

The counselor for the defense then seemed to switch topics entirely, "Healer Weasley, I had a look at your records and it says that you graduated in the top five percent of your class from healing school."

Victoire was completely thrown for a loop, "Yes, I did."

"Therefore, as someone who has a lot of both practical and theoretical knowledge of healing, could you please tell me whether you've heard of Rapamycin before?"

Even though she was honestly unsure of where this was going to go, she replied, "It's a medication that Muggles use to treat organ transplant patients to help reduce chances of the body rejecting the organ. They as well as us also use it to treat a couple lymph related disorders such as Autoimmune Lymphoproliferative Syndrome."

Mr. Bronson nodded as if he had already studied up on the topic and expected her answer, "Could you please explain, in a theoretical fashion, why different diseases would use the same treatment?"

"If different diseases cause the same symptom, or cause damage to the same organ or system in the body, sometimes the same medication can be used as treatment because they treat the same problem. Even if that problem has come about in a different way."

"Have you ever seen the disease that Patient Zed suffered from, a _Bacillus Zicterrvalloes_ infection I believe Healer Green called it, in another person before?" Mr. Bronson asked, completely changing the subject once more and really worrying Victoire because she couldn't follow his train of thought, and therefore she couldn't prepare herself for what he might ask.

Victoire wanted to pinch the bridge of her nose in irritation, but she knew that that would be a sign of weakness, so instead she answered the question, "I've personally treated two other people who had the disease."

"You treated them with the bacteriophage treatment?" Mr. Bronson asked.

"Yes."

Mr. Bronson casually slipped his hands into his pockets, "How did the treatment affect the other patients? Did it work?"

"The treatment was a success and the patients healed very quickly once the proper course of secondary treatment was in place," Victoire said.

"Did the other patients react to the bacteriophage treatment in the same way as my client? Did they have similar after effects?"

Victoire pursed her lips, "The other two patients were of a younger age than Patient Zed and had been exposed to the disease for a shorter amount of time, so they healed more quickly than Patient Zed and will have less long lasting after effects."

Bronson nodded comprehendingly, "It's understandable of course that different people would react differently to the same treatment. It was the exact same treatment after all; with the exact same process to create it, wasn't it? Perhaps just in different doses since your patients probably had different amounts of the bacterial infection in their system?"

Victoire could finally see where he was going with his questioning now, and she didn't like it, especially because the truth was not going to help the prosecution's case.

"The treatment for the other two patients was not the exact same as the treatment for Patient Zed, and it was assumed that the other two patients did have different levels of bacteria in their systems."

"That's right," Mr. Bronson said pretending as if he had forgotten the facts and just remembered them again, "While you were treating the other patients you had very limited resources compared to when you were in St. Mungo's. So perhaps you could explain to us, remembering to dumb it down for us lay people of course, how you created the second bacteriophage treatment."

She clenched her fists and tried to hide them in her lap, "In the second situation when I was treating the other two patients, my resources were extremely limited, and I was the only healer around. It would have been impossible to recreate the bacteriophage treatment in the exact same way that I did before, so I used what I could. The major component in the bacteriophage treatment was antibodies from donors who had already had the disease and lived through it. I used those as well as the other resources around me to recreate the bacteriophage treatment as best as I could."

Mr. Bronson looked away from Victoire and towards the members of the Wizengamot, "I have had the opportunity to read through the extensive reports filled with medical jargon about the treatment Healer Weasley used, and I can assure you that her hard work and success in treating the other patients is fifty-times more impressive than it sounds right now. She singlehandedly saved the lives of both of her young patients."

Victoire tried her best to keep her expression neutral but it was difficult. She really detested the fact that he was referring to her in such a professional manner, and that he was overwhelmingly praising her even though he had made a point to identify her as a hostile witness.

"Healer Weasley's work was especially remarkable because it seems to me like she had to create a whole new treatment from scratch," Mr. Bronson said with an impressed nod of his head.

"It's not exactly a whole new treatment," Victoire interrupted. At this point, she wasn't sure if it was the veritaserum that made her do it, or her own unappeasable need to set the record straight, "The treatment did the same thing as it did for Patient Zed, it was just created in a different way. It had the same outcome."

Mr. Bronson placed a faux apologetic expression on his face, "Of course, we did just cover that a few moments ago, just after you explained to us that sometimes several different diseases can be cured by the same treatment."

He smirked at little at Victoire, "You also explained a few moments ago that you assumed that the other two patients had different levels of bacteria compared to Patient Zed when you treated him. Why did you use the word assume though? Did you not run tests to see what the bacterial count was in your other patients?"

After taking a deep and steadying breath Victoire replied, "No, I did not run tests on the other patients to see how much bacteria they had."

"Why not Healer Weasley? Is that not normal procedure to run tests such as these?"

She didn't want to have to answer this question, but Victoire could feel her stomach clenching tightly in anticipation to push her to. She held off for a minute so that she could frame her reply carefully, "It is normal procedure to run tests on patients. However as I have stated before, the resources that I had at my disposal were basically non-existent and it was not possible to run the regular tests on the two patients. I was also not able to hold off for long on giving the patients the treatment because it was obvious that their conditions were deteriorating much too quickly."

"Yes, you are quite right, even if you had been able to run tests on your patients, there probably would not have been time for you to wait to see the results. You acted quickly which is exactly what was called for in that case. Nevertheless, I do wonder how you were able to diagnose your patients with the same disease as Patient Zed, if you did not have the ability to run more complicated tests on them. After all, Healer Green did state that it took them several weeks to diagnose the exact bacterial infection my client had," Bronson said in a curious tone.

"The other patients showed the same symptoms as Patient Zed, and the combination of the symptoms along with the fact that it was previously hypothesized that the bacteria was discovered in the same geographical area that the patients were in, led me to the conclusion that the other patients were suffering from the same bacterial infection as Patient Zed," Victoire explained.

The counselor for the defence smiled brightly, as if Victoire had finally given him all of the pieces of information that he needed, "Obviously I do not have the healing knowledge that you have Healer Weasley, but to me it sounds as though you made an assumption about what disease the patients had, without running extensive tests."

"I made an educated diagnosis based on the information I had in front of me and created a treatment to heal the symptoms," Victoire countered.

"Yes," Mr. Bronson said turning to face the members of the Wizengamot, "Healer Weasley treated three patients who presented similar symptoms with a similar treatment, and healed all three of them. However, she has also stated that diseases with similar symptoms can be treated with the same treatment, without the patients necessarily needing to be diagnosed with the same disease. She has also pointed out that extensive tests were never run on the two other patients to identify their illness, and I have reports stating that no tests were run on these other patients after they were transferred to a hospital, from which they were discharged soon after."

Bronson took a minute to let the information sink in before continuing him summary, "The doubt in this situation is not on Healer Weasley, she saved the lives of three people, including my client, when she had little information to go on and in one case very few resources. The doubt in this case is not on the outcome of the treatments, but on the initial diagnosis. Healer Weasley treated two cases of a disease in the same manner because she saw similar symptoms in both cases. However, that begs the question, did both cases succeed because they had the same disease and were given the same intervention? Or did both cases succeed because they had different diseases but similar _symptoms_ that were treated by the same intervention?"

He turned to Mr. Penzik and gave him a challenging look, "Your witness Counselor."

The lawyer for the prosecution stepped forward quickly even though one look at his face showed that he wasn't sure how to clean up the mess he was about to figuratively step into.

"Healer Weasley, you explained earlier that you diagnosed your two other patients with the same disease as Patient Zed, a _Bacillus Zicterrvalloes_ infection, because of the geographical location that they were in. Can you explain in more detail why you did so?" Mr. Penzik requested.

Victoire knew that she would probably still lose a few people with her explanation, but she'd do her best to try not to use too many large words, "The _Bacillus Zicterrvalloes_ strain is a type of bacteria that can go into something similar to a hibernating spore state. To do so the bacteria need to live in a place that is warm, dry –and since there hasn't been a breakout of the disease in a very long time– most likely a place that allows it to stay undisturbed."

"And this specific location in Peru that you met the other two patients in, could be an environment that is conducive to the bacteria?" Mr. Penzik questioned.

"The environment would be ideal for the bacteria to live in in spore form, and there is a lot of evidence to believe that that specific location is ground zero for that disease," Victoire explained.

Mr. Penzik nodded, "Thank you Healer Weasley."

He then looked at the members of the Wizengamot, "I have no more questions for the witness."

A witch from the Wizengamot asked Mr. Bronson if he wanted to redirect, which he most certainly did.

"Healer Weasley, one more question, are you absolutely certain that your other patients caught their illness from that specific location in Peru?"

Victoire nodded her head enthusiastically, "Absolutely certain. When I discovered the patients, they were still at the place in question, and not only that but I used the antibodies of people from that exact geographical location to create the treatment for my patients. If they did not have the same disease as those other people, the borrowed antibodies would not have worked and the treatment would have failed. All of the other cases that Healer Green mentioned earlier had this geographical location in common as well."

Mr. Bronson smiled and addressed the members of the Wizengamot, "While I have no doubt that these other cases caught their illness from this location in Peru, I am still unconvinced that the medical evidence implies that my client was in Peru. The prosecution's argument is that my patient was in Peru at some point and contracted the disease there, and that their evidence to back this up is the other cases with similar symptoms that were _assumed_ to have the same disease, and that all of the cases were treated and cured with the same medical intervention.

"Essentially, they are saying that the proof of Patient Zed being in Peru is because he had the same illness as these other people in Peru. However, the entire diagnosis of the disease of the people in Peru hinges on the fact that Healer Weasley assumed that the symptoms she saw in both cases stemmed from the same disease, even though she did not run tests to prove it. It all boils down to a fallacy and a circular argument, they are saying that Patient Zed had to have been in Peru because he had the same disease as the people from Peru, and that they know that the people from Peru had the same disease as him because they assumed that he visited Peru."

The Counselor for the defence then looked at Victoire and told her that he was done with her. She stiffly stood up and paced back to her empty seat next to Spencer. For the first time since she started her questioning period, she glanced up at the row in the visitors seating area where Teddy was sitting.

Even from his less than ideal vantage point, Teddy was able to read his fiancée's face clearly. He sighed inwardly at the expression on her face, and beside him, Konstantin Krum voiced the exact same thing the auror was thinking, "She does _not_ look happy."

The trial went on recess shortly after Bronson's cross-examination of Victoire, which was a good thing because the lawyer for the prosecution, Mr. Penzik, didn't seem to know where to go after Bronson effectively destroyed his 'evidence' that pointed to Patient Zed being in Peru.

Upon leaving the courtroom, Victoire immediately found herself surrounded by Teddy and Mr. Penzik. The other aurors, Konstantin, Niko, Colton, and Dom looked like they were about to converge on them as well.

"That could have gone better," Mr. Penzik said, breaking the silence with a rather obvious statement.

Victoire folded her arms across her chest, "Bronson's an asshat."

"Seems like that veritaserum hasn't worn off yet," Kurt smirked as he and the others came up behind Victoire.

"Oh no, it has," Victoire corrected him, still visibly pissed off.

Penzik pinched the bridge of his nose in irritation, "I can't believe he came up with that kind of defense, or that he pulled it off so perfectly in front of the Wizengamot members."

"I'm not surprised, there's a reason why his services are so expensive, he's unequivocally the best lawyer there is," Dom piped up.

Colton obnoxiously coughed from beside her, and Dom rolled her eyes while she corrected herself, "The best criminal defense lawyer."

Penzik turned to the aurors, "I'm not entirely sure where I can go from here. We have the other accused in this case set to rights because we have documented proof of their visits to Peru or their connection to the smuggling ring, but not Patient Zed. We don't even know who he is so our only connection to him being in Peru was that disease. Now that Bronson has cast doubt on the fact that he had the same disease, or was ever even in Peru, it's going to make it almost impossible to convince the Wizengamot that he was involved. The fact that he has a different lawyer than the others also does a good job of setting him apart from the others accused in this case."

"Oh no, Patient Zed is not going to get off scot-free," Victoire announced in a tone that frightened pretty much everyone but Teddy, Dom, and Colton. The latter three had had the misfortune of seeing her in the past at a stage of anger even worse than the one she was presently displaying.

Victoire glanced at Penzik, "I have a way to get indisputable evidence to prove that Patient Zed did not only have the exact same bacterial infection as the other patients, but that it was the exact same strain. This will prove that there is no way that he could have caught it anywhere other than those underground tunnels in Peru."

"Really?" Penzik asked curiously.

"Yes, all you need are six things-"

"Six?" Kurt mouthed to Hayden, thinking that it was a rather large list.

Victoire continued, "First, you'll need a blood sample from Patient Zed."

"That should be easy," Penzik replied, "The Auror Department has several of those on file, courtesy of St. Mungo's."

"No," Victoire disagreed, "You'll need a blood sample from post-bacteriophage treatment, and I'd further suggest a fresh one. It could be argued that the ones originating from St. Mungo's could have been tampered with since there is such a large pool of people who could possibly have had access to them."

Kurt raised his hand, "Does it have to be a blood sample, or can it be something else like hair or a finger nail? Are you looking for DNA?"

"I'm looking for blood plasma, so no, hair and fingernails won't work," Victoire corrected.

"Then I don't think it's going to be very simple to convince Patient Zed's lawyer to allow us to take a blood sample from him so that we can disprove his entire counter-argument and defense," Kurt pointed out.

Victoire nodded, "Which is really too bad, because I'd argue that this is one of the more simple items on my list to get because he's the only one who could be compelled by a possible court order."

"So what else do we need?" Penzik asked her.

"We're also going to need blood samples from the two children from Peru that I treated-"

Hayden interrupted this time, "Well considering that one child was a muggle, the other a muggle born, and that both children and their parents had their memories of the whole ordeal erased by Ministry appointed obliviators, I think that one may be a little harder to get."

"You're going to need blood samples from some of the Moche people as well; at least three of them who had the disease and survived without medical intervention. These three will also need to be of varying ethnic backgrounds, specifically someone who's close in age and ethnic background to Patient Zero, and someone close in age and ethnic background to the children. It would also be helpful to get blood samples from one or two of the Moche people who did not have the disease," Victoire explained.

It was Jilly's turn to add her two-knuts worth, "Once again, a simple task, especially considering how the Auror Department is on such good terms with the Moche tribe right now."

Victoire ignored her sarcasm and tapped out her fourth finger on her hand to continue, "Fourth, you will need samples of the bacterial spores from the tunnels."

"We'll make sure to get those when we go back to get the blood samples, should save us a trip," Kurt muttered.

"Fifth, Spencer mentioned a list of people who had the disease and were treated for it, the list includes three other people who are being tried, but a few of them are already sentenced to jail time in Peru. You're going to need blood samples from them as well."

Hayden glanced at Teddy, "Are her grocery lists as odd as this one?"

Teddy didn't reply, instead he listened as his fiancée went on, "And sixth, you will need blood samples from people on Spencer's list that did not end up having the disease and were not treated for it."

"Oddly enough you had me up until this one, why do you want samples from people who didn't have the disease?" Niko asked.

"Samples are needed from all of these people because I can use their blood to prove that they all have the same exact strain of _Bacillus Zicterrvalloes_ , and that it doesn't matter which treatment they got to cure it, or if they even got a treatment. The samples from the last group of people are especially important because these are the people who had some symptoms similar to the disease, but which Spencer and Aunt Angelina ended up diagnosing as not having the bacterial infection. When the blood of this last group is tested it will prove that Patient Zed did not have some disease similar but different to the one the children had –as Bronson suggested– or else his blood test results would look the same as this last group."

Mr. Penzik still didn't seem entirely sold on the idea, "But how are all these blood samples going to prove that they all had the same strain of disease?"

"The human body produces things called antibodies; if you have suffered from certain infections before, your bodies remember and will release these antibodies when you get infected with the same thing again. They send these antibodies to help fight off the infection more easily than it did the first time. What we need to do is add the bacteria from the bacterial spores to the different blood samples, and test to see what antibodies are released. If they all suffered from the same strain, they will all release the same antibodies, independent of what original treatment they got for the disease," Victoire clarified.

Teddy had started nodding halfway through, it was a similar theory to when she explained why she was using antibodies to create a treatment for the two boys in the tunnels, so it made sense to him.

"And if Patient Zed was suffering from the same strain of bacteria as the others, these tests will show it, and this will undeniably prove that he was there in those tunnels at some point."

Victoire nodded, "Gold star."

"And the people who didn't have the disease?" Hayden reminded her.

"That is the second part, since they did not have the disease their blood samples will not react the same way to the bacteria as the other samples who had the disease."

Jilly smirked, "And that will destroy Bronson's defense that Patient Zed had a similar disease, but not the same one as the muggle children."

"Platinum star for you," Victoire smiled, pointing to Jilly.

"So if I get you all of these samples you can do this and get me solid evidence?" Mr. Penzik questioned.

Victoire folded her hands together, "You'll get solid evidence, but I'd suggest you get a healing expert in epidemiology to run the tests, especially one who has no affiliation with the Ministry or even St. Mungo's. An epidemiology or immunology professor from a healing school would be best."

Mr. Penzik nodded, "Thank you Healer Weasley, if you'll excuse me, I need to go work with this information."

As he left, some of the others broke into smaller groups to discuss the trial amongst themselves. While they were busy, Teddy pulled Victoire off to the side.

"You did a great job up there," He told her softly, grabbing her hand and giving it a comforting squeeze.

She shook her head crossly, "No I didn't. Bronson totally used me to make himself sound smart and get his client off the hook, all the while sounding like he was admiring my work so that he could paint himself and his client as the misunderstood and innocent ones."

"It's not your fault that Bronson knew how to twist the information, or that he did his medical research. You answered truthfully and did everything you could. You've even done more than you needed to because now you've handed over to the prosecution exactly what he needs to get the evidence to win this case," Teddy pointed out gently.

Victoire sighed and leaned forward until she had her head pressed against his chest, "I know that the task I gave him is pretty much impossible, but it's what he needs to get solid evidence that Patient Zed was in Peru. I mean, finally uncovering Patient Zed's name would also be a huge help, but that seems to be more difficult a task than getting blood samples from a dozen people across several countries."

Her fiancé nodded sadly and pressed a soft kiss to her forehead, "Don't worry about that right now. You've been dismissed from court so now I'm the only one allowed to worry about this case. All you need to do is get home and get some sleep before your meeting this evening with Healer McDavid."

"Would you believe that I almost forgot about that?" She asked him tiredly.

"Almost forgot about going to meet your healing idol to discuss doing research with him?" Teddy asked with a raised eyebrow.

Victoire sighed, "Good point."

He slipped his hand under her chin and lifted her face up so that he could press a kiss to the bridge of her nose, "Go get some sleep."

She must have been really tired from her night shift, because she listened to his words and left once she'd said a quick goodbye to everyone else.

Once she was gone, Teddy grouped together with Jilly, Hayden, and Kurt.

"We really need to find out Patient Zed's real name," Teddy told them.

"Got any new ideas on how?" Kurt asked wearily.

"A new thought process actually," Teddy explained, "What we know is that Bronson is Patient Zed's _very expensive_ lawyer, as Dom mentioned."

His fellow aurors nodded their heads.

"And we know that Patient Zed isn't paying his salary, and from what Jilly told us earlier, it's very likely that the Holmwoods are."

Hayden's eyebrows pinched together in a puzzled expression, "Dom did mention that Bronson was very expensive, and if the Holmwoods are paying for the best lawyer for Patient Zed, then it's obviously because they don't want him to go to prison."

"Unlike the other defendants who are a part of their organization, but who they didn't ask Bronson to defend," Kurt added.

"Which means that Patient Zed is important to them," Teddy concluded, "More important than anyone else the department has charged with a part in this smuggling ring."

Jilly bit her lip, "Bronson was an associate lawyer when he was on Lassoder's case, he was with the same firm, but he was shadowing the lawyer who was the firm's top guy at the time."

"The Holmwoods payed for a top lawyer for both Lassoder and for Patient Zed, which you can assume means that they hold similar weight in the organization," Kurt reasoned.

Teddy shook his head, "But Lassoder was supposed to be running a low-level scheme for the Holmwoods, the only reason he got in so deep was because he's mental and he tried to kidnap Victoire. The Holmwoods didn't actually care much for him; they only hired a lawyer for him because he was technically their family, even though he was an illegitimate son of Eldon Holmwood."

"Patient Zed also can't be very high up in the Holmwood organization," Hayden added, "The agents from the North American Multi-Cultural Organized Crime Investigations Division would have recognized him, or had information on him, if he was one of the major players in the game and if he was involved in more than just smuggling some ancient artifacts from dig sites in Peru."

Jilly crossed her arms over her chest, "So either Patient Zed is very good at hiding his previous illegal activities, or he's just someone in a lower level position, like Lassoder."

"But if he's lower level, why not give us his name? He'd cut a better deal because the N. A. M. C. O. C. I. D. would have less information on him," Kurt pointed out.

Teddy snapped his fingers, "Patient Zed is lower level, just like Lassoder, and yet he's been given the type of lawyer that would be expected to take care of cases concerning members of the Holmwood family. What if Patient Zed is a distant member of the Holmwood family itself?"

"That would explain why he doesn't want to give us his name, even if his crimes aren't that big because he's lower level, he'd never be rid of the organizations that would want to monitor him if he admitted to being a part of the Holmwood family, even if it was just a distant cousin," Jilly mused.

"If he's a member of the Holmwood family, then it stands to reason that other members of the Holmwood organization might recognize him, right?" Hayden asked.

Kurt rubbed a hand down his face, "It does. But I highly doubt that we'd be able to find a member of the Holmwood organization who would be willing to talk to us."

Teddy groaned at hearing Kurt's words and shared a defeated look with Jilly. Even though a deep pit had suddenly taken up residence where his stomach was supposed to be, he was more concerned with the ashen look that had bloomed across Jilly's face when she came to the same conclusion that he had.

He took a deep breath to try to calm his stomach before replying, "Actually, I can think of a member of the Holmwood organization who I could probably get to talk to me."

* * *

 **A/N:** So, that is the trial so far. I'm sure many of you expected more of an aggressive or explosive style of interrogation, but I felt that smooth and sneaky was more Bronson's approach, but let me know if you liked it, or if you would have preferred something more argumentative. I know that this chapter was completely Vic and Teddy centric, but I didn't want to have to break it up into two and make you wait, so I purposely did it all in one chunk, don't worry, we will see many of the other characters in the next chapter. Also, a gold star to everyone who guesses correctly who Teddy is referring to at the very end here ;)

 **A few things:**

 **1.** The human body, including the human immune system, is a very intricate and and complicated system. I have a little more than a basic understanding of the system, but I really just used the bare minimum and summarized it for my purposes here. If some of you like more complicated explanations because you know the details, then I'm sorry but this is what I'm going to use and about as far as it will get, so I'm sorry if I've bothered you by 'over-simplifying' things. Also, remember that while I like to try to be as real as possible in my medical facts, that this is also from the point o the magical world and that they do, and even see things differently than 'muggle' healthcare, and that this is just my opinion on it.

 **2.** Rapamycin is used to treat people getting organ transplants, as well as people who have some lymph related disorders. There is actually a rather interesting medical history of the same medicine or treatment being used to treat different illnesses. For example: A rather well publicized one is the use of Thalidomide being prescribed to pregnant women to prevent nausea. In the fifties it started out as a sedative, before being prescribed for morning sickness. It was then discovered that the medicine caused severe birth defects in the babies of the pregnant women, including malformed arms and legs. In 1998 it was repurposed to treat leprosy, and in 2006 it was approved to be used as a treatment for multiple myeloma a bone marrow cancer.

 **3.** Victoire's blood sample tests that she describes near the end are loosely based in medical fact as sometimes it is possible to tell apart different strains of diseases from others (such as the 'same' bacteria being antibiotic resistant in one case, but not in another, and it is a very complex issue of study) but let's just all imagine that the wizarding world has the magic set up available to definitely tell if all of these people are suffering from the exact same strain of bacteria or not.

 **Next Update:** Maybe in a few weeks? Definitely by the end of the first week of November.

 **Next Chapter:** Victoire goes out with Spencer and her other friends from St. Mungo's, Louis and Baxter have a guys night in, Teddy has to work very late and he doesn't exactly tell Victoire where he will be, Cecilia conducts her second interview, and Teddy ends up facing his old nemesis.

Teaser for Next Chapter:

 **""Alright," Kurt said slowly, "So, I for one will certainly miss you."**

 **Teddy rolled his eyes again, "I'm not going to die at Azkaban."**

 **"No, but when you get back here, your fiancée's going to kill you for not telling her about your little visit to the wizarding world's maximum security prison," Hayden stated."**

I want to thank everyone who has followed, favourited, read, and especially reviewed this story, especially since we've past the 500 mark!

An especially BIG thank-you to:

 **ntlpurpolia, Revliledpembroke, emeraldeyes0731, Guest(1), Tootsie12, Manydifferentfandoms, AngelTwins527, MuggleCreator, silverlover02, Encypher, LunaRose95, mazzmataz, zvc56, TheProphetBVB, no cure for crazy, Guest(2), rosesnlilies, cpnjky, azngurlz093, NicoleTheSmith, KiMaYa, Jennifer Jules,** and **SSP Sierra Siya**.

 **ntlpurpolia** : Thanks for catching the spelling mistakes. I gave a little summary of the case at the beginning, so I hope you're following along okay with it right now.

 **Revliledpembroke** : Don't worry, I read it in the 'voice' of Austin Pennington so it was about three-times as pompous as Malfoy, maybe more ;)

 **emeraldeyes0731** : Even though it'll be a while until the wedding, we will get some wedding discussion in this story, I already have it all planned. I just need to get passed this trial first and then we can open up that plot line.

 **Tootsie12** : I didn't really think of any more specific questions that the others asked Vic while she was under veritaserum, so this part will be left up to your very capable imagination.

 **Manydifferentfandoms** : You will find out in the next chapter if Ally and Xavier decide to live together. We will definitely see more of the cousins, again, I'm trying to wrap up some plot points before introducing more (because we know that the cousins will have their own world of drama at Hogwarts). Of course there'll be more Malcolm and Nadia, but again it will be sprinkled through so you'll have to be patient. I definitely have plans to make the wedding a separate story because it's story line will fit better with other plot lines that aren't relevant to this story. Thank you so much for the kind words that you wrote me. I really, really and sincerely appreciate it, and I love reading reviews like this. With all of your reviews and support, it's the readers like you who help me write and put a smile on my face when I feel as though my day goes from bad to worse. So thank **_you_**.

 **Encypher** : Your thoughts are duly noted, and I can promise that you'll see more Spencer in the next chapter.

 **mazzmataz** : I'd love to write fanfics on all of my couples and OCs, but it is more the fact that I do not have the time to do so. Sorry. But hey, you can always write a fanfic about them if you love them that much ;)

 **TheProphetBVB** : Great, I love how you all have different opinions on the whole Baxter/Eliza/Benjamin situation.

 **no cure for crazy** : I think Xavier would agree with you about his and Ally's situation :)

 **cpnjky** : You'll hear more about the Dom/Konstantin situation in the next chapter.

 **azngurlz093** : Having studied the psychology of several different types of families in university (literally in a course called the psychology of the family) I can tell you that statistics and experts believe that it's not exactly whether or not the parents are together that matters, but how the type of interaction and communication between the parents is. Separation or divorce can sometimes be the best thing for everyone involved in a family unit, as long as there is no hostility displayed (whether openly or passive-aggressively) in the situation. There are many cases of successful separated parents who co-parent, but the sad fact is that most separations of parents get very hostile and messy, and it does end up being difficult for the children. It's not the type of family unit that the child belongs to that is important, but the quality of that family unit and the people involved in that child's life. You are very much correct about one thing though, Benjamin and Eliza need to come to a decision about how they are going to do all of this. Also, may I ask you why you were iffy about Cecilia and Louis in the beginning? I'm curious because perhaps others may share your thoughts, and it may be because of a mistake in my portrayal of them.

 **NicoleTheSmith** & **KiMaYa** : I didn't put much thought into who took Dom's shoes, but since you and a few others are curious about it, I'm definitely going to keep that mystery going . Sorry, not sorry ;)

 **Jennifer Jules** : Kurt's question was added humour, he's just a nosey parker. But I like how you're trying to figure out which parts are important and which aren't. I hope my court chapter has met your high standards.

 **SSP Sierra Siya** : No, I do not have plans to write an Ally/Xavier centred one-shot any time soon.

 **I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter,**

 **PLEASE leave me some lovely reviews telling me your opinion on this chapter,**

 **Also, don't forget that I'm giving out gold stars for guesses about who Teddy's going to visit,**

 **I hope that you are all well, and until next time,**

 **DFTBA!**


	20. How to Spend a Friday Night

**A/N:** Happy Halloween everyone! Here's the next chapter :)

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own _Harry Potter_.

* * *

Recap: Victoire promised Spencer a few weeks ago that she would go out with them and the rest of their healing friends to celebrate all of them starting their residencies. Teddy made a plan to try to get information about the Holmwoods out of someone connected to them, in hopes of finding out Patient Zed's real identity. And a quick reminder that Cecilia's job is to write for a quidditch magazine.

* * *

 **How to Spend a Friday Night**

 **Friday September 16** **th** **, 2022**

 **7:10 PM**

It had been quite a while since Victoire had gone out for the night with Spencer and their friends from healing school. Despite all of their best intentions, they had never had the chance to meet up after they finished their exams, and once they were all given their residencies, they had been too busy trying to survive their first few weeks to worry about arranging a time in which they could all go out and get sloshed together. Spencer was excited that he was finally able to schedule a time for everyone to go out together, and his excitement alone was pretty much the only reason why Victoire had not called him and told him that she wanted to cancel. She did _not_ want to face his disappointment for skiving off on their night out, even though she also didn't really feel like going out anymore.

"Are you sure that you have to work tonight?" Victoire pouted to her fiancé as she sat on the edge of the bed and watched him put back on the auror's robes that he had only taken off two hours ago when he arrived home from his last shift.

Teddy gave her a soft smile as he straightened out the collar of his robes, "I'm certain that I have to work tonight. I can show you the work schedule where my name is written if you'd like."

"I'd rather not," She retorted with an even deeper pout.

He finished fixing his robes and sat down next to her on the bed, "I'm sorry Love, but there's nothing I can do about it."

"Maybe there's something _I_ can do . . ." Victoire mused as she looked up at him from underneath her eyelashes.

Teddy smiled sadly, "I appreciate the offer, but I'd rather you not. I get enough flak from some of the other aurors because Harry's my godfather, I don't need my fiancée, the goddaughter of the head of the department, to get me out of a shift."

She sighed and leaned back onto the bed so that she was lying down on it, "I don't understand why you're scheduled to work tonight though. You got home barely two hours ago-"

He stopped her rant prematurely and patted her leg, "It's only for a handful of hours; I should be back by midnight. I'll just be sitting in the department doing some paperwork. It seems that earlier in the week, _someone_ gave Mr. Penzik a long list of things he needs to crush the defense in court, and the time that the Wizengamot members have given him to collect the evidence is slowly running out. Everyone who is familiar with the case has been pitching in extra hours."

Victoire still didn't like it that he had to go to work instead of going with her to Spencer's outing, but she didn't think that she could complain anymore. He was right after all that it was partially her fault for setting out such an extensive list.

"And can you tell me how getting the items on that list are coming or . . . ?" She trailed off uncertainly.

Teddy considered his words for a minute before telling her, "It's coming along slowly but surely. We were able to obtain a few of the things on your list, but some are proving more difficult than others."

She nodded and let out another audible sigh. Teddy leaned down next to her and pulled her towards him in an embrace, "I know that you want me to go with you tonight, but I think you'll still be able to have fun without me. All of your friends from St. Mungo's will be there, along with Spencer and Ally."

"I was just excited to have you with me, not nearly as many strange men walk up to me when I'm with you," Victoire pointed out quietly.

Teddy sighed heavily at hearing this, he needed to be at work that evening, but he did truly feel bad for leaving Victoire to go stag that night, "Well if your engagement ring isn't enough to discourage some people, you could always pretend to be Spencer's girlfriend."

Victoire giggled and then scoffed, "I think it'd be more believable if I pretended to be Ally's girlfriend."

Her fiancé smirked roguishly, "That's something that would be fun to watch."

She just rolled her eyes and smacked his arm in response. He chuckled and pulled her even closer so that he could press a soft kiss to her lips, "I'm sure you'll be able to survive tonight. You are an incredible force to be reckoned with when you want to be."

"What a lovely compliment."

Neither of them could really tell if she was being sarcastic or not, but it didn't really matter. They were done with words for the moment. They lay together for as long as they could before Teddy realized that he really needed to drag himself off the bed and get to work. He kissed her fiercely before leaving, and it wasn't until he had disapparated that Victoire noted how odd it was for him to kiss her so desperately when he was just going to the Auror Office to do some paperwork.

She shrugged it off almost as soon as the thought had come up, and then decided that she should make herself look presentable for a night out, keeping in mind as she did so that she didn't want to garner too much attention if Teddy wasn't going to be with her.

About an hour later, she apparated down the road from the wizarding bar they were supposed to meet at for the night. She landed perfectly even though she was wearing a shoe with a slight wedge heel –her inner Dom had demanded that she wear them because it matched her shirt perfectly and she was too tired to argue with her sister even if it was just an imaginary version of her. Coincidently, she ended up meeting Donnie just as she was about to open the door to the establishment. He opened the door for her and gestured for her to go first, and once they were inside it was easy for them to discover where the rest of their 'party' was. Spencer was already there with Sarah and some other acquaintances of theirs, so they all spent a few moments sharing greetings and pleasantries with one another.

"We're still waiting on Lab Coat to arrive," Spencer told Victoire as he handed her a large fruity-flavoured-looking drink.

Victoire nodded her head, having noticed already that Ally wasn't there yet, and glanced at the drink her friend had handed her, "I didn't even tell you what I wanted."

"You didn't need to," Spencer replied with a charming smile.

"Well maybe I did, because I'm not planning on drinking tonight."

Spencer broke out into laughter and tapped her glass, "That's a good one Cinderella, now drink up because once everyone gets here we're going to do a round of shots, and trust me, you're going to want to be a few drinks in before we do that. Now where's Prince Charming? Didn't you bring him with you?"

Victoire shook her head and eyed her drink again, "No, I didn't bring him with me. He ended up having to work tonight. Which is why I don't think I want to drink tonight, I don't like getting sloshed when he's not around to watch my back."

"I didn't say that you had to get drunk," Spencer pointed out, "Just have a few drinks. With your metabolism you know that you could have ten drinks before getting even close to sloshed."

She pursed her lips in response as she considered her drink again, "What flavour is this?"

"It tastes like green apple," Spencer replied triumphantly.

Victoire sighed in defeat and took a sip. It tasted really good, and she could barely tell that there was alcohol in it. Spencer had a point, she didn't have to get drunk if she didn't want to, and yet she could still have a few if she wanted.

She had been slowly sipping her drink, but Ally still didn't show up until Victoire was almost finished her first one. Victoire had spotted her cousin the second the brunette stepped into the bar, but Spencer wasn't far behind her.

"Miniskirt!"

Spencer had apparently discovered Ally's nickname for the evening. Obviously the jean skirt Ally was wearing with her navy-blue coloured top inspired the nickname, but in Victoire's opinion the skirt wasn't _that_ short, Ally just had long legs that made the skirt look shorter than it was.

Ally had laughed good naturedly at Spencer's nickname while they gave each other hello hugs, but when they walked over to where Victoire was sitting at a table with Donnie and Sarah, Victoire could see the slightly harried air her cousin held.

"I'm sorry I'm late," Ally apologized after she and Victoire had kissed each other on the cheek, "It was a little hectic leaving my apartment."

Victoire passed Ally her glass and what was left in it as she asked, "Did something happen?"

Her cousin sighed heavily and chugged the few inches of drink that were left in Victoire's glass before replying, "Just had to have a chat with Dom about some of the life choices she was making."

"Ugh," Victoire moaned in sympathy, "What has she done now?"

Ally blushed and whispered to her blonde cousin, "It's more like _who_ she's about to do."

Victoire made a fake gagging sound and then slammed her head down onto the polished surface of the table, " _Please_ don't tell me-"

"Konstantin Krum," Ally supplied without being asked.

Victoire gagged again, "Uh, I told you not to tell me!" She took a minute to take a deep breath before adding, "I guess it could be worse."

"True," Ally agreed, "If she had agreed to give Clark a chance and then hooked up with Konstantin again, it would have definitely broken Clark's heart."

"Yes, thank goodness my sister decided to keep shutting down the hot professional quidditch player so that she wouldn't break his heart when she went back to hooking-up with the one bloke I keep asking her not to sleep with," Victoire ranted with very heavy sarcasm.

Ally patted Victoire's back, "Well what were you thinking of when you said it could be worse?"

"She could be sleeping with Kurt or Hayden, which would be much worse."

Ally's eyes widened as she considered her cousin's words, "Merlin that would be horrible and _so_ awkward for Teddy."

"Exactly," Victoire agreed.

Spencer chose that time to deliver a new drink to both Victoire and Ally, and told them to hurry up because, he announced, once Cassidy finally showed her skinny ass, they were going to start in with the shots.

Ally took a tentative sip of the highlighter-pink coloured cocktail Spencer had given her before saying, "Speaking of Teddy, did he come with you tonight?"

"No," Victoire pouted in response before taking a large swig of her own drink, which was a dark navy colour, "He ended up having to work."

Ally patted her cousin's hand sympathetically, "I guess we're both going stag tonight."

"Yup."

Puddlemere United had a game against the Appleby Arrows that evening in Appleby, so Xavier was also away for the night with his team. Even though Ally had the option, as always, to attend the game, she had decided to stay behind so that she could make it to Spencer's night out. It seemed that Victoire wasn't the only person who didn't want to disappoint the American muggleborn.

"Is Xavier staying at a hotel in Appleby, or is he travelling back here after the game?" Victoire asked curiously as she took a slower sip on her drink.

Ally ran a finger around the lip of her cocktail glass, "He's going to stay in Appleby. Sandra and Kyle have decided that they are going to go to the game. They're taking some potential clients for their company I think– but anyway, they've decided that they're going to go out after the game and get a drink and I told him that it would probably be better if he just stays there overnight."

"Sandra and Kyle are going to the game? I didn't know that, but you know what? Now that I think about it I don't think I've contacted Sandra this week besides a few short text messages," Victoire admitted sadly.

Her cousin shrugged, "It's been a busy week for you Vic, between the night shifts and the trial. Moreover, Sandra's been working on a big presentation for the company. This is what happens when everyone gets caught up doing adult-y-things."

"Did you just say adult-y-things?" Victoire asked with a raised eyebrow as she eyed her cousin's drink. Ally had only had about half of it but it seemed that she was already making up words.

Ally just rolled her eyes at the blonde, "Yes, adult-y-things. Like working forty hour weeks, getting married, getting engaged, moving in together-"

Both of Victoire's eyebrows rose up on her forehead when she heard the last part of Ally's list, "Who's moving in with whom?"

Her dark haired cousin blushed brightly and Victoire had to try very hard to hold in a squeal, "Oh my Godric, are you and Xavier . . .?"

"We've been _discussing_ moving in together, _just_ moving in together," Ally added quickly when she could see Victoire's mind start racing.

The clarification didn't dampen Victoire's excitement, "That's so fantastic Ally! Brilliant! So are you going to move into his flat or . . . ?"

"That was an option we discussed, but I think the both of us are leaning more towards finding a flat of our own. It's not that his flat in the complex is lacking anything, it's amazing actually, but we both kind of want someplace that feels like both of ours, instead of just his," Ally explained.

Victoire nodded her head enthusiastically, "I totally understand, but the specifics aren't important right now, what is important is that you and Xavier are taking this next step. Are you happy about it?"

She remembered Ally's reaction almost a year ago when she felt that she and Xavier were moving too fast and towards a future that she didn't feel as though she had any control over. It was important to Victoire to hear that Ally was excited about this new step, she was already certain without having to ask that Xavier was one-hundred-percent on board with it.

Ally gave her cousin a bright and slightly dreamy look, "I am _so_ happy about it. When Xavier brought it up I didn't think that the prospect would be so exciting considering that we were already practically living with each other without officially moving in together, but the more I think about it the giddier I become."

"So you're planning on doing this sooner rather than later then?"

"Well . . . it all depends on us finding a place that we both like, and on me and Dom coming to some decision about the flat we share. She's fine with me leaving, but the both of us want to find her another flat mate before I go," Ally explained.

"Fair point," Victoire agreed as she considered the situation.

The flat that Ally and Dom shared was actually famous within their family. It was the same flat Victoire and Sandra had shared for their first year post-Hogwarts graduation, and since then it had been in possession of someone in Victoire's family. When Kyle and Sandra moved in together during their second year post-Hogwarts, Ally had moved in with Victoire and taken the vacant room. A year later when Victoire and Teddy found a flat together, Dom moved in with Ally. The two had been sharing the flat for exactly two years now, and now it seemed that Ally was moving out, and that someone new would need to move in.

The topic changed then back to Xavier's game which would have started a quarter of an hour ago, and Donnie, Sarah, and Spencer joined in on the conversation. Donnie loudly expressed his opinion that he couldn't believe that Ally would skip going to a Puddlemere United quidditch game no matter how many games she had attended in the past, and Victoire teased the obstetrics resident that she had never in her life met a muggleborn who was as obsessed with the wizarding sport as he was.

* * *

 **8:30 PM**

"Merlin am I ready to just crash tonight," Anish Sharma announced wearily as he plopped down on the largest sofa in the room.

Baxter Weasley nudged Anish off of part of said sofa so that he would have room to sit down, and said, "Well if you are going to crash on my couch tonight, could you promise not to snore?"

Anish's expression said that he was insulted, "I do not snore!"

"Yes you do," Baxter retaliated, looking towards his other two friends in the room to back him up.

Matt Everheart smirked wickedly as he settled into a squishy armchair with a butterbeer in hand, "You sound like a muggle chainsaw."

"I do not!" Anish repeated, somehow even more offended now that two of his friends were ganging up on him.

"You kind of do," Louis Weasley added. He sat down on the empty loveseat with a bowl full of popcorn and rounded off the group.

Anish glared at Louis and pointed his finger accusingly at him, "You're one to talk, you mumble in your sleep sometimes, and do you want to know what you say?"

"I don't talk in my sleep," Louis brushed the accusation off before shoving a handful of popcorn into his mouth.

"Sometimes you do, and when you do you're just pathetically muttering disgustingly sweet things about Cecilia," Anish announced while making a repulsed face.

Louis rolled his brown eyes, "Well I'm sorry then that when we use to share a dormitory at Hogwarts that I used to dream about my girlfriend and talk about her in my sleep."

"You should be sorry," Anish chastised, still looking a little green, "I am very susceptible to suggestion when I'm half asleep. You have no idea the number of times I ended up accidently having a dream with Cecilia in it because you were whispering her name."

Louis glared at his friend, "And what exactly was going on in these dreams?"

Matt and Baxter chuckled while Anish rolled his eyes, "Don't get your knickers in a twist Louis. Most of those dreams were actually nightmares about your nutter of a girlfriend shoving me off my broom during quidditch practice, or trying to kill me during DADA."

"Are you sure those were dreams and not reality?" Matt queried. He wasn't able to get the question out without breaking out into laughter halfway through.

"Hence my use of the word nutter," Anish defended.

Louis rolled his eyes at the jest, "Cecilia's not a nutter."

"No she is, you're just so deeply in love with her that you can't see it," Baxter added mischievously.

"It's either that or you know that she's a nutter and you stay with her anyway because she's hot," Matt added.

Anish shook his head, "Nah, she's definitely crazier than she is hot, it can't be that."

The three other boys snickered at their own jokes while Louis crossed his arms over his chest and waited for them to finish, "Are you done insulting my girlfriend now?"

"We're just taking the piss," Anish told him sweetly. Matt added, "You know we love Cecilia, it's just, sometimes she can be intimidating."

"More than sometimes," Anish muttered.

Baxter waved his wand and summoned a can of soda pop over to him. He opened it up as he added, "I think we're just all jealous that we're spending our evening vegging out in our flat while Cecilia gets to go to the Appleby versus Puddlemere quidditch game."

"True," Matt added as he grabbed a chocolate frog package from the coffee table and ripped it open, "And she gets to meet the players too. I know I'm totally jealous."

Anish didn't seem to agree with Baxter and Matt, "She's meeting the players because she's there for work, to interview one of the players. Also, have you lot forgotten that her parents were both professional quidditch players? She's probably met all of these quidditch players before."

"It's still exciting for her, she gets to conduct her second ever interview," Matt pointed out. He looked at the famous wizard card that came with his chocolate frog and smirked, "Look who I got."

He tossed it to Louis.

The blonde barely needed to spare the card a second glance, he was _very_ familiar with the face of the woman who was on it, "Hey there Mum."

The miniature picture of a twenty-ish aged Fleur painted on the card smiled widely back and blew her son a kiss. Louis pursed his lips at the card and tossed it towards Baxter, "Say hello."

Baxter rolled his eyes while Anish scooped up the card, "Merlin, I never realized how much Victoire looks like your mother."

"Yup," Louis agreed with a nod.

"Speaking of women-" Matt began only to be interrupted by Baxter.

"Wait a minute, I don't think I want Auntie Fleur staring at me during this conversation," Baxter said. He plucked the wizard card out of Anish's hand and placed it on the coffee table facedown.

Matt rolled his eyes, "All I was going to do was ask about how Eliza Parker is doing."

"Rowan turned a month-old on Sunday, so the three of us –Baxter, Cecilia, and I– stopped by on Wednesday afternoon to see them. Rowan seemed fine, and Cecilia and Eliza had a long chat that Baxter and I weren't privy to, but she seemed fine as well. When we left, Cecilia did mutter something insulting about Benjamin Dickinson though," Louis explained.

"Poor Eliza, she's such a nice girl. She doesn't deserve to be stuck with a prat like Dickinson for the rest of her life," Matt mused.

Louis was the only one who seemed to notice that Baxter was having a hard time with the topic, so he quickly tried to change the subject, "So Anish, meet any cute muggle girls at college?"

Anish's mother was a muggle, and even though she was happy to send him of to Hogwarts to begin his magical education, she still insisted that he keep up with some muggle subjects during the summers such as math and science. It was easy for him to do so since she was a high school teacher. After graduating Hogwarts, since he wasn't sure what he wanted to do yet, his parents encouraged him to take the muggle college entrance exams. He passed them well enough and was presently enrolled in a muggle university and on track to earn a general degree in science at the end of his four years.

"There are a few in my classes, but no one specific that I'm working my way towards yet," Anish admitted, "I'm trying to be cautious. It's really hard to sit through a day full of lectures without accidentally doing magic, but when the topic of the lecture is interesting I can usually get through it."

"I for one can't believe that you of all people would agree to attend four more years of school after graduating Hogwarts," Matt told Anish, shock still in his tone.

Anish pouted, "I take offense to that."

"I think you're supposed to," Louis told him with a smirk.

Anish rolled his eyes, pulled out his wand, and pointed it towards the wireless in the corner of Louis and Baxter's living room. A minute later, the room was filled with the commentary from the Puddlemere and Appleby game.

" _. . . And_ _now_ _Martell of the Arrows has possession of the quaffle! He dodges Cassano! He dodges a bludger sent to him by Westin . . ."_

* * *

 **8:45 PM**

Teddy threw on another heavy sweater over top of the shirt he was already wearing, and then slipped his auror robes back on overtop of his now warmer clothing.

"Are you sure that you want to do this?" Harry asked his godson worriedly as Teddy readied himself to leave with the portkey that he was supposed to take in the next fifteen minutes.

"We've discussed this Harry," Teddy reminded his godfather and superior auror, "We know that there are probably only two aurors that he will agree to see. One is me and the other is Jilly, and there is no way in Hell that I'm letting him get within two-hundred metres of Jilly."

Harry folded his arms against his chest, "Well I doubt that he'll be able to get anywhere near Auror Donaldson since she has tonight and the rest of the weekend off until her shift Monday morning."

That was the one part of this situation that Teddy was happy with; the fact that Jilly wasn't even presently in the country. Kurt and Teddy had owled Caleb Cooke on Wednesday afternoon after they had decided to do this, and they strongly suggested that he take Jilly away for the weekend. They couldn't tell him more than that, but the professor was an intelligent man and was able to realize that the note from Kurt and Teddy was more of an instruction than a suggestion. Jilly had been more than a little suspicious when her boyfriend called her and told her that he wanted to take her to Germany for the weekend, and even more wary when Auror Weasley –who was in charge of writing out the schedule that week– told her that she had the whole weekend off and wouldn't even be scheduled to be on call. She knew what Teddy, Kurt, and Caleb were up to, but she went along with it because she couldn't honestly say that she would mind being out of the country for what was about to happen.

"He may not even agree to come in for questioning," Teddy reminded Harry. The metamorphmagus wasn't entirely sure how he felt about his own words. A part of him would prefer if this whole situation ended with his visit that evening, but another part of him knew that he needed to be successful in his visit or they would never get the intel that they would need.

Harry also didn't seem as though he knew how he felt about the possible outcomes of the situation either, "I really don't like the fact that you're going to Azkaban without any of your partners."

Teddy rolled his eyes and double-checked that he had his wand and auror badge on him, "Just because I'm not going with Hayden or Kurt doesn't mean that I'm going alone. Auror Jiang is coming with me, and there are also the guards who are posted _at_ Azkaban-"

"And let's not forget about all of those dementors," Kurt replied with a faux cheery tone as he and Hayden slipped into the room in their casual clothes.

"I'll be fine," Teddy said with a dismissive wave of his hand.

Hayden smirked as he started to search the pockets of his jacket, "Of course you will; I'm sure before you left your flat that Victoire gave you an extra special happy memory to use for your patronus tonight."

Teddy ignored the suggestive teasing and looked down at his shoes, "Actually . . . I didn't tell Vic that I'm going to Azkaban tonight."

Kurt and Hayden shared a surprised look while Harry let out a low whistle. Hayden stopped searching in his pockets for whatever it was he was looking for and asked Teddy, "So where did you tell her that you're going tonight?"

"She doesn't know that I'm going anywhere actually, I told her that I was doing paperwork," Teddy admitted a little ashamedly.

"Alright," Kurt said slowly, "So, I for one will certainly miss you."

Teddy rolled his eyes again, "I'm not going to die at Azkaban."

"No, but when you get back here your fiancée's going to kill you for not telling her about your little visit to the wizarding world's maximum security prison," Hayden stated.

"And let's not forget that you're going there to visit the man who almost killed her twice, assaulted her four times, and tried to kidnap her four times. And that you're going because you're trying to convince him to agree to give us information on his organized crime family," Kurt added.

Teddy sent Kurt a glare as he was trying his best not to dwell on what he was about to do. Mainly, go beg a man whom he irrefutably hated for information that would help them win their case.

"Yeah, either way you're going to Azkaban so you're going to need these," Hayden told Teddy as he searched his pockets again and pulled out a couple of chocolate bars. He handed them to his friend with an apprehensive smile.

"I brought you some too," Kurt piped up, handing Teddy three more chocolate bars.

Teddy looked down at the chocolate and noticed that the chocolate bars were Dementor Depression Desserts. The sweets were created by Weasley's Wizard Wheezes about a decade and a half ago, and they were chocolate bars that bared the title of being 110% cocoa. They were super strength chocolate bars that tasted awful on regular conditions, but were literally medical grade if you were suffering from dementor exposure. Both the Auror Department and St. Mungo's had jumped on the merchandise when they were first released, as Angelina had helped George create the chocolate, and both places had long standing orders with the company to buy chocolate directly from them. The sweets were such a revolution in restoring wizards and witches who had been exposed to dementors that Victoire had actually learned in a course in healing school that giving a person Dementor Depression Desserts should be the first step when encountering a patient who had been in contact with dementors.

All aurors had at least one of those chocolate bars in their desks at all times in case of an emergency, so Teddy already had one chocolate bar stashed away in his robes. He accepted the other chocolate bars from Hayden and Kurt with a gracious smile, and stuffed them in his pockets as well.

Kurt and Hayden verbally wished Teddy good luck then, and quietly vacated the room. When they were gone Harry reached into his robes and pulled out another chocolate bar, this one slimmer than the others.

"You too?" Teddy questioned with a raised eyebrow.

Harry smiled and placed the bar in Teddy's hand, "I wouldn't be doing my duty as your godfather if I didn't give you some."

Teddy smiled in response and looked down at the bar in his hand, "This isn't medical grade."

"No, but it is your favourite," Harry replied smugly. He seemed very proud that he had remembered that. It was quite an impressive feat considering all of the chocolate that Teddy consumed as a child and a teen; Teddy had a horrible sweet tooth so he had never been picky when it came to sweets.

"Getting sentimental?" Teddy teased.

Harry rolled his eyes, "No. I just know from experience that when the effects of the Dementor Depression Desserts start to kick in, that chocolate will start to taste horrible. That's when most people realize that it's working and think they're cured, but it's smart to continue to consume smaller amounts of chocolate even hours after dementor exposure. I figured you'd need some chocolate that would actually taste good at some point this evening."

"You sounded a lot like Victoire with that explanation," Teddy pointed out playfully.

Harry crossed his arms over his chest, "Speaking of my niece, she is not going to be happy that you lied to her."

"It wasn't exactly a lie . . ." Teddy trailed off uncertainly.

"Whatever you say," Harry replied holding his hands up defensively, "I for one know better than to get in the middle of this."

Teddy frowned and turned for the first time towards the portkey that was sitting on the table in the room, "There isn't anything to get in the middle of."

"Come on Teddy, you're too smart to believe that," Harry told him as the portkey began to glow brightly with magic.

The metamorphmagus didn't have time to reply as he needed to touch the portkey right away. When he did so he felt a sharp jerk around his navel and then he was suddenly transported from the room.

* * *

 **10:34 PM**

"That game was fantastic," Charley Larson exclaimed excitedly to Cecilia as the two of them slowly made their way through the throng of people that were exiting their seats at the end of the Puddlemere-Appleby game.

Charley was another reporter from Cecilia's magazine, although she had been working at the magazine for a few years already, and while Cecilia was in charge of interviewing someone from the Appleby Arrows about the game Charley would interview a Puddlemere United player.

"Your brother played brilliantly," Charley continued as the two young women made their way through the stadium halls and towards where the teams' locker rooms were, "I think I'm going to see if he'll give me a quick interview. I mean he was only one goal away from a shut-out tonight."

Puddlemere had beaten the Arrows 50-10, in what could be considered a relatively close game for a quidditch match. The only goal Xavier let in was scored near the end, and by none other than Elijah Martell.

Cecilia didn't know Charley Larson too well, but one thing she had caught on to rather quickly was that the witch, who was only a few years her elder, didn't necessarily need another person to reply to carry on a conversation.

"I mean he should be in a good mood since Puddlermere won, so he'll be fine with giving me an interview, right?" Charley continued to prattle on as they came closer and closer to the part of the stadium that housed the changing rooms.

Cecilia just shrugged. Most people would be happy to have won a game by only letting one goal in, but her brother was a Wood, and he did hold himself up to a ridiculously high standard that only he expected of himself. She honestly didn't know how he'd feel about giving an interview after being so close to a shut out, but she did feel that it was it important to give Charley one piece of advice.

"As long as you focus on the game and the sport of quidditch in general you should be fine," Cecilia told her.

Charley frowned uncomprehendingly, "What do you mean focus on quidditch? What else would I ask him about?"

"I don't know," Cecilia answered honestly. She really didn't know the other woman besides what her writing style was like, "But I can promise you that if you ask him anything about his relationship that he'll probably shut down and never want to have an interview with you again."

Even though her words seemed harsh, Cecilia tried to put a soft look on her face. She was honestly trying to warn Charley. With the mood Xavier had been in lately, even a person from the media innocently asking him about Ally would probably send him into a tailspin. She knew for certain that he still hadn't forgiven their grandmother for what she'd said to him during their fateful Saturday morning brunch.

Charley started nodding empathetically, "Got it, no questions about his personal life." She seemed so sincere that she even took out her notepad and wrote a note to herself reminding her not to bring it up later.

The other woman didn't have time to ask Cecilia any more tips on how to approach a potential interview with Xavier, because they had just reached the doors that led to each teams' changing rooms. Charley moved to the right to enter Puddlemere's, and Cecilia moved to the left towards Appleby's. After flashing her press badge at the security wizard who was standing outside the room, Cecilia pushed the door open. She found that the door led to another, much quieter hallway, and Cecilia read the names of the doors as she walked by. One read as the team manager's office, one was titled as the female change room, one titled as the men's, and the final room on that floor read _Team Room_.

Cecilia wasn't entirely sure how she was supposed to go about contacting a player for an interview, as this was only her second one and her first one with Valentin had been scheduled for her, but she figured her best bet at finding a player who wasn't in a state of undress would be the _Team Room_. She wasn't by any means a shy person, so she didn't need to muster up any of her Gryffindor courage before pushing open the door to the _Team Room_.

Fortunately for Cecilia, it seemed like the coaches and players of the Appleby Arrows seemed well versed with their post-game routine. When she opened the door, she could hear that they were expecting an interview.

". . . So to repeat myself, we have practice starting at noon tomorrow-," One of Appleby's coaches announced to the first string team that was sitting in front of him with their backs to the door where Cecilia stood.

Some of the players let out a slight groan, which their coach just smirked at hearing. The coach then noticed that Cecilia had slipped into the room, and he continued with his speech, "Also, we've had a request from _Up in the Air_ to do a post-game interview with one of their reports, so I'll need one of you to kindly volunteer-"

Almost all of the players let out a much louder groan this time, and the coach smirked even wider and finished, " _To kindly volunteer_ to speak with Miss Wood over there." The coach punctuated his sentence by gesturing towards where Cecilia stood by the door.

All of the players present were male seeing as their one female player had been listed on the injury list for that game and a second string beater had been called up to take her spot. At their coach's insistence they turned to glance at Cecilia. Three of the men stood up immediately, all of them within a few years age of Xavier, and took steps towards her all offering at once to give her an interview.

Cecilia took a step back in surprise at the chaos that was suddenly unleashed, and she wasn't entirely sure what to say at first. Before she could respond to any of the men who were speaking to her, one other man stood up and spoke above all of the others, silencing them at the same time.

"I'll give Miss Wood an interview."

Cecilia let out a sigh of relief and nodded her head, "Thank you Mr. Martell."

Elijah Martell walked over to the door, opened it, and gestured for Cecilia to move first. She did so but waited to follow him as he led her to a different room down the hall that she hadn't noticed before. The door read _Conference Room_ , and Elijah opened the door for her once more so that she could walk through it. They both took seats on either side of the table that was in the room, and there was a small moment of silence before Cecilia broke it.

"Thank-you for agreeing to do this interview Mr. Martell."

He had started to wave of her thanks before she was finished, "It was no problem, and probably for the best anyway. I know my teammates and some of them would probably have embarrassed themselves with you. The younger ones don't do well with pretty interviewers such as yourself. And please, call me Eli; Mr. Martell makes me feel old."

Cecilia blushed a little at his words and flipped open her writing pad, "And you can call me Cecilia." She cleared her throat and gently began asking her questions about the game.

Eli Martell was charming, witty, and very easy to talk to. He sort of reminded Cecilia of her father, which made sense considering that they were friends who use to play on the same team at one point in their careers.

"So how do you feel about scoring your team's only goal in the game?" Cecilia asked him curiously.

Eli grinned a little, "I'd love to say that it was simple and brought a change in momentum for my team for the game, but it was probably just dumb luck. Your brother was distracted by both bludgers and he still almost saved my goal. I don't think that it would have gone in if the wind hadn't been on my side."

"I don't think you give yourself enough credit Eli," Cecilia replied.

Eli casually got up from his chair and walked towards a mini fridge that was in the room, he kept speaking to her as he did so. "Or perhaps you think that I'm giving your brother too much credit?" He replied shrewdly, sending her a smirk that told her he was teasing.

"I know how hard siblings can be on each other, I bet that's why your magazine sent you to interview my team instead of Puddlemere. Not that I'm complaining of course, quite the opposite really. It's been a while since I've completed an interview with a writer who actually wanted to know my thoughts on the game and not just about my personal life," Eli continued as he turned to the fridge, "There are some beverages in here, would you like one?"

"I'll take some water if there is some," Cecilia replied politely. She was very glad to hear that he thought she was doing a good job with her interview. It was only her second one after all, and even though they were both nice men it was a different experience interviewing Eli Martell compared to Valentin Krum.

Eli closed the fridge and came back to the table with a bottle of water, two plastic cups, and a small bottle of something else in his hands. He sat down as he replied, "There is water, but even more excitingly, there's firewhiskey."

Cecilia eyed the second bottle that he meant and shook her head as graciously as possible, "Thank you for the offer, but I think I'll stick to water."

He passed her the water bottle, but still gestured to the bottle of alcohol, "Are you sure? I for one think you deserve a little indulgence as a celebration. You've almost made it through your second interview and you've done a spectacular job."

Cecilia smiled in response but held her ground, "No thank you, it's probably best not to drink on the job."

"Ah, to be young and to be worried about being at your best and professional, I wish more of the seasoned media was as concerned with providing an air of professionalism like you are," He told her approvingly. He poured himself a small drink but didn't put the cap back on the firewhiskey bottle yet, "And are you sure I can't tempt you into even a little bit? Less than half a glass shouldn't impair your judgement . . ."

She shook her head again, but before she could reply, Eli smirked at her and eyed her astutely, "Unless of course you're like your father in that regard. Oliver was never the best at handling his liquor either."

Cecilia blushed, opened her water bottle, and took a deep drink of it. He might have hit the nail on the head but she wasn't going to admit to it.

"You look just like your mother," Eli continued, "But it seems I've finally stumbled upon a little part of Oliver in you."

"I will admit that Xavier, and even Brogan, seem more like Dad than I do, but I'm a lot more like him than some might think," Cecilia said casually, "I even played keeper a few times in school."

Eli smiled at her and took a sip of his drink, "But you prefer chaser?"

"How'd you guess?"

He smirked and let out a low chuckle, "Cecilia, your father was a professional keeper and your mother was a professional chaser, I doubt there were any other positions offered to you to learn."

"It's easier to play a backyard game of quidditch without beaters and seekers," Cecilia replied with a shrug.

"I'm surprised that you didn't consider playing quidditch professionally," Eli told her conversationally, "I'm sure that you would have been just as talented a chaser as your mother was."

Cecilia looked down at her notepad shyly, "I play quidditch because it's exciting and fun. I was afraid that turning it into a job would take the fun out of it."

"That's a very understandable fear," Eli agreed with a nod.

She picked up her quill again and turned the conversation back to the game. He answered a few more questions and then Cecilia brought the interview to a close. She thanked him for allowing her to interview him, and they walked out of the room and even out to the public part of the stadium together.

Waiting outside of the visiting team's change room were Katie, Oliver, and Brogan, and just a little ways down the corridor was Xavier, Sandra, Kyle, and three other people that Cecilia didn't recognize. Katie gave Cecilia's hand a squeeze as she walked by her, and Cecilia continued towards Xavier so that she could congratulate him on his game. Eli stopped to speak to Oliver and Katie, and Cecilia could tell by the looks her mother was sending her that Eli was telling them about her interview. From the proud look on her father's face, she assumed that Martell was complimenting her work. The thought made Cecilia smile, and the tiny ball of tension that had been in her stomach since the game ended slowly began to loosen when she let herself believe that she did a good job.

* * *

 **10:20 PM**

Victoire finished her fifth drink and decided that it was going to be her last for the evening, she was actually having a good time, and she didn't think that drinking any more alcohol would change that. Once her glass was back on the table, Spencer grabbed her hand and dragged her to the dance floor. There they met Sarah and Cassidy, who had finally shown up to the party only ten minutes after Ally had, and the four of them started dancing together.

At one point Spencer had twirled Victoire around in a series of spins that left her dizzy, and afterwards she staggered off the dance floor and towards the bar. She didn't want another drink, but she needed to lean up against something solid until she regained her equilibrium. As she recovered her balance, she gazed around the bar. Down the left side of the bar closest to where their tables were, Ally and Donnie were sitting at barstools, cozied up together as they listened to the wireless at that end of the bar that was playing the Appleby-Puddlemere game.

While she watched them Ally and Donnie jumped out of their seats and high-fived each other happily. She couldn't hear what they were saying to each other, but based on their jubilant expressions she concluded that Puddlemere had won the game. She indulgently rolled her eyes at them and ordered a round of drinks for her friends. Sarah and Cassidy came up to her just as the bartender was handing her drinks, and they carried them to one of the tables.

Spencer had invited more than a dozen people to the bar to hang out, but by that time in the night, they had broken off into smaller groups with Spencer moving between all of them. At that moment, Spencer sat down at a table with Donnie, Sarah, Cassidy, Victoire and Ally, and brought up a topic that he didn't had the chance to discuss yet.

"So Cinderella, how was your meeting with the famous Healer McDavid on Wednesday?"

Everyone stared at Victoire with curiosity on their faces; including Cassidy even though she had already asked her friend about it on Thursday.

Victoire took a sip of the soda pop she had order for herself and smiled, "It was great. We discussed what we were both looking to do with this research, and then laid the groundwork on what information we were both familiar with."

"So what topic are you going to single out?" Donnie questioned.

"We're going to work on creating a general use spell that will erase scars made by dark magic," Victoire explained.

Sarah nodded, "But why has Healer McDavid decided that he wants to focus on scars made by dark magic?"

"Apparently he has done a lot of metadata research and he's found a trend that many people who have been cured by dark magic still have complaints of pain in their residual scars. This fact sounds rather obvious I know, but he's of the opinion that some of these people have pain because some of the dark magic is still stuck in those scars," Victoire explained.

Cassidy smiled, "So he's thinking that if he can create a spell that heals scars, it'll also heal the dark magic left in those scars."

"Exactly," Victoire said smiling at her friend, "And if he can create a spell to erase little parts of dark magic left in scars, perhaps that spell can then be manipulated and be used to heal larger portions of dark magic in patients."

Donnie nodded impressed, "While I still prefer obstetrics, I think that that sounds like quite an interesting research project."

"I'm excited about it," Victoire agreed, smiling widely.

"So what's your first step with something like this?" Ally asked her cousin curiously.

"My first step is to do a lot more research about magical scars, Healer McDavid is way ahead of me in that respect, but he's given me a list of important things to read, as well as encouraged me to find information of my own," Victoire explained.

Spencer frowned, "Now that part sounds a little boring."

"No, it's exciting, like piecing together a puzzle!"

Sarah smirked, "A puzzle that you don't even have all of the pieces of."

"True," Victoire replied with a smile as she took a sip of her drink.

* * *

 **11:00 PM Azkaban**

Having to wait almost a whole hour for some guard to find the right paperwork once they finally arrived at Azkaban, was not something that Teddy or Auror Jiang were happy about. They had portkeyed to the island closest to Azkaban as was protocol, and following protocol they took a wooden boat (similar in looks to the ones at Hogwarts but thankfully larger in size) and drifted for about an hour until they finally reached the shores of the island that Azkaban sat on.

Teddy felt the effect of the dementors before they even reached the island. Beside him Auror Jiang, who had only graduated auror training a few months ago, started to rub his hands against his arms as if he was trying to keep himself warm. Teddy eyed the dark sky warily when he and Auror Jiang got out of the boat and followed the guard who was there waiting for them up to the prison building. As they walked, he easily spotted the dementors that were flying around the building. The effects of the dementors permeated through Teddy's body with every step he took. The chill came first, and then came the dullness. The feeling would stay and slowly turn into a feeling of loneliness, which would turn into a feeling that all of the happiness in his life was being sucked out of him. He knew that the feelings would only intensify if a dementor actually came close to him.

There was a bit of a reprieve from the feeling as they entered the prison and met the guards who were looking for their paperwork to allow their visit, but the coldness and the feelings of apathy and melancholy stayed. When the guards had finally cleared their paperwork, one blank-faced guard –who told Teddy to refer to him as Carter– led Teddy and Auror Jiang up two flights of cold stone staircases and down two hallways before coming to a stop.

"Your guy is in cell number 186. You'll have to walk by several cells before you get to him. Some of the prisoners in the cells will disregard you, but others may try to callout to you or try to get you to respond. It's easier if you just ignore then until you get to your guy," Carter (Teddy wasn't sure if that was his first name or his last) told them firmly.

Teddy and Auror Jiang nodded their heads.

"So you have authorization to offer him a trip out of here and into the Auror Department to question him?" Carter questioned.

"Yes, I'm not here to ask him any specific questions to get information tonight. This place wouldn't be conducive to prising information from him, so I'm only here to convince him to agree to come to the Ministry. We're thinking for Sunday," Teddy explained.

The guard nodded his head and then gestured for the two aurors to continue with their mission.

Teddy was a few feet ahead of Auror Jiang as they strode down the hallway. He passed twenty cells, ten on each side, and ignored the looks he was getting from their occupants. They weren't exactly curious as the ever-present presence of the dementors made it difficult for the prisoners to feel anything besides apathy, and most of them stayed silent as they passed.

Teddy and Auror Jiang came to a stop outside of cell 186. The man inside the cell looked up hurriedly, got to his feet, and walked towards the bars of his cell when he saw that he had visitors.

Teddy swallowed thickly as he looked into the eyes of Jean-Paul Boisvert, a. k. a. J. P. Holmwood, a. k. a. Richard Lassoder.

As Teddy stared into the cold eyes of the man whose actions almost caused the death of the woman he loved, the prisoner himself smiled back evilly.

"Well, well, well. Auror Lupin, what a pleasant surprise this is."

* * *

 **A/N:** Okay everyone, I know that this seems like a cliff hanger, but I have my reasons. 1.) This chapter was getting long and I needed to end it around here for practical purposes. 2.) I decided that I wanted most of the Lassoder interaction to be in one chapter, so I needed to end it here.

So, how many of you think that Teddy's plan is going to work?

 **Next Update:** I have it written, so you can have it next week :) (Unless something big comes up).

 **Next Chapter:** Victoire and Teddy have an argument; Victoire does some research at St. Mungo's; and Teddy, Hayden and Kurt try to convince Lassoder to give them information on the Holmwoods.

Teaser for Next Chapter:

 **""Where did you go tonight Theodore?"**

 **Victoire could count on one hand the number of times she had called Teddy by his full name. Usually when she was being serious with him, she would use the name Ted, which in itself was a nickname. The fact that she had pulled out all three syllables meant that she was beyond serious at that moment."**

Thank you to everyone who has followed, favourited, read, and especially reviewed this chapter!

An Especially BIG thank-you to:

 **liverpoolss, crumer, Jilly98, rosesnlilies, zvc56, AngelTwins527, no cure for crazy, Guest(1), MuggleCreator, jeremiah123, Seher Syed, SUPERFLARROW, Guest(2), azngurlz093,** and **Jennifer Jules**.

 **liverpools** : The next few chapters will be focus heavily on Vic/Teddy because they concern his case, but we will see Colton and Anastasia in three chapters time, Eliza, Rowan, and Benjamin's next entrance will need to wait a little, but when I do get to their next chapter, it will be good. We will get to see Cecilia, Louis, Ally, Xavier, Clark, and Mark in the meantime though. So hopefully that'll tide you over.

 **Jilly98** : The pureblooded couple who Victoire did a test for in the obstetrics ward are a 'new couple' and I specifically didn't name them because they are not too important. Obviously they will move the plot forward a little bit (as I don't usually write things that are not in some way connected to the plot), but it's not necessarily Vic's storyline that will ultimately move forward because of this development. You'll understand in three chapters what I'm talking about, it won't take long for that point to resurface.

 **rosesnlilies** : You had a good guess, but I hope in the proceeding chapters I wrote it well enough that you start to remember who he is.

 **azngurlz093** : Thanks for the insight :)

 **Jennifer Jules** : You were completely right, it is Lassoder.

 **AngelTwins527** : I'm always open to suggestions even though they may not get written or may take a while to do so, what would you like to see from Teddy's point of view?

 **no cure for crazy** : I'm glad that you thought Mr. Bronson's approach was true to his personality.

 **SUPERFLARROW** : All I've said about Baxter is that he 'works as a shop assistant', but we will learn a little more about his job in three chapters' time. And Konstantin works for the Bulgarian's import/and export trade division out of Vratsa, he and Nikolina became involved in the auror investigation because the re-selling of the stolen artifacts seemed to be going through Bulgaria and they caught that end of the case.

 **So, I hope that you lot liked this chapter,**

 **If you have any questions, comments,or concerns, then please leave me a review:)**

 **Once again, Happy Halloween,**

 **And until next time DFTBA!**


	21. Transparency

**A/N:** Look at this! Updating two weeks in a row, I'm really on a roll.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own _Harry Potter_.

* * *

 **Transparency**

 **Saturday September 17** **th** **, 2022**

 **12:30 AM**

Victoire hummed happily to herself as she walked down the hallway of her apartment building and stopped in front of the door to her flat. She pulled her wand out and undid the security wards, and then cast an _Alohomora_ charm. When she entered the flat, she noticed that the light in their bedroom was on. A quick glance in the coat closet as she kicked off her shoes told her that Teddy had beaten her home. She smiled widely at the thought and then walked down the hallway to the bedroom.

"Hello Love, how long have you been home?" Victoire asked Teddy curiously, as she entered the bedroom.

He was lying on top of their bed, but he had already changed in pyjama pants and a thick scarlet Gryffindor sweatshirt. He had been staring at the ceiling when she entered, and he continued to look there as he replied dully, "Only about a half hour."

Victoire nodded and started to get ready for bed, chatting to Teddy about her night out as she did, "So, I have to admit that you were right and that I did have fun going out tonight."

She pulled her shirt off and tossed it in the hamper, "And even though Spencer was very excited to play the role of knight in shining armour for me tonight, he actually didn't have to. Which is a bonus."

She walked over to her bedside table and placed her wand and her watch upon it, "I know I say this every time I go out, but it's nice to get together with healers and have a chance to decompress. We talk to each other in the canteen and such, but having a few hours to sit down and discuss and joke with each other is really nice."

Teddy didn't respond to any of her words, but she didn't really need him to. She sat down on the bed, still in her jeans and bra, and leaned over so that she could give him a soft kiss on the mouth. As she pulled away she asked, "How was your night?"

"Fine."

Victoire frowned and really looked at her fiancé for the first time since she entered the room. His hair was a mousy light brown colour and his eyes a bleak grey.

"Teddy, are you alright?"

"I'm fine," was his dull and monotone reply.

She grabbed his hand to give it a squeeze, but was surprised to find that his skin was ice cold. Instinctively her fingers slid up to his wrist and she started to take his pulse. It was normal and strong, and didn't tell her anything. She cupped her hands around his face and noted that the skin there was cold as well. His skin was cold, he was wearing heavy pyjama pants and a thick sweater, and yet she felt comfortable in the temperature of the room in nothing but a bra and jeans.

He glanced at her when she placed her hands on his face, but his expression was still unenthused.

"Are you sure that you're alright?"

"I said I'm fine," He replied irritably as he pulled his face away from her hands.

She eyed him suspiciously for a moment before grabbing a fistful of fabric from the neck of his sweatshirt and yanked it forward to bring his face close enough to hers so that she could kiss him firmly. He didn't respond to her at first, and when he was still unresponsive even after she slipped her tongue into his mouth, she pulled away and let go of the fabric of his sweater. She stood up angrily then and placed her hands on her hips.

"Where did you go tonight Theodore?"

Victoire could count on one hand the number of times she had called Teddy by his full name. Usually when she was being serious with him, she would use the name Ted, which in itself was a nickname. The fact that she had pulled out all three syllables meant that she was beyond serious at that moment.

The use of his name caught his attention, but he didn't look as frightened as he should have considering that she was presently trying her best _not_ to allow her hands to catch fire.

"I told you I was at work," He replied in a curt tone.

She clenched her teeth together and took a deep breath to try to calm herself, "You might have been working, but I highly doubt you were _at_ work. Unless of course the Ministry has suddenly started to employ dementors that is."

Teddy's eyes showed a quick flash of surprise but it didn't last long, "I went to Azkaban."

His voice was hollow as he admitted this, and the emptiness of it made the hair on the back of Victoire's neck stand up.

"I already figured that out."

"How'd you know?" He asked. His voice wasn't exactly inquisitive, but there was a hint of curiosity.

"How'd I know?" Victoire repeated angrily, "You're apathetic and lethargic; your hair and eyes are the dullest colours I've ever seen; you think you're cold even though it's warm in here; you had zero interest when I stuck my tongue in your mouth; and you taste like Dementor Depression Desserts."

Her godfather was an auror; the only chocolate bars Kingsley ever had at his house were the medical sweets. Victoire found herself accidentally eating one of the bitter tasting chocolate bars more than once when she was younger because she had thought they were a different brand. She knew what the chocolate bars tasted like even if she had never had to eat one as treatment for dementor exposure.

Teddy didn't reply but Victoire grabbed him by the hands and hoisted him up off the bed, "I'm not going to ask you why you went, because I actually don't care to know."

She dragged him into the en-suite bathroom and started to fill the bathtub with very warm water, "What I do want to do is yell at you for lying to me."

While the tub filled, Victoire pulled Teddy's sweatshirt as well as the underlying t-shirt off his body, and then gestured for him to kick off his pyjama bottoms, "But I can't yell at you right now, because you're suffering from after effects of dementor exposure and it's no fun yelling at someone whose body is mimicking symptoms of depression."

When the bathtub was full, Victoire directed him towards it. Once he was in, she left the room only to come back five minutes later with a mug filled with hot chocolate. She handed it to him and he took a slow sip. When he didn't make a face at the bitterness of it, Victoire had a definitive answer.

"I melted the Dementor Depression Dessert chocolate bar that we had in our first aid kit and made it into the drink that you are presently consuming. The fact that you're not making a face at it seems to prove that you're still suffering the effects of exposure, so drink up."

Teddy got about halfway through the drink before it became obvious to Victoire that the effects of the chocolate were working. When he started gagging at the bitter taste of the drink, she made sure to make it clear to him that she expected him to finish the entire drink. Even though he didn't actually need to finish the drink for his health, Victoire made him finish it as a passive-aggressive punishment for lying to her, because she was still rather ticked about that. He finally chugged it down by the time the water in the bathtub cooled, and Victoire took the mug back to the kitchen while he got out and dried himself.

When they were both dressed in their pyjamas –minus Teddy's heavy sweater this time– they slid into bed. Victoire wrapped her arms around him as they curled up together under the blankets, and she whispered to him, "Are you warmer now?"

He nodded his head and then tucked her head under his chin, "I'm better. So do you want to talk about it?"

"No, you need some sleep. We'll leave the argument to the morning."

He closed his eyes as a painful expression slipped onto his face, and he pressed a kiss to her forehead, "I do love you, and I'm sorry."

"I know," She replied quietly.

They fell asleep directly as they had both had long days, but Victoire found herself being firmly woken up about three hours later. Her eyes took a minute to adjust to the darkness of the room, and once they did she noticed that Teddy seemed to be in the grip of an awful nightmare. He was twisting in the sheets and when Victoire placed her hand on his cheek to try to calm him down, the first thing she noticed was that his skin felt clammy.

She moved her other hand to touch his other cheek and that caused Teddy's eyes to pop wide open. His irises were flashing between different shades of orange and red, and it took a second for them to drift to and settle on a soft purple. His breathing, which had been quick and shallow while he was asleep, slowly changed to slow and deep as he stared into Victoire's eyes.

His hands suddenly reached out to her and he grasped her by her arms, "Are you alright?"

Victoire stroked her thumbs over his cheekbones, "I'm fine."

He nodded his head, his black coloured hair flying everywhere, but he still seemed frantic.

"I–you–I-In my dream you were . . ." His voice trailed off and it didn't look like he wanted to finish the sentence.

She felt her eyes start to tear up and she pulled his head towards her chest. He rested his ear near her heart and there was a minute of silence as he listened to her steady heartbeat.

"Nightmares are normal after an encounter with dementors," She reminded him softly as she soothingly started to run her fingers through his hair.

Teddy's next words were slightly muffled as his mouth was pressed against her skin, but she heard them anyway, "I don't think it was the encounter with dementors that instigated those."

Victoire bit her lip, "Teddy, I know that I can't ask you about what you did tonight, but can you at least tell me if you were successful? Was your visit worth it?"

He lifted his head and shifted their positions so that they were both lying on their sides and looking at each other eye-to-eye, "It was successful, and despite what happened there I don't regret going."

"Do you at least regret lying to me about it?" Victoire ventured in as even of a tone as she could.

Teddy sighed heavily and replied, "Yes."

"Do you really regret it, or are you just upset that you got caught?"

"I think I knew all along that you were going to find out somehow," He mused. He wasn't meeting her eyes so he definitely seemed ashamed about his actions.

She frowned and he leaned forward to press a kiss to her forehead, "I didn't do it because I think that being dishonest with you is permissible or acceptable, but in my own way I thought I was protecting you."

"Protecting me?"

He cupped her cheek and met her eyes this time, "I didn't want you to worry about me."

Her brain started spinning with his words.

From his words, she knew that there must have been a lot more that he wasn't saying, "I love you Honey, and there'll always be a little part of me that will worry when you're away on a mission with the Auror Department, but this situation doesn't seem any worse than anything you've been in before. Azkaban is horrible, but I'm sure you were perfectly safe there, I trust you, so why were you worried that just telling me that you were going to Azkaban would worry me?"

"Because you're brilliant," He said quietly.

He'd had these thoughts in his mind when he decided not to tell Victoire about where he was going, but he hadn't voiced them aloud until know, "And if I had told you that I was going to Azkaban, you would have assumed that it was probably because the Auror Department has business with one of the prisoners. But then you would have wondered why I of all people would be asked to go to Azkaban when I wasn't scheduled to work. Even if I had come up with an excuse, you would have eventually connected the dots and assumed that they wanted me to go specifically because I have a relationship with the prisoner."

Victoire swallowed thickly, "And the only person you know in Azkaban is Lassoder."

Teddy nodded numbly.

She closed her eyes and let out a deep breath, "I can see why you would be worried about telling me about this, but just saying that you're going to Azkaban doesn't mean that I would automatically assume that you were going to end up seeing _him_."

He shot her a look with a raised eyebrow.

"But I might have."

"If anything, I was more worried about it than you were. I was no doubt projecting my worries onto you, and trying to feel as though I was in charge of the situation by choosing to keep you out of the loop. I was trying to exercise control by controlling one of the only things in this situation that I could, namely how much information you received," Teddy contemplated, admitting the words slowly.

Victoire nodded, "That's very insightful."

She waited until he gave her a gentle smile before she could reach out and punch him on the arm. Hard.

"Ow, bloody Hell, what was that for?" Teddy exclaimed with surprise. His voice sounded irritated but it was only because the punch was actually rather painful.

" _That_ was for being so stupidly apologetic and sincere about everything," She complained, "I wanted to have a row and yell at you for lying to me, and yet you decided that you'd be all contrite and open about it!"

"Well, you can still yell at me for not eating enough chocolate after visiting Azkaban if you'd like," He offered.

She sighed and rested her head against his chest, "How much chocolate did you have? You were obviously still suffering from exposure."

"I had one and a half bars. I honestly thought that was enough," He replied.

Victoire pursed her lips, "You know that the effects can sneak up on you even hours after exposure."

"I know, I was just being stubborn. I don't think that I wanted to admit that the dementors affected me as much as they did."

"It's nothing to be ashamed of."

He was quiet as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her body right up against his.

"I still feel as though I should do something to make it up to you, for lying to you though," He said, changing the topic and in a tone that was suddenly mischievous.

A blonde eyebrow rose up on her forehead, "And what exactly do you have in mind?"

"Well . . ." He began, his hands running down to the hem of her sleep tank top, "I do have the urge to kiss every inch of skin on your body."

Victoire's stomach started to flutter and she couldn't hold in her smile, "I guess I could be amenable to that . . ."

Teddy smiled lovingly at her, and leaned forward so that he could begin with a kiss on her lips.

* * *

 **Sunday September 18** **th** **, 2022**

 **10:01 AM**

Teddy honestly couldn't think of a worse way to spend a Sunday than to be stuck in the Auror Office, waiting for Hayden and Auror Jiang to arrive back from their trip to Azkaban with Lassoder in tow this time. Kingsley and Harry had both agreed that if Lassoder did agree to Teddy's request to come in for questioning, that doing said interview would be better on a Sunday when there were a lot fewer people working in the Auror Office. As Teddy had told Victoire early on Saturday morning, his task had been successful and he had been able to convince Lassoder to come in for questioning.

It wasn't difficult to do so. Even Lassoder would want a change of scenery after being stuck in Azkaban for four years. Teddy didn't even need to promise him anything to get him to cooperate, apparently the promise of spending more time with Teddy so that he could come up with ways to torment him with his words was enough to get the prisoner to agree to an interview.

"So who should try to get him to talk first?" Kurt asked Teddy as he handed him a cup filled with tea.

They were both presently sitting in the observation room attached to the interrogation room that they would be questioning Lassoder in.

Teddy sighed, "He'll expect me, but I think I'll ask Hayden to be in there with me when I do it."

"Wouldn't it be better to have me in there? He knows me and he probably barely remembers Hayden," Kurt pointed out.

Hayden had completed his first year of auror training in the same year as Teddy, Kurt, Jilly, and Lassoder, but with the large number of auror trainees who were still around after the first year, it would make sense that Lassoder wasn't familiar with Hayden. After their first year of training, Hayden was recruited to go on an undercover operation in Russia with the auror he was supposed to shadow for his second year of training. It wasn't normal to send aurors who had only had one year of training into an undercover mission, but Hayden's maternal grandmother was originally from Russia, so he knew how to speak the language and he was considered an asset. Because he spent almost a whole year in Russia, he was one of the few who were not around for the whole Tri-Wizard-Tournament debacle, and one of the few aurors from that time who Lassoder didn't know very well.

"I think it is better that Lassoder doesn't know Hayden, one less person that he'll try to manipulate," Teddy reasoned.

Kurt frowned, "I know better than to let Lassoder manipulate me."

Teddy clapped a hand on Kurt's shoulder reassuringly, "I don't think that Lassoder will manipulate you into being too soft on him. Instead, I'm afraid that he'll try to manipulate you and even me into losing our tempers or distracting us from the main objective. I need you in here so that you can take over for me with a clean frame of mind in case he makes it too difficult on me."

Kurt nodded, "Alright."

There was a slight flurry of activity a few moments later when Hayden slipped into the room with them. The three of them watched through the wall that had the two-way mirror charm on it as Auror Jiang brought Lassoder into the interrogation room and deposited him in the chair. The auror left a minute later, leaving Lassoder alone in the room.

"I told Auror Jiang that he is to stay outside the room for the entire interview in case of an emergency," Hayden explained.

Teddy and Kurt both nodded their heads, but all three aurors' gazes were directed at the interrogation room. Inside, Lassoder sat calmly at the table, facing the two-way mirror and directly staring through it as though he knew that he was being watched.

Hayden let out a heavy sigh and asked Teddy, "Where's Victoire today?"

Teddy's stomach clenched with a little anxiety, but the words he replied with helped calm himself, "She said that since I ended up needing to go into work today, that she should probably get some work done as well. She went to the hospital to check on some patients and then she was going to ask the head of her ward if she could look into old cases that may help her with her research project."

Victoire would be physically busy that day, but most importantly, her mind would be busy. She wouldn't have any time to think about what Teddy might be doing, and if it may or may not be connected to what he had admitted about visiting Lassoder in Azkaban. Hopefully they would get the information they needed out of Lassoder quickly, and he'd be back in Azkaban before he and Victoire were expected at the Burrow for Sunday night dinner.

"The sooner we get started, the sooner this'll be over with," Teddy stated before exiting the viewing room.

Hayden followed behind him, and they both nodded at Auror Jiang as he let them into the interrogation room. Lassoder smirked widely when he saw Teddy enter, but there was silence as he and Hayden sat down in chairs across from him at the table.

Teddy pretended to be busy looking into the file he had brought with him, while Hayden started, "We're ready to start if you are–what would you like us to call you? Do you prefer Mr. Holmwood or Mr. Boisvert?"

Hayden's voice was light but respectful; he was trying to set the other man at ease.

Lassoder looked around the room with an ironic-looking smile and stated, "Well since I'm back in the Auror Office, perhaps I should go by Auror Lassoder for old time's sake."

"You never completed your training, so you don't have any rights to that title," Teddy retorted briskly.

He didn't look up from the file as he said the words. He had no need to put on a façade of friendliness; it was not as if Lassoder would believe him if he did.

The man from the other side of the table smirked widely at him, "Did I hit a nerve Lupin?"

Teddy looked up from the file and gave him a bored stare, "How would you have hit a nerve? You're the one who was unworthy of the badge, not I."

Lassoder smirked at Hayden, "Is it hard to work with someone who's always so self-righteous?"

Hayden didn't respond to the question, instead, he said, "If you don't answer my original question we will call you by your birth name of Mr. Boisvert."

His words finally forced a reaction other than amusement from Lassoder. The criminal's eyes narrowed darkly and he bit out, "Do _not_ call me that."

Teddy glanced at his watch to see how long Lassoder had held out before showing his anger, while Hayden calmed the other man down.

"Alright then, what would you prefer to be called?"

"Holmwood."

Hayden and Teddy shared a slight glance at hearing his words. It was a bit of a surprise but not completely unexpected. Teddy knew about Lassoder's narcissistic tendencies, and Hayden had read Lassoder's profile when they got the green light from Kingsley to contact Lassoder.

 _Mr. Holmwood_ was showing Teddy and Hayden exactly where his loyalties lay.

"So Mr. Holmwood, Auror Lupin explained to you the other night why you've been asked here, correct?" Hayden began in a collected tone of voice.

Mr. Holmwood nodded, "It seems the Auror Department is losing their edge and is turning to criminals in hopes of extracting information."

"We would specifically like to know about _your family_ , the Holmwoods," Hayden said in an engaging tone.

Mr. Holmwood smirked, "Would you now?"

"Yes," Teddy said, joining the conversation, "So perhaps we can put away these pleasantries and you could tell us what we want to know."

Mr. Holmwood folded his arms across his chest and leaned back in his chair, "I see we've got some good auror, bad auror going on here."

"Would you prefer a different approach?" Hayden questioned charmingly.

"I'd prefer a different interrogator," Mr. Holmwood explained.

Teddy and Hayden shared another look before Teddy asked, "And who would you prefer?"

"Auror Donaldson was always very good at this part of the job if I'm not mistaken," Mr. Holmwood said calmly.

Teddy held in an eye roll, he knew that he was going to ask for Jilly at some point during this, "Well I regret to inform you this, but Auror Donaldson is not working today."

Mr. Holmwood smirked, "I will _only_ speak to Auror Donaldson."

Hayden jumped in, "Perhaps we could reach a compromise. Getting Auror Donaldson is out of the question, but perhaps there is someone else you want to speak to. Anybody else?"

Mr. Holmwood set his chin stubbornly and locked eyes with Teddy, "There is one other person I wouldn't mind speaking to . . ."

Teddy felt his stomach clench unexpectedly as he studied Lassoder's expression.

"I'll talk to Victoire Weasley."

Teddy's fists clenched in anger and Hayden eyed him warily as he explained to Mr. Holmwood, "I'm afraid that that is out of the question. Miss Weasley is a civilian and not a member of the Auror Department or Magical Law Enforcement, it would be impossible to have her question you."

"Well," Mr. Holmwood said, still smirking although his face also had a look of determination on it, "I will only speak to Auror Donaldson or Victoire Weasley. If you're not going to get either of them here to question me, then you might as well take me back to Azkaban."

Oddly enough, it was Teddy who stood up first and said the words, "We'll see what we can do."

Hayden picked up the file folder and followed the matamorphmagus out of the room.

They didn't start speaking until they were back in the viewing room with Kurt.

"You're not actually thinking of contacting Jilly are you? Because we arranged for her to leave the country this weekend so that he specifically couldn't get anywhere near her," Kurt reminded Teddy.

Before Teddy could respond, Hayden added, "But we most certainly can't bring Victoire in here, I don't care if she has helped solve more cases than half of the aurors-in-training, she's not an auror, and even more so she's his victim."

"Thanks for the reminder," Teddy told Hayden a little bitterly. He took a deep breath and then addressed the both of them, "We need to do something, because I believe that he's serious. He won't talk to us. What I do know though, is that Lassoder doesn't want to talk to Victoire. What he really wants is to talk to Jilly."

"Then why did he ask for Victoire?" Kurt questioned.

Teddy folded his arms across his chest, "Because he's trying to play us. He knows that we don't want him to talk to Jilly, so he asks for Victoire instead. He's absolutely certain that there is no way in Hades that I or Kingsley would allow him in the same room as Victoire, so that leaves us with 'no choice' but to send in Jilly."

"He's pretending that he really wants to talk to Victoire, so that we'll feel as though we are thwarting his plans by sending Jilly in, when in reality it was Jilly he wanted to talk to all along," Hayden summarized.

Teddy nodded his head, "Exactly."

"So what are we going to do?" Kurt questioned.

Teddy put his back to the room that Lassoder was still sitting in, and let out a resigned sigh, "We're going to give him what he says he wants."

* * *

 **10:45 AM**

There was an office in the D. A. R. ward that the residents were allowed to use when they were working. They could use it to talk privately to a patient or the family of the patient, or to read over lab reports or do paperwork. It was a relatively quiet day, even for a Sunday, so Victoire decided to do some of her research work in the office. Healer Rhee had given her free reign to go over the ward's completed medical files to study different cases of people who left with scars made from dark magic, so she had a lot of files to look through.

While she was in the office, Wesley Hall and Cassidy Hopewell walked in and out of the room as they were on shift that morning, and occasionally they would offer up some information that they thought might be useful. Victoire had left the office one or twice to ask Healer Rhee a question about a few of the case files, and after coming back from one such visit she saw that there was one more person in the office.

"I see that none of us have anything better to do on a Sunday morning than come into work," Victoire mused as she nodded in greeting at Fabius, the fourth healing resident.

"Hopewell and I have to work today Weasley, I don't know what yours and Fabius's excuses are," Wesley told her in the closest tone to teasing she'd ever heard her fellow resident use.

"It's important to keep caught up with work," Fabius stated self-importantly.

Victoire rolled her eyes and sat down in the seat at one of the tables which she had been researching at.

"Did Healer Rhee answer your question?" Cassidy asked Victoire curiously.

"Yes, but it only led to more questions," Victoire replied with a shrug.

Cassidy smiled and then pulled an envelope out of the pocket of her robes and tossed it to Victoire, "Oh, I forgot. An owl came by with this while you were with Healer Rhee. It's on Auror Department stationary."

"Way to bury the lead there Hopewell," Fabius replied sarcastically.

Victoire looked at the paper curiously while Cassidy continued, "I'm guessing it's from Ted."

Fabius and Wesley sent Cassidy a confused look, "Who?"

"Her fiancé," Cassidy explained as if they were simpletons.

"Your fiancé is an auror?" Wesley asked Victoire curiously.

Victoire nodded her head as she started to open the envelope.

"What are you going to do if he ever ends up injured here in the D. A. R. ward," Fabius asked scathingly.

"Heal him, and then kick his arse for doing something stupid, which he must have done to be injured enough to end up here in the first place," She explained with a shrug as she began to read the short note. It was indeed from Teddy.

Cassidy grinned at her, "Love note?"

Victoire rolled her eyes, "No, it seems he and some other aurors have more questions for me about the case that's in trial."

"That's less fun," Cassidy replied as she made a scrunched up face.

Victoire shrugged again and then started to collect the files and books she was looking through, "Looks like I'm done here for the day."

* * *

 **10:55 AM**

"I can't believe he actually contacted her," Kurt whispered to Hayden even though they were alone in the viewing room.

Teddy had left only a few moments ago to wait for Victoire's arrival at the Auror Office.

"I think he's gone temporarily insane," Hayden agreed.

The two aurors didn't have any more time to abuse their partner behind his back, because Teddy opened the door a few seconds later.

"Why are we going in here? This isn't a-" Victoire's question to Teddy stopped when she saw Hayden and Kurt looking so seriously, "Conference room. What's going on?"

When Teddy escorted her into the room, he angled her so that her back was to the two-way mirror charmed wall. She hadn't even seen the wall let alone noticed that it gave a view into the interrogation room.

"We need your help," Teddy explained to his fiancée slowly.

Victoire sent him a look with a raised eyebrow, "I got that from your letter, but why are we not in a conference room?"

"Because we don't need you in a conference room," Kurt expounded even though it didn't seem to clarify anything for her.

Victoire folded her arms across her chest, "Could I have an explanation that holds more than single sentences?"

Teddy took a deep breath, grabbed her hand, and then gave it a squeeze before summarizing, "We're trying to get intel about the Holmwood family and their organization in hopes that it might lead us to Patient Zed's identity. If we get his identity it could go a long way to helping us place him in Peru, and help us with the case."

Victoire nodded while he continued.

"We've hit a dead-end while interviewing a certain individual, and we need you to talk to him."

"I'll help in any way that I can, but I can't see why you think I'd be able to extract information that none of you could get out of this individual," Victoire said still puzzled.

Kurt, Hayden, and Teddy shared a look between themselves and Victoire automatically knew that she wouldn't like what they were going to say next.

"He's asked for you specifically."

Her eyes narrowed with suspicion, "Why would he ask specifically for me?"

Instead of answering her, Teddy placed his hands on Victoire's shoulders and turned her until she was facing the two-way-mirror charmed wall. His hands hastily moved from her shoulders to wrap around her waist in case she needed his support.

Victoire would never admit to it, but her heart did skip a beat when her gaze rested on Lassoder. She didn't remember gasping and holding her breath in her surprise, but she must have because when she began to feel light headed she heard Teddy's voice whispering to her that she needed to breathe. Her body followed his instructions before her mind could register the words, and she took a deep breath in and then let it out.

"You're questioning Lassoder."

It was a statement, not a question. And Teddy's visit to Azkaban on Friday to see him made sense to her now. They were trying to convince Lassoder to give them information on the Holmwoods, and possibly identify Patient Zed.

Teddy slipped in front of her so that she was looking at him instead of Lassoder, "You don't have to do this if you don't want to. You know that I wouldn't ask you to do anything you're uncomfortable with, or that would put you in potential danger.

Victoire's blue eyes met his and she nodded her head, "I know that." She turned to look at Hayden and Kurt, "He really asked to speak to me?"

"He said he'd only speak to you or Jilly," Kurt explained.

Victoire looked around the room, "So you contacted me instead of Jilly?"

"We arranged earlier in the week for Jilly to be out of the country while we brought him here for questioning . . ." Kurt clarified.

"But we could always contact her considering that she is an auror and you're not," Hayden stated. He seemed to think that he needed to remind everyone of this.

Victoire shook her head, "No, you can't send Jilly in there. He'll just manipulate and victimize her. It's been years but I wouldn't suggest letting him get anywhere near her, he may be a trigger for her."

"So we should put _you_ in there instead? You were his victim after all," Hayden needlessly reminded her.

"I was _his_ victim but I was never _a_ victim. Jilly on the other hand _is_ his victim. While they were together, he aggravated and encouraged her eating disorder. That mental illness has the highest rate of mortality of all mental illness, as well as fifty-percent comorbidity with other disorders such as depression and anxiety disorders," Victoire told him pointedly.

Kurt's expression looked surprised, "Eating disorders have the highest rates of death?"

"Borderline personality disorder has the highest rate of suicide, with eating disorders coming in second, but eating disorder mortality statistics also involve accidental deaths because of medical complications," She explained.

Kurt nodded, "That I did not know."

"How do we know that he won't try to manipulate you too?" Hayden questioned her.

Victoire's shoulders straightened, "I'm sure he will, but he won't be able to succeed. Hayden, you may think that Teddy pisses Lassoder off, but that's nothing compared to how much I enrage him. He's not going to give us anything on purpose; the only way to get him to talk will be if we irritate him enough to cause him to let something slip."

Teddy nodded in agreement with her words, "Lassoder has always underestimated Victoire. He's narcissistic and chauvinistic, sexist and arrogant, and because he has a huge ego, he's going to try to play with her. He's going to give her little clues, tease her, and then pull back before he lets too much information go."

"If he does know anything about the Holmwoods worth knowing, I'm probably your best bet to get him talking," Victoire reasoned, "I may be able to get him to slip some important information. With any of you he'll have his guard up, but he'll let his guard down with me. He won't think that he'll have to try as hard as if one of you were in the room."

"Whoa, what do you mean 'if' one of us was in the room? You're not going in there alone. One of us is going with you," Teddy rounded on her. His voice was stern and brokered no room for arguing.

Or at least it would have to anyone other than Victoire, who just rolled her eyes at his tone, "No, none of you are going in with me. Besides the fact that Lassoder hates you and Kurt, and probably Hayden if he knows that he's in league with you, you are all aurors and Lassoder most definitely despises aurors. Not only that, but he almost completed two whole years of auror training, he knows all of your interrogation tricks and he's going to be expecting pretty much everything you do."

"So you think sending in someone with absolutely no experience will be better?" Hayden asked her derisively.

Victoire put her hands on her hips, "That's the whole point of throwing him off guard and trying to get him to let something important slip."

"I'm not going to let you go in there alone," Teddy repeated firmly.

She stepped up to him and grabbed his face with her hands, "You wouldn't have asked me to come here and speak to _that_ man if you didn't believe that you really needed me here. Not five minutes ago, you told me that you knew that I would be safe in there with him and that you trusted me. If you can believe that with a scenario in your head of Hayden or Kurt in the room with me, you should be able to trust me in there alone with Lassoder."

"It's not you I don't trust," He told her in a heartbreaking tone as he placed his hands on her hips. It would have been a comforting touch if his fingers hadn't dug in so tightly that she could almost feel the blunt edge of his nails through the fabric of her dress. "It's Lassoder that I one-hundred-percent do not trust. I don't want him in there alone with you."

Victoire's hands softly slid down from his cheeks to either side of his neck, and then rested on his broad shoulders, "He doesn't have a wand. I have a wand. You have a wand. Hayden and Kurt both have wands. Even if I'm the only one in the room with him, he's still outnumbered."

The hands that were on her hips gripped even tighter and Victoire wouldn't be surprised if she found some bruises there later.

"He assaulted you and tried to kidnap you. Four times."

The words were spat out through clenched teeth and her hands could feel the tension in his shoulders, "He didn't succeed."

"He almost did," Teddy countered. His hair, which was already black, somehow took on a shade that made it look even darker and more ominous.

Her left hand trailed down from his shoulder to rest on the area of his chest directly above where his heart was, "But he didn't, and that's because you saved me from him."

"Not each time," He muttered angrily.

If he weren't so visibly upset about the situation, she probably would have smiled a little, "No, Colton did grudgingly save me the last time. Would it make you feel better if he was here this time?"

His eyes softened a little, but they were very far away from his normal sapphire blue shade, "No, I don't think we need to bother him on a Sunday."

She stretched up onto her tiptoes and pressed a gentle kiss to her fiancé's lips, "I will be perfectly fine in there. Now, the sooner I get in there, the sooner I can get the information out of him."

When he didn't immediately look like he was going to agree with her words she added, "This was your idea after all."

"I don't recall deciding to allow you into the interrogation room by yourself."

"No, like all of _our_ best ideas we each came up with part of it."

"Yes, and you came up with the most dangerous part," Teddy replied.

Kurt snorted in amusement, "Usually she does."

"So I'm going in?" Victoire asked all three men.

Hayden and Kurt shared a look with Teddy, the latter auror nodded his head resignedly, "You're going in."

She almost smiled.

Kurt and Hayden then spent five minutes giving her the rundown on what they suspected about Patient Zed (that he might be a distant member of the Holmwood family because they were paying for such an expensive lawyer) and that the Auror Department had no authorization to offer Lassoder anything in exchange for him giving them information. Victoire nodded and then Hayden escorted her out of the viewing room to take her into the interrogation room.

Still in the viewing room, Teddy clasped his hands together and took a deep breath as his eyes stayed glued onto the interrogation room.

From his side Kurt clapped him on the shoulder, "This will work out."

"But at what cost?"

"We won't let him hurt her," Kurt reassured him.

A muscle in Teddy's jaw flexed, "Not physically, but that doesn't rule out emotional or psychological damage."

"He's not going to be around her long enough to cause psychological damage," Kurt pointed out.

Neither mentioned that Kurt didn't defend his statement that being near Lassoder could cause emotional damage or distress.

* * *

 **A/N:** So, I know that you guys expected more Lassoder and interrogation in this chapter. But the Vic/Teddy portion went a little longer than I expected. I did intend to have it all int his one chapter, but then it became super long and I realized I had enough for two chapters instead of one. I had to cut it here, because anywhere else would have been a much worse cliffie. I can promise though, that the next chapter will contain no interruptions, and it will not end until it comes to a resolution.

 **Important points:**

 **1.** Okay, so if it seems as though Teddy and Hayden were being _way_ too overprotective about Jilly, they definitely are, and there is no way that they're going to apologize for it.

 **2.** Victoire does make some solid and important points about why it would be best to keep Jilly away from Lassoder, because she really doesn't want to chance that Jilly could fall back into old patterns in terms of thought processes that lead to anxiety, depression, and eating disorders.

 **3.** Hayden however, also makes good points about not wanting Victoire to have to go in and see Lassoder (and yes, he is probably also being very overprotective as well).

 **4.** So, like many situations in life, everyone has their own reasons (that they believe are solid) for their side of the argument, and it's very difficult to pick a side based on who is right and who is wrong.

 **Next Update:** Will definitely be next week!

 **Next Chapter:** Victoire meets Lassoder for the first time in four years, and she tries to get him to spill information on the Holmwoods. All the while, Teddy tries to watch and stay silent.

Teaser for Next Chapter:

 **"Lassoder slammed his hands palm down onto the table, "I didn't get caught because I was stupid, I only got caught because of you and Lupin."**

 **"Actually," Victoire corrected him in her prim tone that she would use back at Hogwarts just to annoy Linkwell when she answered a question in class, "Colton Knott was the reason why you got caught, and if you'd like to send him hate mail or even death threats I will gladly give you his address.""**

Thanks again to everyone who had followed, favourited, read, and especially reviewed!

So please, keep up the awesome feedback, I really helps me with my writing.

An especially BIG thank you to:

 **liverpoolss, TheProphetBVB, zvc56, Guest (1), no cure for crazy, AngelTwins527, MuggleCreator, ProfessorRavenclawesome, anon123, 8Lottie8, Jennifer Jules, Seher Syed, rosesnlilies, mazzmataz, TeeChamblissful,** and **Emma Knows All**.

 **TheProphetBVB** : Thanks for catching the score mistake. Usually I write the score first (based on the number of shots that get passed the keeper, because I'm trying to calculate how many shots Xavier lets in verses the other keeper) and then I add the amount for the snitch. I just forgot to do that second part this time.

 **zvc56** : He probably thought he was going to die as well, but I think Victoire's maturing since we first met her in TTA, and even in the months that passed from LAH. But yes, Vic was still really mad.

 **AngelTwins527** : The one-shot about Vic and Teddy's first date is partially from Teddy's point of view, and I don't think that I would necessarily re-write a one-shot from his perspective, but I could always write a one-shot from the 'past' with his point of view. When I have the time to do so that is.

 **MuggleCreator** : I've been calling Teddy 'Theodore' since I started writing _Try and Tri Again_ , so back when I named him (just after _Deathly Hallows_ came out) it wasn't known what Teddy was actually short for. So even though Theodore is not cannon now, it wasn't _not_ cannon when I picked it and started writing the stories. Even though I know that it is cannon now, I'm not going to go back and change it because my Teddy Lupin in my mind is Theodore Remus Lupin, instead of Edward Remus Lupin.

 **ProfessorRavenclawesome** : Thank you so much for your kind words. I'm glad that you like my stories, and my writing.

 **Jennifer Jules** : Trust me, Lassoder will get even more interesting in the next chapter :)

 **mazzmataz** : I'm not necessarily going to do a piece from Dom's POV with her directly explaining why she 'jumps from guy to guy', but since it is something that is commented on a lot, you can bet that it is something that is a bit of an underlying theme, and therefore something that will probably lead farther than it seems.

 **TeeChamblissful** : I haven't forgotten the Hogwarts kids, and even though I don't have their next chapter written yet, I think in about sevenish chapters we may see them again.

 **Emma Knows All** : We will see a bit of Ally and Xavier again in two chapters time, but there will be more of them in three chapters.

 **So, I hope that you all liked this chapter,**

 **If you did or didn't, please let me know your thoughts either way,**

 **Leave me any questions, concerns, or comments in a review,**

 **I hope that you are all well,**

 **And until Next time, DFTBA!**


	22. Interrogation

**A/N:** Hello everyone, here's the next chapter :)

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own _Harry Potter_.

* * *

 **Interrogation**

Hayden quickly introduced Victoire to Auror Jiang as they stood outside of the interrogation room, and if Auror Jiang was curious about Victoire's presence, he didn't say anything about it.

Victoire took a moment to collect herself and to attempt to put her thoughts and emotions into a semblance of working order before walking into the interrogation room to face a man that she had hoped never to have to see again in her life.

Auror Jiang opened the door of the interrogation room, and stepped in first and then gestured for Victoire to follow him.

Her actions were mechanic at first, and it probably would have taken her longer to snap out of it if she hadn't heard Auror Jiang address her.

"I'll be right outside the door the entire time Healer Weasley."

Victoire turned her head and smiled at the young auror, "Thank you Auror Jiang."

He nodded back at her and then closed the door behind him, leaving Victoire in the room alone with Lassoder.

She forced her arms to stay down casually at her sides instead of protectively crossing them in front of her chest, and she turned to face Lassoder in the flesh for the first time in four years.

In her head, she always referred to him by the name of Lassoder because it was easier to imagine that man. The auror who had been annoying and pompous whenever he was instructed to guard her at Hogwarts, but who never actually seemed like a physical threat in that form. Jean-Paul Boisvert, or J. P. Holmwood were men who were harder to comprehend. One was a bastard son who always felt like he had a chip on his shoulder, that he would never be good enough in the eyes of his legitimately born elder cousins; and the other was a narcissistic mobster with anti-social tendencies who always tried to act as big and important as his family members.

While her mind kept calling him Lassoder, he didn't look like the auror trainee she had once grudgingly known. Second-Level-Auror-in-Training Lassoder's physical characteristics were as fake as his name. When he was Lassoder, he had on the magical mask that changed his facial features. The man sitting in front of her, while her mind called him Lassoder, did not look like that same man. The red-haired man sitting in front of her was almost a stranger, someone she only saw glimpses of in those few attempted kidnappings. It was odd to her, to put all three identities together into one complex man.

Since she wasn't entirely sure how to address him, she decided on silence as she sat down in the chair across the table from him. Even though she was silent, she kept her gaze on his, never breaking eye contact.

He took the lead this time, which is what she had hoped for from the start, "Well _Healer Weasley_ , I must say that I am _very_ surprised to see you here."

"A good surprise I hope?" She asked sweetly, slipping into the role that she knew that she would need to play.

He smiled wolfishly at her, "A very pleasing surprise. Although I must say, I never thought that Lupin or even Shacklebolt for that matter would ever allow me near you."

"Well Kingsley doesn't know about me being here right now, and as for Teddy, he means well, but we both know that he can be a little too controlling at times," Victoire told him nonchalantly.

"A little controlling?" Lassoder repeated with a raised eyebrow, "I'm surprised that he doesn't have you locked away in a tower somewhere, avoiding contact with all people that aren't him."

She noted with interest the reference to the muggle fairy tale Rapunzel, and then belatedly remembered that Jean-Paul Boisvert's mother was either a muggle, or a muggleborn.

"I'm sure he would have tried if my hair was long enough," Victoire replied offhandedly.

She didn't say anything else, deciding instead to let him try to lead the conversation again. He was patient for the moment, taking his time to let his eyes slowly slide over her person. Victoire held in her shudder at his inspection, and then straightened her shoulders when she saw that his gaze was fixated on her engagement ring. The simple ring was unobtrusively on display as Victoire had her hands folded primly on the table in front of her.

"I see that Lupin has visibly staked his claim on you in one of the most archaic ways possible," Lassoder replied with a smirk and a raised eyebrow.

Victoire forced a light smile onto her lips and pointed at him, "Oddly enough, I think Teddy used those same words in his proposal."

Lassoder rolled his eyes at her attempted humour and folded his arms across his chest, "It seems like you've done well for yourself in the past few years. Engaged, and if I heard that other auror correctly, you're also a healer now."

"Indeed I am. I'm actually presently a resident in the Dark Arts Reversal ward at St. Mungo's." She volunteered the information in an airy tone, trying to keep the conversation light.

"Of course you are," Lassoder replied sarcastically. His eyes darkened but his tone as he spoke next stayed somewhat light, "You've had a perfect life while I've been locked up in Azkaban for the past four years."

Victoire shrugged, "You were an auror-in-training. You knew better than anyone what the price was for the crimes you committed."

"You don't seem too traumatized by what happened to you," He pointed out conversationally, as if they were discussing something trivial like Victoire catching a cold as opposed to assaults and attempted kidnappings.

"Maybe my trauma's just shifted its triggers, you weren't the only person to kidnap me and almost kill me in the past few years," She admitted in a conversational tone that matched his.

His eyes sparked with curiosity at her words, but the muscle in his jaw flexed. She noticed the tick, it was an involuntary twitch that sometimes happened when people tried to clench their teeth and hold in their response, usually anger. She was familiar with the tick since she was used to almost every strategy possible to try to hold in sudden bursts of anger.

"Someone else tried to kill you? It really is a miracle that Lupin doesn't have you locked away somewhere . . . so who came closer to succeeding?"

Victoire, who had been pretending to be more concerned with the state of her nails than with his words, faltered for a minute as she tried to collect herself. She didn't want to dwell on the circumstances surrounding any of her kidnappings, so she tried her best not to focus on her own memories.

Doing so made her voice firmer and lose its' casual tone, but she figured that the atmosphere of their conversation needed to change at some point, "Oh, it definitely wasn't you. The other person kidnapped me, and several others, in one try."

The curiosity in Lassoder's eyes changed to irritation, "Are you saying that this other person did better than me?"

"Well, she _did_ come much closer to almost killing me than you did," Victoire added.

Lassoder's hands clenched into fists on top of the table, "A _she_?"

"Yup," Victoire said, popping up from her chair and looking around the room as if it was suddenly of extreme interest to her, "A woman who was also much crazier than you, which is saying something really."

The muscle in his jaw twitched again and she stopped glancing around the room to look directly at him again, "Oh I'm sorry, is it insulting to you to hear about someone who succeeded to do what you failed several times to do? Then I probably shouldn't also mention to you that this person got off pretty much scot free while you're stuck in Azkaban for another four years?"

He was obviously very angry with her now, which was exactly the emotional climate she wanted him to be in if she was going to trick him into letting a piece of information slip.

"Speaking of Azkaban, how have you been? Tolerable I hope." Her words were polite but her tone was still serious.

"I think you and I both know that Azkaban is far from tolerable," Lassoder replied flatly.

Victoire nodded and then decided it was a good time for a story, "You, of course, know that I was a prefect and then a head student at Hogwarts, but I didn't spend all of my time being a perfect role model. I did get detention every once in a while."

He gave her a look that said that he was both annoyed and a little wary, but she ignored it and just continued, "One time in my fifth-year, I played a prank on the Slytherin quidditch team which ended up with one of their beaters catching a horribly itchy rash. Professor Linkwell thought that I was just trying to annoy the other team because we were to play them later that week, but in reality, that Slytherin beater was bullying one of my younger cousins. Initially Linkwell gave me detention for that weekend, including during the quidditch game."

"And I should care about this because?" Lassoder asked grumpily.

She smirked and started to pace the room slowly from side-to-side, seeming as though she was covering a lot of ground, but not actually getting any closer to him than when she was sitting at the table. "Well, besides the fact that it really pissed Teddy off when I told him that I wouldn't be able to play seeker that game, I promise to come to my point soon.

"So, Linkwell gave me weekend detention, and it seemed like I was going to have to miss the quidditch game, but then several of my lovely cousins went over Linkwell's head and to Headmistress McGonagall. They explained to her that I couldn't possibly have played that prank, because I had a very possible and intricate sounding alibi for that time, and because McGonagall couldn't say that they were all lying, she let me off of the detention." Victoire paused in her recitation and took a deep breath before delivering the punchline, "The moral of this story is that when it comes to family, they will do whatever they can to help each other."

He glared at her, he could tell where she was going now with this topic, and even though it didn't seem like he was enjoying it, she continued, "Even though I stupidly got caught, they still had my back. That's what _real_ family does. It doesn't matter if your sister thinks you stole her favourite Jimmy Choos; or if you've repeatedly uttered threats to cause bodily harm to your cousin's pompous prat of a boyfriend; or even if you've voiced your opinion that there are better desserts than treacle tart –which James claims should be an Azkaban worthy offense by-the-by."

"And you're implying that my family doesn't actually care about me?" He asked her, putting on a façade of bravado now.

"They may have hired a really expensive lawyer for you four years ago, but really, they're _the Holmwoods_ , if they really wanted to they could have gotten you off, or at least gotten you a shorter sentence," She pointed out.

The look in his eyes seemed to say that he agreed with her, but he continued to spout his fanatical rhetoric, "I got caught. It's as simple as that. They couldn't do much more to defend me, or they would implicate themselves as guilty."

Victoire nodded, "Of course, they were just being smart. Calculating. Cold-hearted. Those must be the family traits that you share with them."

Lassoder smiled winningly.

"Although why you're still loyal to family that has done nothing for you, and who has allowed you to take the fall for them, I'll never know."

His eyes blazed with anger and he spoke in a low tone with barely reigned-in fury, "They will reward me for being loyal to them. They admire loyalty about all else."

"I'm sure that's what they told you, but I can bet that they would also admire a person who was smart enough not to get caught," She supplemented with a raised eyebrow.

Lassoder slammed his hands palm down onto the table, "I didn't get caught because I was stupid, I only got caught because of you and Lupin."

"Actually," Victoire corrected him in her prim tone that she would use back at Hogwarts just to annoy Linkwell when she answered a question in class, "Colton Knott was the reason why you got caught, and if you'd like to send him hate mail or even death threats I will gladly give you his address."

He ignored her bait and reiterated, "My family does care about me."

She stopped her slow pacing and walked back to the table. She pushed back in the chair she had vacated a little while ago, and then perched herself delicately on the edge of the table, "Oh I am sure that you do have family that still cares about you, but it's not the Holmwoods. If there's anyone you should be loyal to, it's your mother. She is the only one who sends you letters and tries to visit you, right?"

Surprise flashed through his expression before he tried to cover it up with more bluster, "Been reading confidential Auror Department files have you Miss Weasley?"

"Oh no," She replied waving off his accusations, "The last time I did that it led me into the middle of an international auror investigation that culminated in the attempted kidnapping and murder that we discussed earlier. No, what I said about your mother was just an educated guess. A correct educated guess it seems."

Victoire noted that Lassoder seemed to tense the more they spoke about his mother, "And what makes you think that my mother cares about me? I'm a criminal after all, not many of them have had happy childhoods."

"You didn't have much contact with your father until you were a teenager; when you were old enough to make your own decisions. You may be an illegitimate son of a mob boss, but you were that particular mob boss's only child. I'm thinking that the only reason why you didn't have much contact with him until you were older is because your mother kept him away from you. She knew what he was and she didn't want him influencing you," Victoire mused with a sharp smile.

Lassoder looked like he was about to snarl at her, "My mother wasn't trying to protect me. She was trying to keep me from my real family, and from _my_ destiny. If she hadn't intervened and kept me from him, my cousins would see me as a real part of their family instead of just some outsider! I'm stuck in that dreaded place and now they're going to give away my position to someone who doesn't deserve it as I do! No one will be as loyal as I am!"

She didn't even try to hide her grin, "But I thought you said that your cousins would be loyal to you, because you've been so loyal to them?"

He glared at her so harshly that her calm façade faltered for a minute and she flinched away from him. He noticed her actions right away and stood up so that he could loom over her.

"You and Lupin are a lot alike you know. You both think that you're superior and invincible, but the minute the going gets tough, you two _break_."

His smile turned predatory as he looked down on her, and she clenched her teeth so that she wouldn't yell out at him in anger in response to his baiting.

Before either of them could move another muscle, the door to the room opened and Hayden extracted Victoire from the room via stating that he needed to talk to her. She wanted to glare at Hayden for pulling her away like that, but she held it in until she got to the viewing room because she knew that Hayden wasn't the person who made the call to pull her out.

"I was just starting to get somewhere with him," Victoire complained to Teddy as soon as the door shut behind her and Hayden.

Teddy, whose eyes were almost pitch black, pinched the bridge of his nose, "No, he was playing with you."

"I know that, but I've annoyed him so much that he's starting to get snippy. He's actually speaking to me about the Holmwoods, isn't that what we want?" Victoire questioned him as she placed her hands on her hips.

He sighed heavily and anxiously grabbed a handful of his hair, "He's not just a little irritated Victoire. He's getting volatile. That's not only dangerous for you, but it's also of no help to us. He's not going to be forthcoming with information if he's too busy trying to torment you."

"On the contrary, I think he's more likely to let his guard down if he feels as though he's in control of the situation," Victoire argued.

The look on Teddy's face told her that he didn't agree with her assessment of the situation. Instead of arguing with her, he decided to continue as if she hadn't spoken, "Hayden is going in with you this time, and all you are going to do is show Lassoder this picture and see what his reaction is."

He handed her a file folder that had pictures of Patient Zed in it. The largest one was a headshot of a blank-faced Patient Zed, while all of the other photos were smaller and more candid. There were a few of him while he was getting treatment at St. Mungo's, as well as a few during the lead up to and the trial. The photo at the back of the stack was one of Patient Zed smirking while he spoke with his lawyer outside of the Ministry's courtroom.

Victoire glanced at the photo, and then back at the window that gave her a view of Lassoder sitting alone in the interrogation room.

"I think I can get you the information you want," She responded quietly.

Teddy let out a sigh of relief and walked towards her to give her a gentle hug, "Thank you."

"But Hayden can't come with me."

The man in question frowned heavily while Kurt shrugged, "Alright then, I'll go with you."

Victoire rolled her eyes and leaned out of Teddy's embrace. It wasn't difficult since she hadn't even attempted to hug him back.

"Let me rephrase. I need to go in alone again."

All three men frowned at her, but she stood her ground, "Give me fifteen minutes; start the timer now and then pull me out right when it ends. I promise you that I can get him to tell me what Patient Zed's name is within these next fifteen minutes."

Teddy shared a look with his two partners and then gazed at Victoire, "You have ten minutes."

She considered his words for a moment before nodding at Teddy, "I'd prefer to be able to take my time, but you and I both know that I can get _a lot_ done in ten minutes."

The glare her fiancé sent her told her that he didn't appreciate her trying to lighten the mood, although the sniggers Kurt and Hayden were doing a bad job of holding in told her they did. In the end, she figured she'd take it; two out of three wasn't bad.

Victoire left the viewing room very soon after that, as she wanted to get back into the interrogation room before Teddy changed his mind. Auror Jiang let her into the room again, and Victoire noted that Lassoder had gone back to sitting in the chair at the table. His posture was relax and nonchalant, and she could tell that he wasn't as enraged as he was when she left the room.

She casually walked over to the table, and sat on the edge again. This time however, she chose to sit on the corner of the side of the table that he was sitting on, meaning that there was only about a foot of space between them.

His eyes widened slightly in surprise at her proximity to him, but then soon narrowed as they settled on her legs. She crossed them properly and then tugged the hem of her dress down a little, even though while sitting down it was still a few inches past her knees. His eyes slowly travelled from her bare calves up her body and to her face as a small smirk played around the edges of his lips. He was ready to battle wits with her again. She still had the file that Teddy had given her in her hands, and she settled it onto her lap, face down and the opening towards her so that Lassoder wouldn't be able to get even a small peek inside it.

Victoire cleared her throat and started the conversation this time, "Since you loved my last story so much, I thought that I'd tell you another one."

"Is it going to be the story of how you convinced Lupin to let you come back in here on your own?" Lassoder asked her haughtily.

She winked at him, "No, that story's no fun, it was quick and easy. I'm going to tell you a story about how I almost singlehandedly ended my healing career before it even started."

His eyes confessed his curiosity and she continued.

"I was doing an internship at a place other than St. Mungo's earlier this year, but I got called by one of my friends who was in the Magical Bugs and Illness ward at St. Mungo's because he wanted my help with a patient of theirs. Long story short, their patient would have died if I hadn't helped created an experimental –and non-hospital approved– treatment for the disease. I almost got into a lot of trouble for using an unauthorized medical treatment to save this man's life, but Kingsley got me off the hook," Victoire explained.

"How nice it must be to have family members who can put pressure on the system to get you out of trouble," He replied sarcastically.

She smiled viciously at him, "It is nice, not that you would know what it's like to have relatives like that."

The anger in his eyes flared up again and he took the dig at his family very personally, just as she hoped he would.

"That story wasn't as much fun as I'd hoped it would be."

Victoire shrugged off his words, "You would have only been happy if it had an unhappy ending for me."

"You said 'for me'," Lassoder pointed out, "Who was it an unhappy ending for then?"

"Well considering that the man whose life I saved is now on trial for criminal charges, I'd say that it was unlucky for him that I got involved. Except for the whole saving his life thing that is," Victoire added. She finally opened the file on her lap and took out a picture of Patient Zed from when he was in St. Mungo's.

After she placed it on the table in front of Lassoder, he gave the picture a sweeping glance before raising his eyebrow at her, "What do you expect me to do with this?"

"Be shocked, be happy, be sad, be remorseful, really show any emotion that a regular emotionally stable and healthy individual would," She replied in a tone that was more musing than anything else.

"I have a feeling that you want more than just my reaction to this photo," Lassoder told her in a bored tone.

Victoire smiled, "Any information you have on the man in this photo would be fine: his full name, his birthdate, his occupation, his home address, his relationship status, his favourite colour, his favourite desert, etc. You don't need to tell me his blood type or about the strawberry birthmark on the side of his ribs though, that information I do know."

He leaned back in his chair and pointed at the picture, "It sounds to me like you know more about this man than I do."

"Well I believe in quid-pro-quo. You tell me what you know about this man, and I'll tell you what I know," Victoire offered.

He waved his hand at her, "Ladies first."

She pulled out the photo of Patient Zed smirking as he spoke with Bronson, "I can tell you that this man has quite the expensive lawyer working hard to get him acquitted of all the charges."

Lassoder didn't respond, so she continued.

"I can also tell you that he's definitely not paying for the lawyer, and that it seems like your family, the Holmwoods are. Now why would they pay for a lawyer for one lone person in their organization, and not all of the others?" She asked him with a raised eyebrow of her own this time.

Even though he stayed silent, Victoire could read the emotions warring on his face: anger, irritation, and surprise even though he was trying to hide all of those emotions at the same time.

"I've got another story," She said with a small smile, "And I promise that it's the last one. As you will no doubt remember, I have a younger sister. Dom and I, while we both have the same amount of veela genes, never looked much alike when we were younger. We look more alike now, but even the difference between the red and blonde hair was enough to throw people off back then. When we were younger, there was a certain circumstance in which people always said we looked alike however. This was almost the only time when people would regularly comment on the resemblance."

She paused and waited until he was paying particular attention to her, "People always commented that we looked alike when we smiled. Apparently, we have the same smile, our father's smile. "

"I didn't think that this story could be more boring than the last one, but you have outdone yourself," Lassoder retorted.

Victoire smirked and pointed to the photo in which Patient Zed was smirking, "And you and your brother have the same smug smirk."

He jerked back in his seat as if her words had physically burned him and he immediately contradicted her, "He's not my brother."

She pursed her lips as she glanced down at the photo of Patient Zed and then back up at Lassoder, "Are you sure about that? Because I can see a family resemblance."

"You're imagining things," was his biting reply.

"I don't think I am," Victoire told him in a light tone, "The Holmwoods paid for both of your legal fees, even though you are both nothing more than low level criminals who got caught. We were already working under the assumption that he was related to the Holmwoods, a distant cousin perhaps. But my theory sounds much more plausible. They must feel obligated to give him as much help as they gave you four years ago, because he's also an illegitimate son of Eldon Holmwood."

Lassoder fidgeted in his seat. It was slight, but enough that Victoire noticed it.

"I'm Eldon's only child, you said so yourself earlier," He pointed out.

She folded her arms over her chest, "Yes, and then you threw a tantrum about your family giving your new position to someone else and not understanding your worth and devotion. It sounds to me like you had someone in mind. Someone who's position mirrors your own, like a half-brother who is also illegitimate in the eyes of the other Holmwoods."

"I hope that you stick to your day job _Healer_ Weasley," Lassoder told her curtly, "Because you make an awful auror. Your evidence as of yet is still unconvincing."

"I told you that we're trading information. I've given you some, but you haven't given me what I want yet," Victoire reminded him.

He smirked at her, "Well you haven't given me any information that _I_ want yet. You'll have to try harder."

"Fine. Your pureblooded father had no children with his pureblooded wife, but he did have an affair with your mother that produced you. Purebloods believe that it's their responsibility to give the world as many little purebloods as they possibly can. Your father's wife didn't give him the children he wanted, so he probably got bored with her and looked for comfort somewhere else. I don't think he meant to have bastard children, but purebloods aren't really concerned with the after-effects of their actions. Your mother had you and your father finally had a child, even if he was illegitimate. However, your mother didn't want him around you, and I can't see that sitting well with him, yet he didn't try to take you from your mother."

She paused here and he looked interested in her reasoning despite himself.

"I'm now thinking that he didn't try to take you from her because he had another child he could interact with when he wished. Another opportunity to carry on his legacy if his wife never gave him children. He was bored with his wife, he was probably angry with your mother for a time if she didn't let him anywhere near you, so it wouldn't surprise me if he had yet another affair and ended up with issue from it too." Victoire's reasoning sounded convincing to her own ears, which was a good thing because she was pretty much just spit balling and hoping that her bluffing was hitting somewhere near the truth mark. She had ran out of 'facts' around the reassertion that Lassoder's mother didn't want is father around him when he was younger.

"In fact," She continued in a tone that was purely musing, "I wouldn't be surprised if you had more than one half-sibling running around out there."

Lassoder's face got angrier with each passing sentence that she uttered, "I don't know what you're talking about."

Victoire uncrossed her legs and then re-crossed them prissily, "You know, you might be an awful person, but you were usually pretty good at telling me the truth."

"You haven't told me anything worth reciprocating for," He muttered as he tried to get a hold on his anger.

"Listen," Victoire began as got off the table and stood up on her feet, "I have much better things to be doing than just sitting around here and having a chat with you. So if you're not going to even try to work with me I'll just leave, and you'll be left with your choice between Lupin, Williamson, or Summers."

She looked away from him and then began slowly to collect the pictures of Patient Zed that were on the table. When all of the photos were back in the file folder except for the one of Patient Zed and Bronson, Victoire mused, "You won't have to worry about the state of the Holmwood organization during your continued imprisonment though. It's pretty obvious that your half-brother here is going to get off the hook by the end of his trial, and then he'll be free to accept any reward for loyalty that your cousins deem fit to give him."

As she swept the last picture into the file, she let her eyes wander up to Lassoder's face. His expression was stony but his eyes betrayed his emotional climate.

It seemed that her words really pissed him off.

That was good.

She picked up the folder and then turned her back on him so that she could walk around the table and towards the door.

"And since the Holmwood's like to keep most things within the family, I'm sure that he'll get a nice leadership job in a new department. After all, he didn't actually get caught doing something illegal, he just accidentally caught a life threatening illness," Victoire ruminated.

She didn't stop moving towards the door until she heard him bang his fist against the table and yell, "He didn't even take the Holmwood name!"

She turned slowly and crossed her arms over her chest, "Really? So he hasn't even proven his family loyalty by taking on their last name, and they're still doing more to help him than they ever did for you?"

The last part might have been a lie as the only thing she knew about Patient Zed and the Holmwoods' relationship was that they were paying for Bronson's legal expertise, but if there was one thing she was sure about, it was that Lassoder couldn't know much more about the situation than she did.

Lassoder's eyes blazed and his face could no longer hold in the anger he was feeling, "He doesn't deserve their esteem!"

"But you do?" Victoire asked curiously. The angrier he got, the calmer she was, "You can't do anything for them while you're stuck in Azkaban for the foreseeable future."

"And Simon can? I'd be more useful stuck in Azkaban than he is as a free man!" Lassoder complained in a tone that was incised.

Victoire smirked, "So his name is Simon is it?"

Lassoder froze for a minute and then realized that he let the first name slip. He pressed his lips together in a firm line and crossed his arms over his chest.

"C'mon," Victoire cajoled him, "You've already given up his first name. You might as well give me his last name as well."

He shook his head and turned his back to her, and for the first time Victoire felt as if she really had something up on him.

"Listen, you know that I don't like you, and I know that you don't like me or any of the other aurors for that matter. In keeping this in mind, I know that the last thing you want is to _make a deal_ with the Auror Department."

She paused and then began again, "So, don't think of this as a deal. Think of this as something that will be mutually beneficial for the both of us, because, believe it or not, I think we've finally found something that we agree on."

* * *

"What is she talking about?" Kurt asked Teddy worriedly from their position as they watched the interrogation from the viewing room, "She's not authorized to make any kind of deal with him."

Teddy clenched his teeth together and folded his arms tightly across his chest, "I honestly don't know what she's thinking right now."

Kurt and Hayden shared a worried look. Between the two of them, one of their favourite things to tease Teddy about was how it seemed that he could have a conversation with his fiancée just by the two of them looking into each other's eyes. At first, they were just trying to get a rise out of their friend by teasing him about Victoire, but they soon concluded that it was downright eerie how Victoire and Ted could have a whole conversation without talking, almost as if they were reading each other's minds, but without the use of magic. If Teddy couldn't even guess at what Victoire was about to do, then they might just be in a spot of trouble.

The three men looked back into the interview room where Victoire was outlining her reasoning for Lassoder's benefit, and unknowingly for theirs also.

"You see," Victoire began, her voice not even muffled although there was a wall between her and the aurors, "What the Auror Department wants is _Simon_ 's full name, so that they can try and convict him for crimes that he committed. They want him off of the streets, and preferably in jail."

Lassoder looked like he wanted to speak, but she cut him off and continued, "And you, even though you don't realize it, you also want your brother to be in jail. Because if he is convicted, he can't move up in the Holmwood's hierarchy and your cousins can't place _him_ in a new position of power."

She took a breath before continuing, "If you don't give us his name however, then he'll probably get off scot free and there will be nothing to stop them from giving Simon more power in their organization."

The mention of giving Lassoder's half-brother more power in the Holmwood organization seemed to do the trick, and Lassoder looked completely enraged while Victoire looked more than a little smug.

It was something that Kurt and Hayden both picked up on.

"She's scaring me a little with how much she seems to be enjoying pissing him off," Kurt muttered.

Back in the interrogation room Victoire was walking forward so that she was closer to Lassoder, "I know that you don't trust me, or the Auror Department, but you don't have to. We're both working towards the same goal, and with the same outcome, and all you need to do is tell me one word. All I need is Simon's last name."

His eyes looked interested in her deal, but she could tell that there was still a part of him that was hesitant to make any deal with her.

"But you don't have to tell me his name. You can stay quiet and then he'll get off. It is what your Holmwood cousins want after all, for Simon to get off. Obviously, they see potential for him, and when he's cleared of all charges, I'm sure he'll be dead useful to them. More useful than you are stuck in prison, at any rate. But do you really want to stay silent? Keeping Simon free is only going to vastly undermine your own position in the organization, and it will highlight all of your faults and mistakes while he gets praise for being clever enough not to get caught," Victoire reminded him, her tone low and conspiring.

"Is it just me," Hayden began from his position as he leaned on the two-way mirror charmed wall as he watched Victoire speak with Lassoder, "Or is she more than a little frightening right now?"

Teddy shrugged since the words were directed at him, "Nah, she's just slipped into her Slytherin mode."

"Slytherin mode?" Kurt asked curiously.

"Her family's convinced that if she was sorted now instead of eleven years ago, she would have been placed in Slytherin instead of Gryffindor," Teddy explained, his eyes never leaving the two individuals in the other room.

Kurt and Hayden shared another look behind the metamorphmagus's head, "I can believe it."

Back in the interrogation room Victoire had started to hum a strange tune that started out quiet but got louder as she hummed.

"Could you stop humming the theme song to _Jeopardy_?" Lassoder snapped at her angrily after only a few moments of her humming.

She just smirked at him in reply, "So you recognized it did you?"

"It wasn't easy," Lassoder replied irritated, "If you're this awful at humming then I don't even want to imagine how bad of a singer you are."

"According to my cousins James and Freddie, my singing is worse than listening to a banshee, so if I sang it might be considered an act of torture. One time-"

"If I tell you his last name will you stop telling me stupid stories?" Lassoder asked exasperatedly.

Victoire smirked again, "Why don't you give it a shot?"

He sighed heavily and frowned at her. It seemed as though a million thoughts were running around in his mind. Victoire could tell that he was warring with himself, but finally he came to a decision, when he opened his mouth he said: "What is a small church?"

She rolled her eyes at the Jeopardy-like response and then snatched up the file folder, "Thank you for you cooperation, I promise not to tell anybody that you helped."

The two shared one more sneer and the three aurors watched the scene from their viewing room carefully as Victoire turned her back on Lassoder and left the room. A few seconds later, she was walking into the viewing room, and Teddy tore his gaze away from the two-way-mirror charmed wall.

"You're done? You're not going back in there are you?" He asked her worriedly as walked towards her and put his hands on her shoulders.

Victoire shook her head, "I don't need to, he gave me all the information I need."

"'What is a small church' isn't exactly a last name," Kurt pointed out.

Victoire actually chuckled at him, "Obviously you're not familiar with _Jeopardy_. A small church is a chapel."

"So Patient Zed's real name is Simon Chapel?" Hayden put the facts together.

Victoire shrugged, "Lassoder is French, and Eldon Holmwood lived in France, so I would suggest that you also search the French version, which would be Simon Lachapelle."

"And do you think he was telling you the truth," Teddy asked her curiously. He had been wondering if the whole interview with Lassoder was actually working, or if he was just playing all of them.

She clasped her hands together and her feet started to subconsciously tap against the tile floor, "I think that Lassoder's meeting with me, like with so many long-awaited things in life, didn't exactly live up to his expectations."

Teddy nodded and pulled her towards him so that he could hug her tightly. He whispered into her ear, "I am so sorry that you had to do that."

Victoire tucked her head underneath his chin and slipped her arms around his waist, "Babe, I know that you like to think that you're in charge here, but I was the person who had the last say as to whether or not I was going to go into that room. It was my choice."

"A choice that should never have been presented to you," He replied in a tight voice as his hands rested on her hips and squeezed securely.

"I got mixed up with Lassoder when he first decided that he was going to rig the Tri Wizard Tournament so that I wouldn't win. This has nothing to do with you or me, and everything to do with him," She reiterated softly.

Teddy smiled and let out a soft chuckle, "That last thing sounds like something I tell victims to get them to stop blaming themselves."

"That's because it's true," Victoire pointed out.

He leaned forward and pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead, and then looked down at his watch, "We've got to get Lassoder back to Azkaban and look into Simon, but I should be able to make it to dinner tonight at the Burrow."

Victoire nodded her head, but it continued to bob after the first nod and she didn't stop, "Of course. I'll just go and . . . and . . . maybe I'll . . ."

She trailed off and started to bounce on the balls of her feet as she tried to think of something that she could do to occupy her time until their family dinner. Teddy reached out and placed his hands on her shoulders to stop her bouncing.

"Maybe you should do something to deal with this sudden rush of adrenaline that you're feeling?" He suggested.

She may have been the healer in their relationship, but he knew a thing or two about post-intense-situation-highs. Usually they came after a chase or physical endeavour of some sort, but sometimes they came after a stressful interview or interrogation. Victoire had been trying her best during her meeting with Lassoder to keep her feelings under control, so now she was beginning to feel all of the pent up adrenaline and emotions she had been repressing from earlier.

"I know what I would prescribe for her. But it might have to wait until tonight when you two can be _alone_ -" Kurt began only for Teddy to reach out and smack him across the back of the head.

Teddy only spared a moment to send him a glare before gazing back at Victoire, "Why don't you go find Xavier and convince him to go on a long run with you? I doubt it would take much convincing on your part."

Victoire nodded her head, and before Teddy left to walk her to the lifts, he gave Hayden and Kurt their orders.

"Hayden, you and Auror Jiang should go finish the final arrangements to take Lassoder back to Azkaban. Kurt, you start searching for Simon Chapel and Simon Lachapelle."

* * *

 **A/N:** Well there you have it, Lassoder's interrogation. How did you like it? (Or dislike it?) Please me some reviews with your thoughts and any questions you have because I'd like to know what you thought about this chapter, and where the story's going.

 **Next Update:** Next week :)

 **Next Chapter:** Victoire does some interesting research, another article is published about Ally and Xavier, we see a little bit of Cecilia at work, some Dom at work, and then Vic and Teddy have cake with Clark and Mark.

Teaser for Next Chap:

 **"Dom still didn't look happy at the prospect of going into conference room two, but she did have a hard time saying 'no' to Colton when he made sense, "Fine, I'll go. But if he stares at me for even one minute in a way that makes it obvious that he's imagining that I'm Victoire I will-"**

 **"Understood," Colton replied, interrupting her rant. He opened the door to conference room two and followed his junior associate inside."**

I want to thank everyone for following, favouriting, reading, and especially reviewing!

A great BIG thank you to:

 **Revliledpembroke, Guest (1), no cure for crazy, Rainbow Lava Ninjas, zvc56, MuggleCreator, mazzmataz, AngelTwins527, Guest (2), rosesnlilies, Ntlpurpolia,** and **KiMaYa**.

 **rosesnlilies** : I'm sorry your day was so horrible. We will see some Ally/Xavier next chapter :)

 **I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter,**

 **Please leave me any thoughts, concerns, or questions in the form of a review,**

 **I know that some people in the US are having a hard time right now (trust me, I'm Canadian, I know the concerns) so I hope that you are all doing a bit better, and if the least I can do is post this chapter and make some of you smile and forget what's going on for even a few moments, then I'm glad.**

 **Until next time everyone, DFTBA!**


	23. Articles, Babies, and Cakes

**A/N:** Hello everyone, here's the latest chapter. All I have to say is, if you thought the last chapter had a big surprise, it's nothing compared to this one.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own _Harry Potter_. Although I'm taking credit for Colton and Anastasia in this one.

* * *

 **Articles, Babies, and Cakes**

 **Monday September 19** **th** **2022**

 **8:04 AM**

Victoire waddled more than walked into the kitchen the next morning. Teddy was already dressed for work and making breakfast, while Victoire was still in her pyjamas with her hair looking like it was a Hungarian Horntail's nest.

"Merlin am I sore from last night," She complained as she shuffled over to a kitchen stool. She eyed it warily before slowly sitting on it.

Her fiancé didn't respond as he passed her a mug of tea and a plate of toast, but he did have a huge smirk on his face as he did it.

When she spotted said smirk she rolled her eyes at him, "Don't look so smug, I'm not sore because of you. I'm sore because of Xavier."

His smirk stayed, but an eyebrow rose up on his forehead as well.

She glared at him and rubbed her eyes, "Ugh, you need to stop spending so much time with Kurt. I'm sore because of the run Xavier and I had yesterday."

After leaving the Auror Department the afternoon before, Victoire found that Teddy was correct in his suggestion. When she apparated to Xavier's apartment complex she found both Ally and Xavier there. Ally was trying to finish some paperwork for work, while Xavier stood over her shoulder asking her random questions and generally annoying her even though he was only looking for a bit of attention. The shy inquiry of whether or not Xavier would like to go for a long run with Victoire was barely out of the blonde's mouth before Ally summoned Xavier's sneakers to his arms and shoved him, as well as her cousin, out of the door.

Even though Victoire and Xavier ran together instead of racing like they usually did, it had been so long since Victoire had gone for such a long and steady run that she was definitely feeling the effects the day after.

"Your calves or your hamstrings?" Teddy asked her conversationally as he sat down next to her.

"My _gastrocnemius_ and _extensor digitorum longus_ ," Victoire explained before taking a big bite of toast.

Teddy rolled his eyes and hooked his foot around the leg of her stool so he could drag her closer to him, "I love you Sweetheart, but that's not exactly the type of Latin that I'm most familiar with."

She swallowed her mouthful of toast and smiled indulgently, "My calves and my feet. I ran a little too heavy-footed yesterday."

"And then you ate a lot at dinner," Teddy reminded her.

Victoire shrugged her shoulders, "Nothing beats Grandmum Molly's beef brisket." Her eyes took on a dreamy look before a startled light flashed through them and she looked at Teddy with wide eyes, "Don't tell _Grand-mère_ Apolline I said that. I tell her the same thing about her _coq au vin_."

"I don't think either of them would hold it against you, they both know how much you love food in general," He told her as he leaned over and pressed a kiss to her cheek.

She leaned into him and rested her head on his shoulder, "I do love you more."

He kissed the top of her head and chuckled, "You're only saying that right now because you're satiated. If we had had this discussion before you got that toast into your stomach you would be singing a different tune."

Victoire snorted, "It's only fair, after all I know that you love chocolate more than me."

"On nights when there's a full moon, that is sometimes true," He teased her in reply.

They were quiet for a few moments as they drank their breakfast tea, "Are you sure that you have to work today? You worked extra hours on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, you're due for some more time off."

"While that is true, I probably won't see it until this trial finally comes to an end. We've just got way too much work to do trying to find out if Lassoder gave us the truth about Patient Zed's name, and if your plan with the antibody testing will work," Teddy told her.

Victoire nodded, but she still had a pout on her face. He leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss to her lips, "My last scheduled meeting is at one o'clock this afternoon with the N. A. M. C. O. C. I. D., and if it's a productive day then I might be able to clock out early. Okay?"

She smiled brightly in response, "Okay."

"So what are you going to do with your day off?" He asked her the question, but he already knew the answer.

"I've got some more research to do. I'm meeting with Healer McDavid on Wednesday again to show him how much work I've done in a week," Victoire explained excitedly, her eyes shining.

He smiled at her enthusiasm, "So are you doing research at the Hospital again today?"

"No, I've got copies of all of the files I need from there right now. I'm going to hit up Obscurus Books for more research," She clarified.

Teddy smirked, "So you're going to go pay Molly a visit at work? I hope you don't embarrass her."

"I'm not going to embarrass her," Victoire countered, "Molly told me last night that I should stop by if I'm still doing research."

He grinned wickedly at her, "Dom also convinced Molly to drink quite a bit of wine last night, so are you sure that she was sober when she told you that she'd like you to stop by?"

She punched his arm, "I'm not going to embarrass Molly at work. Why would you think that?"

"Because the only reason why you didn't stop by Obscurus Books with a congratulations cake on her first day of work last year was because you had the flu, and because I literally held you back," He reminded her.

Victoire downed the rest of her tea, jumped off her barstool (forgetting that she was in pain and knowing that she would pay for the action later), and told Teddy, "Well it seems like I'm overdue for a visit to Molly's place of work then."

Teddy shook his head indulgently and slowly sipped his drink as she walked –still looking a little sore– out of the kitchen and back towards the bedroom so that she could get ready. As she got dressed, Teddy grabbed the copy of _Up in the Air_ that was delivered early that morning. He didn't have a chance to look at it yet, but when he opened the magazine up to the table of contents, he saw Cecilia's name listed as an author under the section on quidditch player interviews.

He read the article of her interview with Eli Martell, and when he got to the end of it, he smiled to himself. Victoire strolled out of the bedroom a few seconds later, and Teddy brought to her attention the article. She grabbed it eagerly and read the article. When she was finished they discussed how well it was written while Victoire flipped the page over and found an interview with Xavier written by one Charley Larson. She skimmed this one, since she already knew everything there was to know about Xavier, while she asked Teddy if any other mail had come.

"No, that's the only thing so far today."

Almost as if it had heard Teddy's negative answer, an owl immediately flew over to the window and tapped on the glass. Victoire magically opened the glass and she took the copy of _Witch Weekly_ from the bird.

"Since when do you subscribe to _Witch Weekly_?" Teddy asked her curiously.

Victoire smirked, "Oh, I don't, you do."

"Me?" He asked confusedly.

"We got the first one three week ago. It seems that Kurt or Hayden got you a subscription as some sort of joke, but I'm going to keep them. It seems the best way to keep up with what they're publishing about Ally and Xavier's relationship."

Again, it seemed that Teddy wasn't the only person who was slightly prophetic that morning. When she unrolled the copy of _Witch Weekly_ she saw both Ally and Xavier's faces on the front cover, although they weren't exactly together in the pictures.

* * *

 **8:30 AM**

Cecilia had just entered the building that housed the offices for _Up in the Air_ quidditch magazine when her mobile phone started to ring. She fished her phone out of her pockets and pressed the 'talk' button as she entered the brightly lit stairwell.

"Hey Louis, I thought you were at work?"

The male voice from the other half of the conversation chuckled deeply, " _I started at five-thirty this morning_."

"Then you're well into your shift," She replied as she completed the first flight of stairs.

Louis let out a low sigh into the phone, " _I've been doing physical training for the past two hours and forty-five minutes, so we now have a half hour break to re-hydrate and catch our breaths._ "

"So which are you doing right now?" Cecilia asked a little flirtatiously as she passed the door that led to the second floor and continued on to the stairs that led to the third.

" _Neither, I just finished reading your newest article._ "

She paused as she came to the third floor and pushed the door open so that she could exit the stairwell, "How did you get a copy of that if you've been doing drills since five-thirty in the morning?"

His voice let out another low chuckle on the other end of the line, and Cecilia could almost imagine her boyfriend's face flushing red, " _Apparently Matt thought I would enjoy it and he managed to stuff a copy into my locker in the locker room while I was busy. I honestly don't know how he was able to sneak himself into the M. L. E. Department though_."

"And how did you find the article?" Cecilia questioned as she set a quick wave to the receptionist as she walked by her and towards the end of the floor that held the cubicles that she and the other Jr. writers worked out of.

" _It was rather good_ ," Louis's voice told her softly, " _The only criticism I have is that the photo of you under the by-line is too small. It's hard to properly see how gorgeous and fit you in a picture so tiny_."

Cecilia blushed and hurriedly ducked into her cubicle, "I'm at _work_ Louis."

" _Well then it should be easy to voice my suggestion that you need a larger picture of you next time_ ," He replied, she could hear the smile in his voice.

She poked her head above her cubicle walls, let out a silent sigh of relief that no one had taken special notice of her presence yet, and then dropped back into her seat and responded in a whisper. "I'm not going to tell my editor that they need to use a larger picture of me next time so that everyone can see how fit I am."

Louis's voice chuckled again, " _Of course not Love, that would sound conceited. I'll mention it when I write my letter to the editor_."

"Louis," Cecilia whispered in a tone that sounded much more like a whimper, "You better not."

" _Why not? I may not be as good as writing as you are, but I'm not bad. I am good at poetry. I could write it like a limerick, or a haiku_ ," His tone was both musing and teasing at the same time.

Cecilia bit her lip and pressed her –suddenly clammy forehead– against the cool wood of her desk. Louis _was_ good with poetry, and he wrote her a poem every Valentine's Day since their first one together when they were thirteen. They had grown in both complexity and lasciviousness with each poem she received, and the longer their relationship lasted, the more poems she received. It started out with special occasions, but sometimes she got them from him when he knew she needed cheering up.

Just thinking about the poems made her blush bright red, and even though she was sure that he was joking, she needed to repeat herself that he could not, under any circumstances, send a poem in to her editor.

"Please don't."

" _But I've already started to compose one in my head_."

"Louis!"

His voice chuckled from the other end of the phone once more, " _Alright, I will write it down but I won't send it in. I'll just send it to you later_."

She couldn't stop the smile from spreading across her face when she heard him, but it was quickly replaced with a shocked look that he couldn't see, "O-kay . . . but please don't send it to me while I'm at work."

" _Fine_."

"Or when I'm at home. If Dad accidently got to your owl before I did-"

" _Okay_ ," Louis's voice repeated, " _I'll just keep it with me and wait until we're alone together so that I can read it_ to _you_."

Cecilia bit her lip again and her stomach started to clench in a way that was familiar and not at all unpleasant, "Oh Circe Louis. I'm going to hang up right now, because I have work to do."

He chuckled one last time in response and they said their goodbyes. Cecilia put her phone away and took a minute to fan her warm face and to control her blush. When she felt more collected she finally started paying attention to her surroundings, and she noticed that a few meters away from her cubicle, there were muffled angry voices coming out of her editor's office.

Whoever was in there did not sound happy.

"Glad that you're not her right now?" A voice asked from behind her, sufficiently startling her.

Cecilia whirled around in her seat and saw Dylan Lawniczak, a fellow Gryffindor who had been a year ahead of her at school, and an acquaintance of Molly Weasley's. He was also a Jr. writer at the magazine, but he had been there a year longer than she had.

"Her who? What's going on in there?" Cecilia asked curiously.

"Charley Larson. She was called into the editor's office a few minutes ago. The new part-owner of the magazine –Mrs. Dare– came in and is in there yelling at Charley and the editor in charge of her," Dylan explained.

Cecilia glanced back at the closed door of their editor's office, "Why is Charley in trouble? I read her article about Xavier, it was really good, and I know that Puddlemere's not upset with it . . ."

"I suspect that the Mrs. Dare is just angry that Charley had a face-to-face interview with your brother and still got out-scooped," Dylan suggested.

"Out-scooped?"

Dylan tossed that morning's newest copy of _Witch Weekly_ at Cecilia. She didn't have to look past the front cover to figure out what he was talking about.

The front cover was split into only two sections instead of the usual several. The largest headline read, ' _Xavier Wood and Long-Time Girlfriend Alexandra Weasley Split for Good?_ '. The left side of the magazine showed a picture of Ally sitting on a barstool in a dark place that looked like a club or a bar. She was wearing some sort of jean skirt and her head was bent close to that of a young brown-haired man who looked about Malcolm's age. It was not a man that Cecilia recognized, but Ally seemed comfortable enough with him as it seemed that they were in the middle of a conversation.

The picture on the left was one of Xavier from his game against the Arrows the past Friday night. It was after the game, and in to photo he was smiling brightly as he hugged a slim woman with curly dirty-blonde hair. Her face wasn't visible, but based on the hair and the humongous diamond ring on the woman's left hand –which was pressed against Xavier's shoulder and almost front and center of the photo– Cecilia knew that the woman was Sandra Line.

Underneath the photos was a short paragraph: ' _While Xavier Wood was busy almost single-handedly winning Puddlemere's game against Appleby last Friday, the professional keeper's long-time on-again-off-again girlfriend Alexandra Weasley was in a pub, dressed to impress, chatting up a handsome and charming stranger. Miss Weasley however, wasn't the only one in this long-time tumultuous relationship to be caught finding comfort in another person's arms, as Mr. Wood was caught having a post-game celebration with a beautiful blonde. If the rings and large rock on the 'other woman's' left hand is any indication though, it seems as though Mr. Wood's newest tryst is with a_ **very** _married woman. Are these photos an indication of the end of Mr. Wood and Miss Weasley's worn-out relationship, or are these just another series of affairs in their turbulent liaison? Only time will tell_.'

Cecilia thought that her eyes were going to pop out of her head. The only consolation she could find was that _Witch Weekly_ didn't seem to know exactly who Xavier's 'new married suitor' was. If they had known that the woman in the picture was Sandra Line –wife of his best friend who happened to be the heir to one of the Wizarding World's most profitable companies– the entire situation would be much more complicated.

She glanced back at the picture of Ally and looked a little closer at the man she was sitting with. He did look a bit like Victoire's friend who worked in the obstetrics ward at St. Mungo's, the one who helped Eliza deliver Rowan. Cecilia thought his name was Healer Jarvis. It would make sense if it was him, as Ally had told Xavier that she was going out with Victoire, Spencer Green, and some of her other friends from the hospital.

"So Mrs. Dare is yelling at Charley because _Witch Weekly_ is publishing lies about my brother again?" Cecilia asked Dylan, still a little confused.

Dylan shook his head sadly, "Not exactly. Mrs. Dare is yelling at Charley because she thinks that she should have got this information –this scoop– while she was interviewing your brother. Instead, _Witch Weekly_ 's ahead of us on the gossip. Again in her mind."

Cecilia crossed her arms over her chest, "This quidditch magazine isn't about gossip, it's about the facts. Charley has the facts, _Witch Weekly_ does not."

"You and I know that, but that's because he's _your_ brother and you know the facts, and because I know that he's your brother and I trust your judgement," Dylan told her, "But Mrs. Dare seems to think that gossip, no matter if it's truthful or not, is what will sell this magazine."

They both glanced back at their editor's office and even though the voices had quieted down a little, no one had left the office yet. Cecilia let out a long sigh, straightened her shoulders, and moved to walk towards the office.

Dylan noticed her movement and asked, "What are you doing?"

"I'm a Gryffindor, so I'm about to do something bold," She replied to him before opening the door to the editor's office.

She slipped inside, but didn't close the door behind her because she didn't have the intention to stay in the office too long. Inside the rather spacious room was a devastated looking Charley Larson; an angry-looking middle-aged woman who was the new partial owner Mrs. Dare; and a still startled looking woman in her mid-thirties named Ms. Beck, who was Cecilia, Charley, and all of the other Jr. writers' editor.

"Cecilia," Ms. Beck exclaimed in a startled tone as the three women's eyes trailed to the intruder, "I am busy at the moment but if you wait a few minutes I can see you in private."

Cecilia clasped her hands together, "Actually Ms. Beck, I'm here because there was something I need to say to Charley."

"Miss Larson is busy at present," Mrs. Dare interrupted with an impertinent glance at Cecilia, "Don't you have something to do Miss . . . ?"

"Wood," Cecilia supplied for her. Mrs. Dare looked rather surprised at hearing the name and a little apprehensive. Cecilia looked back at Charley, "I'll only be a minute, my brother Xavier made me promise when I saw him this weekend that the first thing I would do when I entered the office on Monday would be to tell Charley how much he appreciated her kindness when she interviewed him on Friday. He said he really liked her style and that he felt very comfortable with her choice of questions."

Charley's eyes were wide with surprise while Mrs. Dare narrowed her eyes at both younger girls. Cecilia glanced at Ms. Beck next, "In fact, Xavier said that he will be sure to ask for Charley the next time he wants _any_ type of interview with _Up in the Air_."

"Really?" Charley asked her excitedly.

Cecilia nodded her head. She didn't exactly feel bad about lying since she was sure that Xavier would forgive her for putting imaginary words into his mouth. He did mention to her that he didn't mind being interviewed by Charley, and considering Xavier's most recent views on the media in general, those words were rather high praise.

"It's always good to get positive feedback from the players," Ms. Beck added. She seemed happy to have a chance to put an end to her audience with Mrs. Dare. She glanced at both Cecilia and Charley, "You both did an excellent job on your interviews and write-ups, and I expect the same level of work with your next pieces. And speaking of, I believe that you both have your next assignments waiting for you on your desks. So you both better get to it."

Both younger girls nodded their heads and they hurriedly exited the office. Their cubicles were on opposite sides of the floor, but Cecilia did catch the grateful smile that Charley threw her before they left to go back to their own desks.

* * *

 **9:31 AM**

"Hello, I'm looking for Molly Weasley," Victoire announced pleasantly to the first employee she saw when she entered Obscurus Books.

The young man in question just stared open-mouthed at her in shock. She waited a moment to see if he would respond, but after a few seconds, she had the urge to raise her hand and snap her fingers in front of his face to see if his expression would change. Before she could do so however, Molly popped her head around the corner –she had been in one of the back rooms– and her eyes went wide upon seeing her eldest cousin.

"Victoire, what are you doing here?" Molly asked. The words were meant for her cousin, but she sent a look out of the corner of her eyes to the young man Victoire had tried to get help from.

Victoire laughed and leaned forward so she could kiss Molly on either cheek, "I'm here to do some research for my healing project, remember?"

Molly nodded her curly red head, "I remember, I just didn't expect you to come in so early."

Victoire shrugged her shoulders in response, and Molly ushered her into one of the back rooms so that they could get down to work.

"Books on magical scars caused by dark magic, right?" Molly questioned as she walked over to the closest bookshelf.

"I have a list of some that I haven't read yet, but that Healer McDavid suggested," Victoire said, handing Molly the list.

Molly nodded again, took the list, and then started waving her wand and summoning some of the books.

"So," Victoire began as her cousin collected the books for her, "What was up with the bloke out front?"

Her cousin's cheeks went red, almost the exact same shade of her hair, and Victoire smirked, "Oooh. I was just going to ask why he did nothing more than stare at me, but I sense a little bit more of a story now."

Molly focused on the books she was gathering, but after a minute, she shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know, he becomes a bit of a useless plank when he sees pretty customers."

"And what about pretty fellow employees?" Victoire questioned smugly.

"Ugh," Molly replied, making a face, "I made the mistake of going out on a date with him about a month ago."

Victoire took some of the books from Molly's arms and walked over to one of the tables in the room, "I take it that it didn't go over well?"

"No," Molly replied solemnly, "It did not. He was also a little clingy for like the first week afterwards."

Victoire's eyebrows lay heavily over her eyes, "He's not harassing you or anything, is he?"

Molly sat down at a chair at the table just after Victoire did, "I appreciate the worry Vic, but I am a Gryffindor. I do know how to take care of myself."

Victoire continued to give her a certain look, so Molly gave her more information, "I might have sent a bat-boogey hex at him once or twice."

Her blonde cousin nodded approvingly, and then they both began looking through the books. Victoire was reading the books which where wholly dedicated to injuries caused by dark magic, whereas Molly was flipping through older books that had a little bit of everything written in them to see if she could find sections that Victoire might find interesting.

They passed about an hour and a half in such a fashion before Molly closed the tome she was looking through and remarked, "It's a good thing you've got unicorn hair in your wand."

Victoire didn't even pause in her skimming of the books as she replied, "Why exactly is that?"

"It's just something Baxter was going on about a couple days ago. You know that wands with unicorn hair are supposed to be good for healing, generally speaking."

Victoire nodded her head while Molly continued, "And your wand has a mixed unicorn hair core with phoenix feathers and, generally speaking, phoenix feathers are good for defensive magic. So your wand core is very good at healing, and defensive magic, so it's perfect for your healing the dark arts."

The blonde nodded her head once more, only partially listening as the redhead continued to muse, "Although I'm not entirely sure if Baxter was correct about saying that phoenix feathers are good for defensive magic. I mean that definitely makes sense for Uncle Harry's wand, but didn't Tom Riddle –the darkest wizard in modern history– also have a wand with phoenix feathers?"

Victoire stopped skimming her book and stared at Molly with a curious expression, "You're right. That doesn't make sense."

Molly shrugged, "Although magic doesn't always _exactly_ make sense."

"Not at first glance it doesn't, but if you take the time to look underneath it usually does," Victoire said as she slowly stood up.

"What are you doing?" Molly asked confusedly.

Victoire was already near the exit of the room, "I need to go to Ollivander's for a minute. Can you collect all of the other books for me? I'll be back to get them in a bit."

Molly nodded her head, but before she could ask Victoire why she suddenly felt the need to visit Ollivander's, the blonde was already gone.

Down the street at Ollivander's, the shop was generally quiet as its busiest times were the months just before Hogwarts started up, and it was now later September. Baxter, who was working the front of the wand shop and just as surprised to see Victoire as his older sister was to see their blonde cousin at her place of work, asked his cousin why she had decided to stop by. Victoire excitedly announced that she had some questions to ask Blair Ollivander, if he was there.

At hearing his name, Mr. Ollivander came out from the back room and happily greeted Victoire.

"So what can I do for you today Miss Weasley?" Mr. Ollivander asked her charmingly.

Victoire clasped her hands together, "I need some information on wands."

"I hope that you don't need a new one, I know how difficult a time you had back in your seventh-year before your broken one was fixed," Mr. Ollivander replied worriedly.

Victoire waved off his concern, "No, my wand is perfectly fine. What I would like is information about wands. It will help with my research."

"You want to learn about wands to help with your healing research?" Baxter asked her confusedly.

"I just have a few questions," Victoire told him. She glanced back at Mr. Ollivander, "Molly said something that struck me. My wand is good for healing because it has unicorn hair in its core, right?"

Mr. Ollivander nodded, "That is correct."

"But why are those cores generally good for healing magic?" She questioned.

Mr. Ollivander looked at Baxter and gestured for him to try to answer.

The redhead looked surprised but attempted a correct answer, "It's traced back to unicorns' magic. You know of course that unicorn blood will allow the drinker to live forever."

"Yes, although any person that does this is cursed once they drink the first drop," Victoire added.

Baxter nodded his head, "Unicorn's blood holds the gift of long-lasting life. The theory is that the hair also has some sort of magic that can help extend life, or in the context of healing, restore life to something that is becoming lifeless. The magic from unicorn core wands are good at healing, probably because they are very good at restoring life to parts of the body that are ill or decaying."

"That makes a lot of sense," Victoire agreed, "But I'm also curious about the theory behind phoenix feather cores."

"Phoenix feather cores are good for defensive magic," Baxter stated almost automatically.

Victoire nodded, "I've been told that. But it's not that in all cases is it? I mean Tom Riddle had phoenix feather in his wand and he casted scores of dark spells."

Baxter and Victoire both looked at Mr. Ollivander for an answer to this question. The man took a deep breath and slowly replied, "I had these questions myself, and from what I found it boils down to some of the most basic rules of magic. As you know, the wand chooses the witch or wizard, however, the wand is also under the control of the wizard, it cannot decide what type of magic it casts."

There was a pause before he continued, "In theory, even dark spells can be claimed to be defensive spells, if the castors are using them to defend themselves. It is not the spell itself that is inherently dark, but the intentions of the castor that is."

"Therefore Tom Riddle's wand core was very good at casting dark spells, because it was his intention to use those dark spells to protect himself," Baxter mused.

Victoire narrowed her eyes, "But how does that work if he was the one doing the attacking, and not the one initially under attack?"

"He was one crazy bloke Victoire. From the stories we've heard it, sounds like he really believed that he was doing a great thing by destroying muggles and muggleborns," Baxter reminded her.

"Perhaps he did see them as a danger to him, and then justified his use of dark magic as going on the defensive early," Victoire considered.

Baxter eyed her worriedly, "It's a little creepy to see you slip into the mind of a psychopathic mass murderer."

"I wasn't slipping into the mind of a psychopathic mass murderer," Victoire argued, "I was slipping into the mind of a self-preserving Slytherin."

"Must be difficult since you don't actually have much self-preservation to begin with," Baxter muttered quietly.

Victoire put her hands on her hips, "Now you sound like Teddy." She turned to Mr. Ollivander, "So you would argue that the intent of the spell is just as important as the words of the spells themselves?"

Mr. Ollivander nodded, "Exactly. It has a large impact on all of the magic cast. But you've already learned this throughout your studies of course."

Victoire nodded, "Of course, I've just never really connected it back to the wand before. Intention, personal magic, casting the spell, wand amplification, production of spell, outcome." She repeated the second part to herself in a lower tone, and then quickly thanked both Baxter and Mr. Ollivander for their time.

She almost ran back down the alley towards Obscurus books, and was excitedly to collect her books from Molly so that she could start to work on her research. A more detailed outline for creating a spell was playing around in her mind, and she wanted to write it down before she forgot it.

* * *

 **1:07 PM**

"It's so nice to go out to luncheon like this, we must do it more often," Gabriella Higgs announced in a lofty tone as she linked her arm affectionately through Anastasia Knott's.

"Of course," Anastasia replied cheerily before throwing her husband a specific look.

Colton, who was only half-listening to the conversation going on between his wife and her friend because he was busy looking through the papers on his desk, caught his wife's look and let out an inaudible sigh.

"Of course we will, we had an excellent time," Colton recited in a tone that only his wife was able to recognize as sarcastic.

Nigel Higgs, Gabriella's husband and the tedious man who had been the fourth at their luncheon, smiled a slightly oily smile, "It's nice to have the chance to have intelligent conversations with other purebloods. It's hard to find proper people of our social standing to converse with these days."

Colton pretended that he hadn't heard Nigel's boring and borderline elitist speech as he busied himself with the papers and folders on his desk. The four of them were presently in Colton's office in his father's law building. The two couples had gone out for lunch together –not that Colton would have if his wife hadn't pretty much forced him too– and after a dull almost-two-hour lunch, the other couple had followed him to his office because Gabriella had claimed that she still needed to discuss some things with Anastasia.

Although all they had discussed within the last ten minutes was gossip, and even though Colton loved his wife and wanted to spend time with her, he preferred to do so when it didn't involve spending time with their snobby 'friends' from Hogwarts.

Before Anastasia could promise the other couple a dinner date for the near future that Colton would be loath to fulfill, a knock sounded on Colton's closed door. It opened directly after and Dominique Weasley poked her fiery red head into the office.

"There you are, your father told me that when I see you next, I need to remind you about your newly scheduled meeting for 1:30," Dom recited with a roll of her eyes.

Colton nodded his head, "Thank you – but why exactly did my father tell _you_ this?"

"It seems that he's still under the mistaken impression that I'm your secretary," Dom replied with a frown.

Her boss snorted, "That's preposterous. You'd be rubbish at being a secretary."

"Exactly!" Dom announced animatedly, "Thank-you!"

Anastasia caught Colton's eye and she smiled indulgently at Dom's reaction. He looked back at Dom and said, "Thanks again for the message, and what do you have scheduled for 1:30?"

"Paperwork," Dom replied blithely.

"Not anymore," Colton told her, "I need a junior associate for this next meeting. I'll see you in conference room two in fifteen minutes."

"Aye, aye, Captain," Dom replied with a salute and a cheeky smile before disappearing out the door.

When she was gone, Nigel scoffed self-importantly, "For your sake I hope that _that_ Weasley is more pleasant than her elder sister."

Colton tried to hold in a smirk, "Do you still have a grudge against Victoire because she hexed you a few times in school?"

"She's just awful in general, so high and mighty," Gabriella complained even though Colton's remark was originally aimed at Nigel.

Colton thought the words were ironic coming from a woman like her, but he couldn't comment even if he wanted to because Nigel continued Gabriella's tirade.

"We ran into _Victoire Weasley_ this weekend at St. Mungo's," Nigel explained.

Anastasia was suddenly very concerned, "Why did you go to the Dark Arts Reversal ward?"

Nigel looked a little taken aback, "We didn't. We were in the obstetrics ward because we were fairly certain that Gabriella was pregnant-"

"You're pregnant?" Anastasia blurted excitedly, looking back and forth between Gabriella and Nigel.

Gabriella nodded her head and straightened her shoulders, "Yes. We went to the obstetrics ward and she was called in because she had to do the _frater ad fetura_ on the baby because we're both purebloods. She looked all contemptuous and disdainful as she did it too."

Colton nodded his head. His expression looked understanding, but in reality he wanted them both to leave as soon as possible so that he could speak in private to his wife before his next client was due.

Thankfully, Gabriella and Nigel didn't actually have much more to complain about when speaking about Victoire, so they left soon after their revelation.

Colton walked towards Anastasia as soon as they left and grabbed both of her hands, "I had no idea that Gabriella was pregnant. If I knew I would never have agreed to-"

"Colton," Anastasia interrupted, "You can't keep me secluded and away from every pregnant woman in the world. We both made the decision to wait a little and work on our relationship before trying for another baby. It wasn't just you who made that agreement, I did too."

Her husband nodded his head and he lifted her hands up to his lips so he could kiss the backs of her hands, "I just don't want you to regret the decision we made, when you later hear about other couples in our circle of friends having children."

She smiled softly at him, "I appreciate that, but I'm not regretting the decision. If anything, I think we definitely need to wait a year before even trying to have a baby so that our child won't have to be in the same year at Hogwarts as Gabriella and Nigel's child."

"So I can admit that I agree with you on that one point then?" He asked slowly.

Anastasia smiled and pressed a kiss to his cheek, "I would be worried if you didn't. Now, you need to leave if you're going to make your next appointment on time."

Colton listened to his wife's words, and once he was outside of the closed door of conference room two, he found Dom waiting patiently. He smiled at his favourite junior associate, but the glare and grimace he received in response made him pause and realize that what had at first looked like a patient expression was a petulant one.

"I'm not going in there."

Colton sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, "Why not?"

Dom folded her arms across her chest and give him an 'I'm-not-stupid' look, "Because, I got a peek at your next clients when Poppa Knott personally escorted them into this room a few minutes ago and I am _not_ dealing with them."

"They are _our_ new clients and you don't get to pick and choose who we work with," Colton told her authoritatively.

She just raised an eyebrow at him, "There are plenty of junior associates hanging around here. Pick someone else."

Colton's expression changed from firm to more than a little slightly pleading. Normally he wouldn't stoop to such levels, but after the lunch he had –and knowing who was waiting for him in conference room two– he really needed Dom to be his associate. All of the others would irritate him much too much with all of their pathetic attempts to try to show off and suck up to him.

"Please Dominique, these are going to be very important, very lucrative clients and I know that I can trust you to keep everything that goes on in that room confidential," He told her honestly.

Dom still didn't look happy at the prospect of going into conference room two, but she did have a hard time saying 'no' to Colton when he made sense, "Fine, I'll go. But if he stares at me for even one minute in a way that makes it obvious that he's imagining that I'm Victoire I will-"

"Understood," Colton replied, interrupting her rant. He opened the door to conference room two and followed his junior associate inside.

Sitting at the conference room table were three people that both Colton and Dominique were grudgingly acquainted with: Chris Mullin; Giavanna Tracey; and her father, owner of Puddlemere United, Garrick Tracey. Colton forced a polite smile onto his face as he greeted his clients, while Dom just nodded curtly and took out her notepad and quill to take notes. He formally introduced both himself and Dom, more for Mr. Tracey and Giavanna's benefit than for Chris's, and Dom managed a polite smile when Mr. Tracey asked her if she was related to Victoire Weasley.

Dom nodded and softly explained that she was Victoire's younger sister, ignoring the suddenly irritated look Giavanna sent her from across the table.

Colton asked the first question, "So what can I do for you today?"

His father had told him who his one-thirty appointment was with, but not why these people needed his representation.

"We would like you to draw up a pre-nuptial agreement for my daughter and Mr. Mullin over here," Mr. Tracey announced with a broad smile.

Dom's quill paused in her writing as her eyes flew over to Giavanna's left hand, which did have a ring with a good-sized diamond on it, while Colton almost let his calm mask slip because of his astonishment at hearing the news.

Colton cleared his throat, shot Chris a glance –the man in question looking down at the table and not making eye-contact with him or Dom– and then he asked, "So do you have an idea of roughly when the wedding is going to take place? We'll need a time frame so we can know how long we'll have to get the proper agreement written up."

Mr. Tracey's smile fell a little, Chris flushed self-consciously, and Giavanna replied a little snootily, "The wedding will be in one month, on October twenty-second."

Colton and Dom weren't able to stop their, almost in synch, eyebrow raise. They shared a look and Colton asked, "Well, that is a little short notice, but I'm sure that we can scrape something up."

He cleared his throat again and began asking the three the standard questions that he would need answered if he and Dom were going to draft up a pre-nup. When it came to the question of which assets the couple would be sharing, and which they would separately retain in case of separation or divorce, Mr. Tracey slid a piece of paper across the table with the appropriate numbers on it.

Dom and Colton stuck their heads together so that they could read the numbers on the piece of parchment. The redhead let out a low whistle at reading the numbers, while Colton just coughed awkwardly once more.

His three clients looked at him oddly, so he replied a little uneasily, "Uh, I'm just surprised. I didn't realize the salary for a second-string professional quidditch seeker was so . . . high."

Chris looked like he was even more uncomfortable than earlier, if that was even possible, while Giavanna smiled slyly and patted her _fiancé_ on the hand, "Chris is actually about to get a promotion. Puddlemere's first string seeker is being traded to a Swedish team because he wants to be closer to his aging parents or something like that. Which leaves an open spot on the first string team for Chris to take."

Dom bit her bottom lip and she shared a look with Colton that said 'this-girl-cannot-be-serious' before Colton said something that sounded a bit like a confused congratulations.

Chris looked even more uncomfortable to be having this conversation with Colton and Dominique, but he still hadn't said a word since they entered the room.

Colton was attacked by his sudden need to cough while in the middle of an awkward conversation once again, and then he asked, "So are there any other specific items you want placed in the first draft of this pre-nup?"

"I would like to clarify that if, Merlin forbid, anything ever happened to Gia, that I would have rights to be co-trustee of the child's, or any other children's, trust funds," Mr. Tracey added.

Colton nodded his head while Dom wrote down the note, but they both paused at the same time, "The child?"

Giavanna smiled brightly while Chris looked a little green.

"I'm pregnant! I'll be due in April."

Dom and Colton shared a completely shocked look that they couldn't hold in, "Oh."

* * *

 **Monday September 19** **th** **2022**

 **3:20 PM**

"Merlin, I don't remember flat hunting to be this exhausting the first time we did it," Victoire commented to Teddy as she collapsed onto the sofa.

Teddy smirked as he sat down next to her and patted her knee, "That's because the first time we were actually looking for a flat for us, not pretending to be looking at flats so that Ally and Xavier could see all of the listings without getting caught."

Ally plopped down on the sofa and curled up to Victoire's other side, "And we really appreciate it guys. We really do. I know that it was exhausting and short notice, so thank you."

Teddy had gotten off work at two o'clock, not because the Auror Office got most of their work done, but because Kingsley had pretty much forced him out of the office because he had worked so much overtime over the weekend. Victoire was excited when she heard from Teddy that he would be done work early, but before she could come up with plans for them to spend their spare time together, she got a desperate call from her favourite cousin.

Ally and Xavier had made plans to go flat hunting that afternoon (because Puddlemere was on a by-week and didn't have practice), but they thought that the new issue of _Witch Weekly_ was going to make it more difficult for them. She and Xavier had come up with a plan to go looking at flats without being recognized by the public and getting hounded by them, and that plan was to have Victoire and Teddy arrange their meetings with the apartment complex managers instead. Victoire and Teddy pretended to be the couple who were interested in looking at flats, so while the managers left them alone to look at the flats, Ally and Xavier would pop up and take a look at them too.

Xavier walked by at that moment with a handful of butterbeers from the kitchen –the four of them went to Xavier's flat in the Puddlemere United complex when they were done looking at the list of flats he and Ally had compiled– and he sat down on the arm of the sofa next to his girlfriend.

They all took a few sips of their drinks before Victoire began, "So . . . are we going to address the hippogriff in the room or not?"

"I thought that you looked like you gained a bit of weight, but I wouldn't call you a hippogriff Vic," Xavier remarked from behind the lip of his bottle.

If Ally wasn't between Victoire and Xavier, the blonde would have sent a hex at her cousin's boyfriend. As it was, Victoire just rolled her eyes, "Do I need to spell it out? Fine then, W-I-T-C-H-W-E-E-K-L-Y."

Xavier glared at her while Ally patted his leg comfortingly, "Obviously we're not happy with the media attention that we've got in the past few weeks, and we're discussing the options we have to handle it, but there's nothing we can do right this minute so there's no use dwelling on it."

"But I am going to reiterate how much I despise this newest article," Xavier muttered petulantly.

Ally sighed heavily, "Not as much as Kyle does. When he first saw it apparently he went through the roof. The only positive part of this situation is that they couldn't tell that it was Sandra or even Donnie in those photos."

"Sandra texted me earlier and she said that everything's fine. Kyle just overacted a little and she said that she calmed him down. She did say something along the lines of having to make a deal with the devil to do so, but I _think_ she was just exaggerating," Victoire added.

"Good, I do feel really bad about Donnie getting wrapped up in this though," Ally voiced.

Victoire waved off her concern, "Don't worry about him, he won't care about this, they didn't even have his name."

"I still feel bad, I'm going to send him an apology note . . . and most likely tickets to the next Puddlemere home game," Ally contemplated.

Victoire would have repeated that that wasn't necessary, but she knew that if Donnie ever found out that she told Ally _not_ to send him tickets to his favourite quidditch team, he would probably never forgive her. Or more likely he would forever be calling Victoire down to the obstetrics ward when he had to run a _frater ad fetura_ test on a pureblooded woman, as retribution. She didn't like the thought of either punishment really.

Teddy and Ally tried to start a conversation that wasn't connected to Xavier and Ally's media problems, and they did a good job of it for about ten minutes before the front door of Xavier's flat banged open and Clark and Mark swaggered in.

"This is one of the reasons why we need to find our own place," Ally muttered to Victoire, "And not give Clark and Mark copies of the key when we do it."

Xavier bent down to whisper to Ally, "The scary thing is, I never _gave_ either of them a key."

Ally's eyes widened and Victoire started to giggle as Xavier stood up and asked his beaters why they forced their way into his home.

"Well, considering that the media had a field day with you today, we thought we'd stop by and see if we could cheer you up," Clark announced cheerily.

"With your smiling faces?" Victoire asked sarcastically.

Clark pretended to accidentally sit on her in response, and when she pushed him away he clarified, "With baked goods."

"Invisible baked goods?" Teddy questioned.

Mark rolled his eyes, and then they explained to everyone what Clark actually meant. The two beaters were on their way to a café/bakery, and they stopped by to ask Xavier and (they assumed she would be with him) Ally if they wanted to join them. They extended their invitation to Victoire and Teddy as well, but the group only agreed to go with them once Clark assured his teammate that the place was very low key and that even if they were recognized, that the locals at the shop wouldn't bother them.

The six of them apparated to the location, Clark and Mark helping them with side-along apparation for the four who hadn't been there before. Clark led the head of the group, and Xavier brought up the rear because he was still a little hesitant.

"How can Clark be sure that we won't get harassed here?" Xavier questioned Mark and they walked through the door of the cute looking café and bakery.

"Because," Mark began, pointing to a cheery Clark whose first act once he entered the shop was to sweep an elderly looking man in a gentle hug, "Everyone here is well acquainted with Clark and myself, so they know better than to make a big deal out of us being quidditch player. Besides . . ."

Mark pointed once more to Clark, who had let the elderly man out of the hug, patted his back, and then slipped behind the front counter and into the off-limits kitchen. From inside the kitchen a woman's voice startlingly shrieked 'Clark!' followed by Clark's booming laughter.

"Clark's sister Tabitha has worked here for the past six years," Mark explained as Clark came out of the kitchen, dragging an apron clad Tabitha behind him.

The rest of their party took seats at an empty table, and while Clark dragged his sister over to them, Mark explained that –because Tabitha worked there and she and Zach lived near the bakery– he and Clark found themselves there a lot. At that explanation Ally had eyed him specifically and let out an exasperated sigh.

"Um, hello again," Tabitha said shyly once Clark and she had made it to the table.

Victoire, Teddy, Ally, Xavier, and Mark all took turns saying hello, and Ally watched Tabitha's reaction to Mark very carefully. She was rather certain that both of them blushed a little when they made eye contact.

"So, what can I get for all of you?" Tabitha asked them sweetly.

Mark opened his mouth, but Clark beat him to it.

"I'm going to need two supersized chocolate chunk cookies to go, right away," Clark explained, he still hadn't sat down on a chair, and Tabitha left immediately to get him his order.

"Clark," Mark chastised his teammate immediately, "Tabitha's not your personal waitress. She's not even _a_ waitress."

Clark rolled his eyes, "Of course I know that." He turned to everyone else at the table, "Tab's the one who does the baking. Or at least the best baking here since she's not the only one."

"And yet you still treated her like a waitress?" Mark retorted.

Tabitha came back at this point and handed a paper bag to Clark, "I appreciate the sentiment Mark, but it's okay. Besides, I know that while Clark does likes my cookies, they're not _his_ favourite."

Clark smiled brightly and started to inch towards the door, "Nope, these are Zach's favourite and if I want to keep my spot as Zach's favourite uncle, I'm going to have bring them to him since I'm going to go get him off the school bus."

"You're Zach's only uncle," Mark pointed out as Clark inched closer to the door.

Clark shrugged at him, and then double-checked with his sister if it was alright for him to go to her house and wait for Zach to get back from school. Tabitha had given him her permission easily, it seemed that Clark liked to see Zach any chance he could and that he did this often, and soon Clark was out the door.

Tabitha asked the others again if she could get them anything, and after a few attempts to tell her that she didn't have to serve them, she finally left with a list of orders. Mark stood up from the table and left with her because he said that she'd need help carrying the plates, and Ally muttered something about how fancying someone obviously made you forget that the person you fancy could do magic to simplify errands like that.

The two came back a moment later with the baked goods, and Mark struck up a conversation with Tabitha before she could leave. As she explained to Mark the progress Zach was making on some quidditch move that Mark had taught him the last time they saw each other, Teddy took a bite of the chocolate fudge cake that he had asked for a slice of.

"Oh Godric this is _so_ good," Teddy moaned before shoving another forkful of the cake in his mouth.

Victoire, who had opted for the apple crisp, moved her fork towards her fiancé's plate, "Really?"

Teddy pushed her fork away before it could stab a piece of the cake and he frowned at her, "Hands off. And yes really, this is the best cake I've ever had."

She pouted at him in response but withdrew her fork, she knew better than to get in-between Teddy and chocolate, "Even better than that chocolate cake we get in that bakery in France near my parents' beach home?"

" _So_ much better." His reply was muffled because his mouth was still filled with said fantastic chocolate cake.

Victoire raised an eyebrow and tried once more to get a bit of his cake, Teddy had always claimed that the French bakery made the best cake. She was able to sneak a bit onto her fork while Teddy was busy trying to fend off Ally –who had decided that she also wanted to see what Teddy was raving about– and quickly shoved the fork into her mouth. Her eyes immediately closed and she hummed with pleasure.

"Merlin this is delicious."

Ally swiped a piece of cake while Teddy and Victoire were agreeing on how absolutely fantabulous it was, and once she tasted it she had to agree with them.

"That _is_ really, really good."

"Did you make this?" Teddy asked Tabitha curiously.

She turned her head toward Teddy, previously she had been in a deep conversation with Mark, and nodded her head shyly, "I did."

"It is the best thing I have ever tasted," Teddy told her honestly.

Victoire giggled, "Teddy's a chocoholic, but I agree with him, that cake is even better than my Grandmum Molly's . . . just don't ever tell her I said that."

Tabitha smiled and blushed, "I won't and thank-you."

"Seriously, this is fantastic," Teddy repeated, he turned to Victoire, "I know that we haven't made any decisions about our wedding yet, but I want this cake."

"Tab's made wedding cakes and desserts for weddings before," Mark added helpfully.

Tabitha blushed again and sent Mark a grateful look before glancing back at Victoire and Teddy, "When are you getting married?"

"Not for two years," Victoire admitted, "But when we do, I guess you're making the cake, please?"

Clark's sister nodded her head enthusiastically, "I'd loved too."

"Excellent," Teddy agreed, "But until then, I'm going to need another slice of cake."

* * *

 **A/N:** Okay, show of honest hands, who saw that coming with Chris? (Hopefully no one because I wasn't dropping hints). Even more importantly, how do we think Victoire's going to react to this information?

Also, how do we like the discussion of magical theory? I have plans to sprinkle a little more in, and even though it is theoretical right now, Vic hopes to make it practical at some point.

And finally, how cute were Mark and Tabitha, and Clark?

 **Next Update:** Next week :)

 **Next Chapter:** We get a good chunk of Ally/Xavier interaction as they are finally trying to deal with the fallout from the articles. You won't have to wait long to find out Vic's reaction to Chris's news, because she hears about it in the next chapter. The group has another dinner party with Colton and Anastasia, we find out a bit more about Teddy's case, and Vic and Teddy begin to discuss what they need to start arranging for their future nuptials.

Teaser for Next Chapter:

 **""It would put the gossip to rest if Mr. Wood would give the public reason to believe why he is devoted to you Miss Weasley and not cheating on you. Something like admitting that you are cohabiting or even better, engaged."**

 **Ally and Xavier looked completely frozen then."**

Thank-you to everyone who has followed, favourited, read, and especially reviewed.

Biggest thanks to:

 **Jilly98, carbo21, liverpoolss, Mariana, no cure for crazy, Guest (1), Encypher, MuggleCreator, notmegan98, AngelTwins527, Ntlpurpolia, rosesnlilies, KekuleSalvador, Mundane, Seher Syed,** and **Jennifer Jules**.

 **liverpoolss** : You got to see a bit of everyone you wanted to, and found out who Dom was talking to all in one chapter :)

 **no cure for crazy** : You're right, there will be fallout, a little more gossip fodder in this chap, and then Ally and Xavier try to deal with it in the next one.

 **Guest (1)** : I'm not planning on having the wedding in this story. I think the tone of the wedding will fit better in a separate story (not as long as these) and I already have an idea of how it would go.

 **Encypher** : You found out the results of the search here, and the trial will be done in three chapters' time. Jilly already suspected why she was encouraged to go away for the weekend, so she'll know for sure once they tell her the information they learned from Lassoder. She won't be angry with them because she's used to the group, so I more imagine her rolling her eyes at them, giving them a lecture on being over-protective, and then carrying on without further incident.

 **notmegan98** : I used Anastasia because it's a pretty name, but also coincides with snobby pureblood ideas. As for Konstantin and Noelle, I did research Bulgarian and French names, respectively, until I found ones that I liked enough to use. Ones that felt like they fit. Some of the names I just come up with (like Ally and Xavier's names) but for others, there are a few websites I search (when I'm trying to find one related to a certain language like when I was trying to name Brogan and Anish) or when I'm trying to come up with a name that doesn't belong to someone I know personally, which can be hard.

 **Mariana** : I don't mind any grammar or spelling mistakes, I just like getting reviews. Please don't apologize for English not being your first language. I only speak one language, and that's English. I wish I was bilingual at least.

 **Mundane** : I don't at present have the time to write a series of one-shots of Vic's time in school. Although it is something I would consider, but they would definitely be very related to this Vic and Teddy, and would probably relate to stories they've told like Vic accidentally walking in on Xavier starkers, or Teddy making Vic run eighty bleacher sprints. Or the many times Vic got into arguments with Pennington or Colton. Stuff like that. Would those be of interest?

 **Jennifer Jules** : I still love Jeopardy. I love trivia, and Alex Trebek (which was partially developed in myself because he's Canadian and attended the same university I did, and therefore I had to walk past buildings with his name on it and posters of him for four years straight, not that I'm complaining). I used to watch Wheel of Fortune, but I'm not as good as it as I am at Jeopardy.

 **Well, I really hope that everyone liked this chapter, big surprises and all,**

 **Leave me a review if you have any questions, comments, or concerns :)**

 **Until Next time, DFTBA!**


	24. Gossip and Facts

**A/N:** Hello everyone! I hope that all of my American readers enjoyed a lovely Thanksgiving, and that my fellow CFL fans enjoyed last night's Grey Cup game, even if the team they support didn't win.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own _Harry Potter_.

 **Warning:** There is a smidgen of swearing in here, but it's Anastasia that does it so it's actually a little adorable.

* * *

 **Gossip and Facts**

 **Tuesday, September 20** **th** **2022**

 **8:17 AM**

Ally rolled over in bed and was going to curl up to Xavier and go back to sleep, but there was one problem with her plan. There was no Xavier lying on the other side of the bed. She frowned at the empty spot and then stared blurry-eyed towards the direction of the en-suite bathroom. There was a bright light shining from underneath the door, and considering that they were the only two people in the flat, Ally was fairly certain that she had solved the mystery of where her boyfriend had gone off to.

She sighed heavily and tried to roll over and go back to sleep. She only managed to keep her eyes closed for a few minutes before she rolled back over and glared at the bathroom door. She dragged herself out of bed, and just as she was about to knock on the bathroom door, Xavier opened it from the other side.

"Ally! Did I wake you?" He asked concernedly when he saw her standing outside of the bathroom.

She plopped back down on the bed and frowned at him. Or more accurately at the black dress pants and Puddlemere United polo he was wearing. She would have only been happy if he was still wearing his pyjamas. Or nothing at all. But the present situation was neither the former nor the latter, so she crossed her arms sadly over her chest.

"No, I woke myself," She replied to his answer petulantly, "But I think the better question is why you're already up and dressed. The best part about a by-week is that you can sleep in."

Xavier exhaled and sat down next to her on the bed, "I know, but I arranged to meet with the team's publicist this morning. So I still have to go in."

Her eyes narrowed, "Why didn't you tell me about this?"

"I didn't want to worry you," Xavier told her. He paused and then muttered the next part in a quieter tone, "Plus if I did I figured you'd want to come with."

She put her hands on her hips, "Of course I'd want to come with you, this concerns me as well Xav. The media is spreading lies about _our_ relationship. Not _yours_ , but _ours_."

"I know . . . I just – the team's publicists said that there was something specific that he wanted to speak with me about and it didn't sound good so I didn't want to involve you in it . . ."

"Xavier, you are my boyfriend and I am your girlfriend, so therefore we are already involved with one another. In pretty much every way possible," She paused and gave his hand a gentle squeeze, "This is going to get worse before it gets better, and it's going to be difficult, but your parents survived this and we will too. We aren't even close to having the same amount of complications concerning our relationship as your parents did."

He nodded but frowned a little, "My parents didn't have _that_ many complications."

Ally laughed, "Xav, the media made it seem like your mother was sleeping with a different Puddlemere player every week; your father was awful at answering personal questions so they were always misquoting him; and you were an eleven pound baby and apparently born _exactly_ nine months after they were married."

"Fair points."

She stood up and started to gather her clothes so that she could quickly slip into the bathroom and get ready to accompany him to the meeting with the publicist, "By the way, when did you get a letter from your publicist? I was here almost all night."

"I got it in the ten minutes it took you to go back to your flat and get some more clothes," Xavier told her. His eyes turned curious then, "You never did tell me why you came back from your flat so quickly last night. I thought you were going to stay there and get some work done."

Ally sighed and leaned against the bathroom doorway, "I was, but I didn't want to stay long once I realized that Dom had _company_."

Xavier's expression turned sympathetic, "Was it Konstantin again?"

"No, apparently Dom thinks that if she sleeps with other guys in between sleeping with Konstantin that it will stop either of them from getting clingy," Ally repeated with an eye roll.

He nodded solemnly, "That sounds like something Dom would say."

"Yeah," She agreed before suddenly smiling brightly at him, "That is one thing that I will definitely _not_ miss once we finally find a place and move in together."

Xavier smiled back and pressed a quick kiss against her lips, "I am _so_ excited to finally make that a reality."

It only took Ally about fifteen minutes to get ready –a remnant of her Hogwarts years when she would pull the odd all-nighter, sleep in too late, and then rush to get ready for class on time– and they were both seated in the publicist's office at the Puddlemere training complex just in time for Xavier's arranged meeting.

The team's publicist, a Mr. Webb, was only slightly surprised to see Ally with Xavier, and after sharing a few pleasantries they went right to business.

"So, I know that we have discussed some of this before Mr. Wood, but obviously more things have happened that make a second meeting imperative," He paused and then tried to smile at Ally, but it came out more forced than comforting, "And I'm very glad to see that you could make it to this meeting as well Miss Weasley. I think if we're going to handle this that it's important to come up with solutions as a group."

Ally nodded in agreement and Mr. Webb continued.

"The first thing I would like to discuss is the article from yesterday's paper . . ."

"It's all a complete lie," Xavier explained quickly.

Mr. Webb opened his mouth, but then waited a minute, it seemed so he could arrange his words better, "I believe you Mr. Wood, but from this point on I want to stress how important it is that you are both honest with me. Secrets, lies, and even lies of omission can make things like this even more complicated."

They both nodded their heads.

"Excellent," Mr. Webb smiled, "So, back to yesterday's article, I have had requests from pretty much every magazine except for _Quidditch Weekly_ and _Up in the Air_ for you to do an interview. I'm assuming that _Up in the Air_ hasn't asked for one because Cecilia works there and they trust her to tell them if they're missing big pieces of information, but I have no idea why _Quidditch Weekly_ hasn't asked for a comment."

"The lead editor of _Quidditch Weekly_ is Bruce Monahan, his daughter Grace was a friend of mine at Hogwarts, we were in the same year and the same dormitory," Ally stated shyly, she looked at Mr. Webb, "Perhaps that's why they've decided not to add fuel to the gossip."

Mr. Webb nodded, "Since so many magazines and newspapers have asked for a comment, myself and the rest of the team's publicists think it would be best to put out a statement. Ideally a full-length interview would be best, it would give you a chance to answer all questions offered to you and to give your side of the story, but I understand that you have some reservations about an interview."

Xavier swallowed thickly, "I don't want to do an interview because I feel like it will invite even more scrutiny and gossip into my relationship. I also don't want it to feel like I have to defend my own actions when it's the media that's spreading the lies."

"Which is why I said I suggested putting out a statement as the best option," Mr. Webb told him, "You get to pick which subjects you touch on, and exactly what words are printed."

Ally shared a look with Xavier, who was biting his lip uncertainly, "Do you think putting out a statement will stop everything, or will it only make things worse and egg them on?"

Mr. Webb shrugged his shoulders, "It's impossible to say. If you put out a statement we'd just have to wait and see what the media's response would be."

"Do we have any other options than making an interview, a statement, or separate responses to individual magazines?" Xavier asked him.

"Just the wait and see approach, but since there are other people involved in this I don't know if that would be the best option," Mr. Webb explained.

Xavier's face went stony, "There _aren't_ any other people involved in this. The woman I was hugging in the photo was best friend's wife, and she was congratulating me on winning the game. The man in the photo with Ally was a friend of her cousin's, and they were sitting together because they were listening to our quidditch game."

Mr. Webb nodded, "So neither of these people are likely to speak out to the press and say anything? Truth or gossip?"

"No, not at all."

"That's good then," Mr. Webb agreed, "But I still don't know if the wait and see approach is the best one. That's what you've been doing so far and it doesn't seem to be working."

Ally nodded her head in agreement and suggested, "Perhaps you could put out a statement saying that you condemn the gossip, but without giving them information that makes it sound like Xavier's being defensive?"

"That could work. However, it would be best if we had something solid to write in a statement to explain why the gossip is a lie," Mr. Webb recommended.

Both Xavier and Ally's faced were contorted into confused expressions.

The publicist sighed and clarified, "If I could write in the statement that Miss Weasley was something specifically special to you Mr. Wood, it might hold the gossip down for a little bit."

They still looked confused and apprehensive.

"It would put the gossip to rest if Mr. Wood would give the public reason to believe why he is devoted to you Miss Weasley and not cheating on you. Something like admitting that you are cohabiting or even better, engaged."

Ally and Xavier looked completely frozen now.

Mr. Webb coughed awkwardly, "So . . . have you discussed how far your relationship is going to go or . . ."

Both of their faces turned red; Ally's around her cheeks and Xavier's mostly around his ears. They shared a look even though they were trying to avoid eye-contact with each other at the same time. Ally glanced down at her bare hands while Xavier cleared his throat awkwardly.

"We are making arrangements to move in together, but obviously that's something very personal and not something that we would like to advertise to the entire world," Xavier's eloquent words paused here and he fumbled through the next part, "As for an en–engage . . . an agreement on where our relationship will head in the future . . . that information is very _private_ and it is _not_ something that we are going to discuss with the public right now."

Mr. Webb nodded his head and then a fatherly type of expression slipped onto his face, "I understand that your privacy is very important to you Mr. Wood, but you have to remember that as a professional quidditch player your life is always going to be in the spotlight. I've been doing this a long time, and I know it sounds contrary, but sometimes giving the public some private information can stave off their cravings for more, and allows you to control the flow of information."

Xavier looked very hesitant at his words, but Ally nodded her head understandingly. She knew that Xavier was a very private person, but he grew up as the son of two professional quidditch players. He was used to life in the public eye. Despite what he said, he knew that most of his fears about being under public scrutiny wass because he was trying to protect her from it. They had had a few discussions like this before, mostly when they started dating, and Ally had to remind him several times that she was the daughter of a Weasley. She was used to some amount of public scrutiny. In return he would argue that it was nowhere near the amount of continual and unabated scrutiny that he got, and would continue to get. When it came to that point she was never able to drum up a counter-argument.

"It sounds like you have a plan Mr. Webb, so what would you suggest?" Ally questioned.

"To keep you two in the eyes of the media, but to give them something positive to write about so that they no longer make up lies about you," He explained.

Xavier looked a little less hesitant, but still didn't seem too eager, "And how do we do that?"

"Go out in public a lot more together, get caught interacting with your teammates on a night out or with your families. It will help cement the fact that you two are entangled in each other's' lives, even if you don't have a specific label to put on it. In addition, I think it's important for Miss Weasley to get more involved with the Puddlemere organization," Mr. Webb made sure that he had both Ally and Xavier's attention before continuing, "As you both probably know, the Puddlemere organization is involved in several charitable societies. It's not mandatory by any means, but it's usually customary for the wives, husbands, or fiancée's of the players to become involved with the charities and help fundraise and plan functions and such. I think it would be prudent for Miss Weasley to start to slowly become involved in this, because that will also cement the idea in the media and the public's minds how serious your relationship is."

Xavier glanced at Ally a little worriedly when this point was mentioned. Ally had helped out with one or two of the functions in past (usually because it was something Katie was in charge of organizing) but she had not been involved in too much. She had offered to do more, but because she was so young, and originally taking potions classes once she graduated Hogwarts, she was left off the hook. She hadn't helped with anything since she and Xavier had gotten back together in June, after their separation that past November.

"We can do that, I have more free-time now since I finished potions' school and got my job at St. Mungo's," Ally considered.

Mr. Webb nodded, "I do have another suggestion that might more immediately stop the rumours about your relationship being 'on-again-off-again', but it will take a concession on your part to allow the public into just a tiny bit of your personal lives."

Once again, Xavier didn't look pleased with where the conversation was going, "What is it?"

"You mentioned that you're planning on moving in together, so perhaps you could be more candid and open about how you go about it, and maybe you'll get photographed looking for places to move in together. This way the media will know for sure that you're serious and not in an on-again-off-again relationship," Mr. Webb expounded.

Ally sent Xavier a shy smile and said, "If it's going to save us a lot of trouble in the long run, I think that that's an allowance that we can live with."

Xavier turned to her and grabbed her hand, "Are you sure about this?"

She squeezed his hand back in response, "I'm sure about you, and therefore I will do whatever I need to to make this easier. And even though I am apprehensive about allowing the media to see more of us, I think the trade-off will be worth it in the end."

He raised her hand up to his mouth so that he could press a light kiss on the back of it, "I guess we're going to have to make some plans so we can get all of this stuff checked off the list."

Ally smiled more widely at him, and then they asked Mr. Webb what they should do next. He spoke with them about what wording they would like in the statement he wanted to release about asking the media and public to be mindful about their privacy. When they had drafted something that Mr. Webb thought very appropriate, they said their thanks and then left the room.

Just outside the office door, obviously waiting their turn to speak with the publicist, were Chris Mullin and Giavanna Tracey. Ally had stopped awkwardly in the doorway when she saw Chris, and Xavier placed his hand on the small of her back to try to encourage her to move out of the way.

"Well hello Xavier!" Giavanna exclaimed excitedly when she saw the keeper. Even though she had met Ally before, she didn't do much to acknowledge her presence besides a partial nod in her general direction.

"Uh . . . hello Giavanna. Hi Chris," Xavier greeted them in a muted tone as he tried to slowly sidestep away from them, his object being to escape down the hall with Ally in tow before they had to exchange any more grueling pleasantries with the other couple.

Ally read her boyfriend's body language and could imagine what he was thinking, "Hey, I'm sure that you guys must have been waiting to see Mr. Webb, so we won't take up your time. We'll just leave right now-"

"So what were you two speaking to Mr. Webb about?" Giavanna asked bubble-headedly as she lifted her hand –the one that didn't have a death-grip on Chris's arm– up to her face to sweep some of her hair behind her ear.

Xavier and Ally shared a startled expression. Giavanna hadn't been this chummy with them (mostly Xavier) since Xavier went on a date with her and threw up on her while he and Ally were broken up. She'd barely spared them the time to give them a polite nod for the past several months and now here she was trying to be overtly friendly with them.

It really made Ally and Xavier uncomfortable.

"We were just running an idea by the team's publicist before planning any more of it," Xavier replied blandly. He knew better than to try to sidestep around answering Giavanna's question completely.

She nodded her head enthusiastically in response even though it didn't seem as though she had actually _listened_ to what Xavier said.

Giavanna started to twirl a thick lock of her blonde hair around her finger and she replied, "That's a good idea. Chris and I are actually here for a similar reason. We're here to discuss with Mr. Webb how we should go about announcing our engagement."

Ally's eyes popped open wide while Xavier just stared at the pair uncomprehendingly. Apparently the few second pause was too long for Giavanna's liking, and she dropped the piece of hair she was twirling around her finger in favour of shoving her hand into Ally's face so that the other woman could see the size of the diamond ring on her left hand.

"Are you serious right now?" Xavier bellowed astonished.

Ally's eyes widened in alarm for another reason this time and she hurriedly tried to cover up his faux pas, "Wow, that _is_ surprising, but congratulations!"

Xavier was still staring at Chris with inexplicable shock and Ally didn't really know what else to say besides what she had already said. She barely knew Giavanna as they both seemed to try their best to ignore each other whenever they ended up in the same area, and she hadn't really spoken to Chris since her sixth-year when he tried to force his affections onto Victoire.

Thankfully, the mobile phone that was in Ally's pocket buzzed and she pulled it out to look at the text message she had received as a way to momentarily distract herself from the extremely awkward situation they were in.

"Who's that?" Xavier asked her curiously, trying his best to distract himself from the fact that an engaged Chris and Giavanna were standing in front of him.

Ally sent Chris an almost imperceptible side-ways glance before looking up at Xavier from under her eyelashes, "Vic just wanted to know if I wanted her to return the cardigan she borrowed from me, tonight when we go to Colton and Anastasia's."

The boring message seemed oddly interesting to Chris, and he straightened his shoulders stiffly and shared a glance with his _fiancée_.

"We should probably go ahead in Gia, we have to discuss both the wedding and the baby with Mr. Webb."

The mobile phone dropped out of Ally's hands and clattered to the ground. She didn't even have the presence of mind to be thankful that she had cast a shatterproof spell on her phone when she first bought it months ago. Her entire mind was blank as Chris's voice saying the word 'baby' bounced around in her head.

"Baby?" Xavier questioned both confusedly and rather bluntly.

Chris plastered a bright smile onto his face and pulled Giavanna closer to him in a tight, if not a little awkward, looking embrace, "Yes, Gia's pregnant, we're going to have a baby."

Ally blinked and Xavier's mouth stayed uncomfortably open. They stood there in silence for a moment before Ally's phone buzzed again. It was the alarm she had put on her phone to remind her to leave the sports complex so that she would have enough time to make it to her next shift at work.

Xavier snapped out of his surprise first and bent down to pick up Ally's mobile. He handed it to her, placed his hand on the small of her back, and started to usher her down the hall.

"Well, Ally's got to get to work, but congratulations on everything," The words spilt out of his mouth as he steered Ally around the nearest corner and out of sight.

* * *

 **6:28 PM**

Victoire couldn't believe that she was voluntarily sitting on the –surprisingly comfortable– sofa in Anastasia and Colton's living room twice in the same month. Yet there she was, sitting next to Sandra, the both of them with more-than-half-filled wineglasses in their hands, and Anastasia looming over them and offering to re-fill their glasses even though they had only taken a few sips out of them.

"Stasia Sweetheart, give Sandra and Victoire some breathing room. I'm sure that they'll agree that you're an excellent hostess without you needing to force copious amounts of expensive elf-made wine down their throats," Colton told his wife in a leisurely drawl.

Anastasia stopped offering Victoire and Sandra wine and glared at her husband instead.

Colton smiled brightly back at her and continued, "They're not like your society friends. They actually don't need four glasses of wine each before they turn into agreeable company."

Victoire placed her free hand dramatically over her heart, "Oh my Merlin, did Colton Knott just give me a compliment?"

"I think he did," Sandra agreed, playing along, "And you should probably thank him because it's most likely going to be the nicest, and only, one you'll ever get from him."

Colton rolled his eyes while the two best friends giggled to each other. Victoire reigned in her laughter first and changed the subject.

"So how do you feel about being Xavier's newest squeeze?" She asked Sandra casually.

Her best mate sighed heavily and rested her cheek on her hand, "I'm a little less than impressed actually. I mean _Witch Weekly_ didn't even seem to try to make it look like it was just Xavier and I in the photo, you can clearly see parts of Kyle and even Cecilia in the corners of the photo."

"At least they called you pretty in the article," Anastasia told Sandra a little resentfully, "When those photos of Xavier and me were published, all they mentioned in the headline was that I was wearing muggle clothing."

"So as awful as I know this situation is with the media spreading lies about Ally and Xavier's relationship, I will admit that it's a little nice that I'm no longer the only other person who gets published as having an affair with Xavier," Victoire commented from behind the rim of her crystal wineglass.

Anastasia put down the bottle of wine, picked up her own glass, and glanced at Sandra, "I hope that you didn't get any professional backlash because of the pictures that were published."

Sandra shrugged and Kyle shook his head as he sat on the arm of the sofa near his wife, "We came out of it okay. The clients that we brought with us to the game obviously knew that Sandra was just giving Xavier a hug at the end of his game, and the picture was thankfully unidentifiable enough that no one else at work, or that we do business with, would have noticed that it was Sandra."

"That's something at least," Victoire commented.

Colton stood up a few minutes later to go to the front door, and came back a moment later with Ally and Xavier.

"Hi, we're sorry we're late," Ally apologized sweetly as Colton took her raincoat from her.

Anastasia waved off Ally and Xavier's apology, and Victoire piped up that they were not by any means the last people to arrive since that honour would not doubt go to Teddy, who got held up at work and had promised that he would get there as soon as he was done.

"Xavier," Victoire began slowly once he and Ally were seated and offered refreshments by their exacting hostess, "You wouldn't happen to know who Devon Bagley is, would you?"

Xavier scoffed and rolled his eyes at her, "Of course I know who Devon Bagley is. She's only the most innovative mind in quidditch equipment development and design in this last half century."

"I didn't realize that it was such a big field," Sandra commented sarcastically as she took a delicate sip of her wine.

Both Victoire and Xavier ignored her.

"Yes, well I worked a few hours in the emergency medical ward today and, as always, everything that happens between myself and my patients are confidential. However, in a completely hypothetical situation, I might have –hypothetically speaking– met and healed someone today who may have, hypothetically, been 'the most innovative mind in quidditch equipment development in this last half century'. And this hypothetical woman who I hypothetically healed might have been so happy with my skill and bedside manner that she might have, hypothetically, given me an autograph. And, if she did hypothetically give me an autograph I might have brought that autograph to give to my friend who may be the first string keeper for Puddlemere United," Victoire explained as she pulled a piece of parchment out of her pocket and magiked it over to a stunned looking Xavier.

"This is bloody brilliant," Xavier exclaimed happily as he unfolded the parchment and read the neat signature that non-hypothetically read _Devon Bagley_.

Ally raised an eyebrow at her boyfriend and sighed, "You get excited about the oddest things sometimes."

Kyle chuckled, "It's definitely more than sometimes."

"Hey!"

Once they were done insulting Xavier, they moved onto general topics about work, including a handful more hypothetical stories. Teddy arrived to the party only about a quarter of an hour after it was supposed to start, and Victoire jumped out of her seat in excitement when he finally arrived. She pressed a kiss to his cheek, and when she pulled back she noticed that his smile didn't reach his eyes.

"Is there something wrong Teddy?"

"It was just a . . . long day at work."

Anastasia was very adept at reading between the lines, and within a few seconds she had shepherded everyone out of the living room and towards the dining room, leaving Victoire and Teddy alone in the former.

"Did something happen at work today?" Victoire asked worriedly as she led him over to the sofa and encouraged him to sit on it.

Teddy pinched the bridge of his nose, "A lot did happen at work, but it was all good. Mr. Penzik was in contact and he said he was able to do everything on your list and got a healer who specializes in epidemiology to look at it. He is very happy with the results, and is ready to present it when the trial commences on Thursday."

"That's great," Victoire replied encouragingly as she grabbed her half-filled wineglass and handed it to him, figuring that he might need it a little more than she did at that moment.

He took a sip of the wine and then nodded, "It is, and to add to the good news, Jilly and Kurt found Simon Lachapelle. They also found photographic identification of him to compare to the photos we do have on Patient Zed and it is definitely the same person. Additionally, they found a muggle paper trail firmly connecting him to Ecuador in January, which as you know, shares a border with Peru."

"So you found evidence that he could have been in Peru in February in time to catch the disease," She stated.

"That we did."

Victoire grabbed his free hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze, "This should work then Teddy. You've got all the proof you need now to take down Patient Zed–Simon Lachapelle, along with the others in the trial."

Teddy nodded again, "I know. I stayed late today because we were able to uncover more information on Lachapelle and his relationship to the Holmwoods, and we needed to hand it over to the agents from the N. A. M. C. O. C. I. D."

"This is all good news Teddy."

He let out a long sigh and then considered the wineglass in his hand before chugging it all back.

"So what's wrong then?"

"I don't know," Teddy admitted sadly, "I just – I saw a photo of a young Lachapelle and his mother today, and . . . and oddly enough, all I could think was 'this woman looks like Grandmum'."

Victoire didn't exactly know how to respond, so they were both silent for a moment before she considered, "His father _was_ Eldon Holmwood, and you told me yourself that Eldon Holmwood was almost betrothed to Andromeda before he was excommunicated to France. It's disturbing, but not exactly that surprising that he later had a relationship with a woman that looked like her as he remembered her."

The look on Teddy's face told her that he considered the whole situation a lot worse than just 'disturbing'. She inched closer to him and rested a hand on his cheek, turning his face so that he was looking directly into her eyes.

"Eldon Holmwood is dead, and as of Friday _both_ of his sons should be in prison. You'll be able to move on from this agonizingly slow case, and hopefully onto something new that _won't_ be connected to the Holmwood family," Victoire told him softly.

He cracked a smile for the first time, "I never thought I'd say this, but Merlin am I looking forward to going back to checking out low-priority suspicions of dark magic."

Victoire chuckled, interviewing people about low-priority suspicions of dark magic was one of the most boring tasks an auror had. Usually it was just confused older people or nosy busybodies and they were almost always false alarms. Teddy must have really been tired of the researching and preparation they had to do for the trial to be wishing that he would be assigned busywork instead.

They stood up a few moments later and decided to join the others in the dining room. Once they arrived Anastasia quickly announced that their timing was perfect, and they all sat down to their meal. There were several minutes during which the group focused on filling their plates and glasses, and then tasting and complimenting their host and hostess on the delicious food.

While they jumped from niceties to banal small talk, Victoire noticed that Ally and Xavier were shooting each other specific looks out of the corners of their eyes.

"And how are you, favourite cousin of mine?" Victoire asked before taking a bit of the super fancy gourmet homemade pizza they were having for dinner. She was a little disappointed that couldn't make fun of Anastasia and Colton's food-snobbishness when it was probably the best pizza she'd ever had.

Ally looked a little startled at being accosted, and she pretended to look around the room, "Who are you talking to Vic? I don't see James anywhere."

Victoire sent her a glare at hearing Ally bring up one of the running jokes their family had (mainly that of James claiming to everyone that he was Victoire's favourite cousin no matter how often she denied it).

" _Alexandra_."

Ally snickered at her cousin's stern use of her first name, "I'm good Victoire." She paused and then shared a look with Xavier, "A lot better because Xavier and I finally had a much needed discussion with one of Puddlemere's publicists."

"And they came up with a plan to fix your problem with the media?" Sandra asked hopefully.

Xavier dragged his fork through his salad, "Together we . . . devised a plan to put in place that will hopefully change how the media portrays us."

"And _who_ they portray you with?" Kyle asked, not fully able to keep the bitterness out of his tone. He may have been glad that there was no basis or backlash from Sandra being photographed with Xavier, but it didn't mean that he liked to even entertain the implication that his wife would ever cheat on him.

Xavier bowed his head in Kyle's direction and then there was a comfortable pause as everyone took a bite of food or a sip of drink.

Ally broke the pause, "When we finished talking to the publicist, we left his office and found Chris and Giavanna Tracey outside . . . they were waiting because they wanted to talk to the team's publicist about their impending marriage."

Victoire started coughing, she picked the wrong time to take a sip of wine, and Teddy thumped her on the back concernedly until it sounded like her airway was clear.

"Chris is getting _married_?" Kyle asked uncomprehendingly.

"To her?" Sandra added completely aghast.

Anastasia turned to her husband, "Colton can you believe that – Why don't you seem surprised?"

Colton put his fork down, "You don't know how happy I am that you've found out from someone else. Merlin I didn't know how I was going to keep _that_ a secret for much longer."

Victoire spoke for the first time since Ally dropped the information bombshell, "You already knew Colton?"

The man in question threw back what was left in his wineglass, "Mullin and Miss Tracey might have hypothetically come to my office because Mr. Tracey wanted me to draw a pre-nup up for them."

"A pre-nup?" Teddy replied surprised.

"Giavanna Tracey might be a bitch, but she's set to inherit a lot of money," Anastasia explained in a perfectly offhand tone.

Colton's eyes widened when he heard his wife curse, and Victoire snickered at his expression.

"Which is why I am personally surprised to hear that she's marrying Chris. He may be a quidditch player, but he's second string and doesn't have the amount of money, fame, or social class that someone like her would probably want in a spouse," Sandra stated. She had only met Giavanna Tracey a handful of times, but the woman did not make a good first, second, or even fifth impression.

Colton lifted up his fork and stuffed his mouth full of food so that he wouldn't let slip the information that was still confidential –namely that Giavanna had mentioned that Chris would soon being getting a spot on Puddlemere's first string team.

"Well I think I know one good reason for why they're getting married," Ally commented as she stabbed a piece of food with her fork.

Xavier nodded, "It's because Giavanna's pregnant."

It was Anastasia who choked on her drink this time. Colton's eyes widened in worry and his hands fluttered unsurely around his wife for a moment before Victoire sent a wandless spell at Anastasia to make sure that her throat would clear.

"Gia's pregnant too? You've got to be kidding me," Anastasia muttered when she was finally able to breathe again. She indelicately put her elbows on the table and put her face in her hands.

Nobody but Colton seemed to understand what the word 'too' referred to, but they were all quiet as they didn't really know how to respond. It was a bit of a shock to everyone to learn that Chris was expecting a baby, but that was pretty much the only emotion the news triggered. Anastasia on the other hand, seemed to take the information that one of her societal acquaintances was –most likely accidentally– pregnant, rather personally.

Victoire didn't like the awkward pause, so she tried her best to change the subject, "I still can't believe that they're getting a pre-nup. I mean, I don't think anything else can scream 'I-don't-trust-that-this-marriage-will-last' more than signing a pre-nup."

She was bringing the topic up so that she could try to steer the conversation away from the pregnancy portion, but she was serious in her comment about thinking that pre-nups were like admitting that someone in the relationship was going to be unfaithful.

"Kyle and I have a pre-nup."

"What!?"

"Kyle and I signed a pre-nup before we got married," Sandra repeated seriously.

Colton nodded at Victoire, "It's true, your sister and I drew it up."

Victoire felt that it must have looked like her eyes were about to pop out of her head, "But why did you get a pre-nup? You can't have gone into your marriage thinking that you're going to cheat on each other."

Kyle frowned at Victoire but Sandra decided that the explanation for her strong-minded best mate would probably be best coming from her, "Not all pre-nups are about monetary protection from infidelities Victoire. Kyle is set to inherit a controlling portion of his family's company, signing a pre-nup wasn't about money, it was about getting all of the complicated assets and other things in order. For example if, heaven forbid, Kyle and I were to get a divorce; without signing a pre-nup I would get half of everything, including assets, and specifically half of the company stock that would be in Kyle's name. If that stock were to be split in half, it would take away Kyle's controlling share. And if I gave my new hypothetical share to a non-family stockholder, they may have an opportunity to take over the company if we had enough combined to create a controlling share. In the pre-nup it states that I would get half of the monetary value of Kyle's stock in case of a divorce, but not the control of the stock itself to protect from something like this."

Victoire slowly started to nod her head, the information did make sense, even if she was still surprised that her best mate had never mentioned to her before that she had a pre-nup.

"They can be pretty useful things, sometimes it's difficult to cover all of the potential scenarios when writing up a will, so a pre-nup can help cover some of those bases. We were writing up our wills anyway for the wedding, so we had Colton draft us up a pre-nup as well," Kyle explained.

Colton took a sip of his wine and addressed Victoire and Teddy, "Speaking of wills, I know that you two don't plan on getting married for two years, but have you two started getting your paperwork ready to do all of that? You'll both need to write wills, or re-write them if you already have one, and you'll need to sort out your financial situation as well."

"Will it take a lot of time to do that?" Teddy asked Colton curiously.

The blonde shook his head, "No, it shouldn't. You and Victoire probably only have to combine each of your separate bank vaults, and that shouldn't be too difficult to arrange."

Victoire and Teddy shared a look that Colton caught on to, "What is it?"

"It's just, we each have more than one bank vault," Victoire elucidated slowly.

Colton titled his head to the side, "Well how many do you have?"

Victoire decided to go first, "Well, I have my regular bank vault that I use for day-to-day needs, it's the one my residency and internship pays go into, and I have a second high-interest savings vault filled with the money I got from the Tri-Wizard Tournament."

"I forgot that you got a lot of gold from that," Colton commented, "So is that all?"

"Some of the gold is invested in different things, but I'm not sure what or how much."

Colton's eyes narrowed, "How do you not know where your money is?"

Victoire shrugged, "My mother's the one who handles all of that financial stuff."

"Your mother?"

"She's a financial advisor that specializes in investment, it's literally her job," Victoire explained.

Colton took another casual sip of his drink, "So besides some investments that you don't know much about, is that all? Two accounts."

Victoire nodded and then stopped herself, she looked like she just thought of something new, "Oh, there's a safe deposit box under my name in a bank in France as well."

"Really?" Ally asked curiously.

"Yeah, my Great-grandmother Séraphine created boxes for all of her great-grandchildren. She puts expensive jewelry and things in them each year on our birthdays. We aren't able to get the contents of the boxes until we have a child. Personally I think it's her way to ensure that her genes get spread to the next generation," Victoire explained in a tone that made it clear that she thought the idea was sheer lunacy.

Colton snorted, "So Dom's never going to get the contents of her safe deposit box then?"

"I highly doubt it," Victoire agreed.

He smiled and then glanced at Teddy, "So what about you Teddy, how many accounts do you have?"

Teddy ran a hand through his hair, "Well I have a normal account like Victoire that I use for everyday needs, my auror pay goes into it."

"But you have more than one account?" Colton asked curiously.

Teddy exhaled heavily and pulled a little more harshly at his hair, "I also have an account that I inherited that . . . that has what's left of the Black family fortune in it."

The room was silent as Victoire quietly explained, "Andromeda's the eldest remaining member of the Black family, so she ended up with what was left that Uncle Harry didn't have, even though she didn't particularly want it, and Teddy inherited her portion when he turned seventeen. Uncle Harry also gave him the portion of the Black family fortune that _he_ had inherited."

Victoire knew that the real explanation was a bit more complicated as it involved a lot of back and forth between Harry, Andromeda, and Narcissa Malfoy (most of it actually concerning Harry and Narcissa teaming up together to convince Andromeda to accept the money), but she also knew that this was still a touchy subject for Teddy.

"Do you at least know roughly how much is in your vault?" Colton asked him.

Teddy shook his head, "No, Fleur's handled the specifics of the fortune since Grandmum first received it."

"So just two accounts then?" Sandra questioned inquisitively. She was obviously good with money as well since she was a registered accountant, but she had never really spoken about money with Victoire and Teddy before.

The metmorphmagus looked like he was about to pull a chunk of his hair out of his head, "No, I have three vaults. I–I inherited the Lestrange family vault as well."

Everyone seemed to know better than to ask him how he ended up with that particular inheritance, but Victoire could tell that everyone _was_ curious to find out how and why.

"Well, in my opinion, if you two are going to start working on planning your wedding, the first thing you should do is work out your financials. You sound like you have a lot of money that you need to consider," Colton told Victoire and Teddy.

"And other assets," Ally piped up, she knew in part some of what Teddy had inherited, "Teddy also inherited properties and other items with the Black estate."

"With the Lestrange estate too," Victoire added softly as she grabbed Teddy's hand and gave it a comforting squeeze.

Colton looked perplexedly at Teddy again, "How many properties?"

"Five."

Colton let out a low whistle and pinched the bridge of his nose, "Let me guess. The two vaults you inherited also have antiques and heirlooms that will probably need to be appraised?"

"Most likely."

"Merlin that is a lot of stuff to go through. You'll probably need to visit the vaults themselves so that you can appraise the items in them as well," Colton stated, "You two should probably start looking into these things now so that you won't have to deal with it on a time-crunch later on."

Victoire glanced at Teddy, and even though he was still rigid from bringing up the topic of the inheritances that he never asked for, he tried his best to smile at her and nodded his head. She smiled back and then looked at Colton.

"So, besides getting our up-to-date financial portfolios from my mother, how exactly should we go about getting this stuff in order?" She asked him.

Before he opened his mouth Anastasia smiled brightly, "Colton and I can help you with that when you're ready. I can help appraise the items in the vaults, and Colton can help you with getting the other affairs in order."

Victoire smiled back in return, "Thank you, we appreciate the offer."

The rest of the evening passed in less stressful conversation and with more laughter. It wasn't until the end of the evening, when the visitors were starting to get ready to leave, that Victoire found the opportunity to be alone in the hallway with her hostess.

"Thank you for having us Anastasia," Victoire told the other blonde woman kindly.

Anastasia laughed merrily, "Your welcome, and thank you for coming. It was actually Colton's idea, not that he'd ever admit to it. We had lunch with some old Hogwarts friends of ours on Monday, and I don't think it was exactly as enjoyable for him as he thought it would be. Again, I don't think that he would ever admit to it, but I think he prefers to spend time with you guys than with our old Slytherin friends."

"Really?" Victoire asked mischievously. There was no way that she _wasn't_ going to bring this up with Colton at some point and tease him about it later.

"Yes, it's just different being with them now than it was before. Now it seems like we're all supposed to be bragging about our lives and trying to outdo each other instead of actually enjoying each other's company," Anastasia admitted.

Victoire touched the other woman's arm gently, "I enjoy your company."

"And I enjoy yours and everyone else's."

Victoire swallowed, "Even when we were discussing Giavanna Tracey's pregnancy?"

Anastasia's hands went to fix her already perfect hair, "You noticed that huh?"

Her tone was an attempt at humour, but both she and Victoire heard it fall flat.

"I know how hard it is to hear about other women being pregnant when you aren't. Especially when it's something that you really, _really_ want for yourself."

Anastasia folded her arms tightly over her chest, "I know that I have no right to feel jealous of them, especially since Colton and I made the decision _together_ to put a temporary hold on trying to have another baby, but-"

"Stasia," Victoire interrupted reassuringly, "You are allowed to feel whatever it is you do feel when you hear about it. Just because it was your choice not to try to get pregnant doesn't mean that you aren't allowed to feel jealous of other people who are. You made a decision to do what is best for you and Colton right now, but you're still permitted to want something while you're trying to figure things out."

Anastasia smiled and pulled Victoire into a tight hug, when she let go she sent the other woman a shrewd look, "Are you talking from personal experience?"

Victoire exhaled heavily and ran a hand through her loose blonde hair, "I don't even know anymore."

* * *

 **A/N:** Well there you go, if anything Vic's a little stunned with the news about Chris, and Anastasia is taking Giavanna and her friend's pregnancy just a little personally.

Also, Ally and Xavier have now finally reached some sort of agreement with the publicist to allow a little bit more of their private life to the public. So, how do you think that will go?

And lastly, I know the discussion about Vic and Teddy's financial assets kind of came out of left field, but if you trust me, you know it will go somewhere. I've always wanted to touch more on Teddy's 'relationship' with his extended family, but I wanted to wait for a natural introduction to it. Most of the stories about Teddy that I've read either have him as cool and confident, or as a despondent and a sometimes angry teenager because of his background. I've always been interested in a mix between the two, because just one or the other seems a little one-dimensional to me. I like the idea of Teddy being able to be a confident adult in most situations, but to have this little bit that's he's very stubborn and unsure about. I think it makes him and Victoire match even more, so you can be sure that little by little I'll be delving more in this story into Teddy's relationship with everyone in his family, and that includes Andromeda. So, I hope you won't mind that.

 **Next Update:** Next Week :)

 **Next Chapter:** We're still a few days away from the trial, so it's back to work as normal at the Auror Department and St. Mungo's, and we get to see Teddy and Vic in action at their respective jobs to get a little taste of normalcy. We will get a peek at a Puddlemere United team meeting, and of course Vic has another meeting with Healer McDavid, where we get to delve even deeper into magical theory, which it sounded like you were all on board to hear about.

Teaser for Next Chap:

 **""Want to go on a short fieldtrip?" Harry asked him pleasantly.**

 **Teddy picked up the file and frowned when he saw that there was only one small piece of parchment in the file, "What's this?"**

 **"Read it and then grab an auror-in-training to bring with you," Harry told him just as he turned around and left the room."**

Thanks again to everyone who has followed, favourited, read, and especially reviewed!

So, as of posting I'm only nine reviews short of 600, and I would love to get to that before I update next :)

Biggest thank-yous to:

 **AngelTwins527, liverpoolss, KekuleSalvador, zvc56, cjaben1, mazzmataz, duchesslynn4, rosesnlilies, Paddfoot12, no cure for crazy, Jennifer Jules,** and **orchids. and. magnolias**.

 **cjaben1** : I have considered doing a short-story on them, but I've considered doing a short story on pretty much all of my characters. For now I'm just going to keep things as it is, but don't worry, this is not the last we will see of Clark, Mark, and Tabitha. Ally seems to be the biggest shipper or Mark and Tabitha, but Vic and of course Xavier and Teddy have heard their theories of course. Everyone else who may or may not see something between the two, just know enough to keep their noses out of other people's business. Since Ally and Vic are Weasleys, they do not :)

 **mazzmataz** : Well I hope that you liked Colton and Anastasia's interactions here.

 **rosesnlilies** : I saw Fantastic Beasts the night it came out here in Canada and it was fantastic :)

 **Paddfoot12** : You've actually hit the nail on the head there. I try to keep certain loose themes with my stories, so when I write the wedding I want it to be separate (in case some people only want to read about that part) and si that the story all revolves around the same few themes.

 **Jennifer Jules** : I actually didn't check Pottermore for info about wandcores. The first time I looked up wandcores was when I was researching for TTA about Vic, Noelle, and Konstantin's wands for the weighing of the wands ceremony. There was no Pottermore back then, so I just ended up doing a search on wandcores for Harry Potter and a website talking about it and mostly different types of wood came up. I used a bit of that, added my own and my own reasoning (which will tie into other ends of this story) and that's where it came from.

 **orchids. and. magnolias** : Don't worry there will be lots of baby cuteness even if it's not from a surprise Tedtoire baby. (We do have Rowan after all, and Brogan's not a baby, but he'd still cute). As for my updates, make sure that you're following this story and then you'll be sure not to miss an update.

 **I hope that everyone enjoyed this update,**

 **If you did, please leave me your comments in your reviews,**

 **If you had any questions or concerns, you can leave me those also,**

 **Until next time, DFTBA!**


	25. Crossover

**A/N:** Hey there everyone, between my last update and this one I officially turned 22, and I am actually starting to feel old. Anyhoo, I hope that you enjoy this chapter, it's heavily Teddy/Vic based (although there is some Xavier), but I think it's fun to see a normalish day of both of theirs' at work.

 **Disclaimer** **:** I do not own _Harry Potter_.

* * *

 **Crossover**

 **Wednesday, September 21** **st** **2022**

 **9:45 AM**

Teddy felt tired.

Worn out.

Exhausted.

It was an odd feeling, especially considering that he had had a full night's sleep the night before and a –mostly– relaxing evening with their friends. He still felt a little frazzled about the brief discussion they had the night before about him and Victoire getting their finances in order for their impending marriage, but he knew that those were insecurities that he could push aside until they physically had to go to Gringotts and deal with it. He _had_ noticed that night, before they went to bed, that Victoire seemed preoccupied, but she was back to herself that morning so he had assumed that she was probably just thinking about what they had learned that night at dinner.

They had yet to have a conversation about what they learned about Chris and Giavanna Tracey, but Teddy was rather happy about the news, if only because it meant that Chris wouldn't be able to think that he had any chance with Victoire once _he_ was married.

"I don't know what to do with all of this free time that we have right now," Kurt commented from across the office as he spun around in circles on his wheelie chair.

Teddy, Hayden, Kurt, and Jilly still had their desks and work set up in the same closed in office space that they had been given way back when the investigation started, and Teddy had been idly wondering whether or not they'd be able to keep the space once they officially closed the case in a few days.

"Don't say that too loud," Hayden commented as he walked into the office with a half-eaten yoghurt cup in his hands. He sat down at his desk next to Teddy's, "If one of the supervising aurors hears you, you can be sure that they'll hand you a stack of cases filled with low-priority suspicions of dark magic."

Hayden was just finishing extracting the last scoop of yoghurt from his plastic cup when Jilly walked in and used magic to send memos shaped like paper aeroplanes to each of the men in the room.

"What's this?" Kurt asked her curiously, not even bothering to unfold the aeroplane.

Jilly sat down in her chair, "It's a copy of the memo that Mr, Penzik sent me, it's for our individual records. We're to meet with him at one o'clock to go over the evidence for the last day of the trial tomorrow."

Hayden and Teddy both pinned the note onto their bulletin boards, Teddy going one step farther to copy the message onto his desk calendar and day planner; while Kurt just dated the wing of the aeroplane, opened up a desk drawer, and set the new piece of paper into his 'memo hanger' that held all of the other memos that he had received over the past few months.

"So what do we do until then?" Kurt asked the room at large, going back to doing circles in his desk chair.

"Well," Hayden began as he opened up a file and flipped through it, "Even though we are going to lock away a half a dozen people in connection with this smuggling ring case, there are still some loose ends that can be followed afterwards to try to find even more people involved."

Jilly nodded and started to flip through the thinnest file she had on her desk, "Kurt and I have a few leads left, but most of them are from way before we got our break-through lead with Patient Zed."

"We have a handful, but oddly enough, our best lead is the one about the stupid maple leaf we found in some of the Moche ruins," Hayden commented as he flipped through his file and found the photo he and Teddy took of said maple leaf back in February when they were in Peru.

Teddy sighed, "Ugh. I doubt we'll find anything from that. We looked into the tips Victoire and Ally gave us back in June, but we still couldn't find anything."

The four aurors were just making sure that they had all of their papers in order for their meeting with the prosecution lawyer at one o'clock, when Harry Potter strolled into the room and tossed a file onto Teddy's desk.

"Want to go on a short fieldtrip?" Harry asked him pleasantly.

Teddy picked up the file and frowned when he saw that there was only one small piece of parchment in the file, "What's this?"

"Read it and then grab an auror-in-training to bring with you," Harry told him just as he turned around and left the room.

"Is that rather important?" Hayden asked his partner as Teddy started to read the writing that was on the parchment paper.

Teddy let out a sigh, but it was accompanied by a small smile, "Not dramatically. It's just a low-priority suspicion of dark magic, but it _is_ something that I specifically should deal with."

He stood up and started to collect his cloak and the file Harry gave him, "I haven't had much contact with the aurors-in-training besides helping out with a few concealment and disguise demonstrations. Is there one in particular I should want to bring with me?"

The others shrugged in response, but before he left Kurt added, "Oh, if you take Ainsley Bryant with you, just don't bring my name up in conversation."

Teddy sent Kurt a scowl in response, and left just as Jilly started to give Kurt a lecture about the perils of hooking up with trainee aurors. He walked towards the lifts, and stopped around the bullpen that housed the aurors-in-training. He stared at them all for a few seconds before deciding just to take a leap of faith and pick the trainee closest to him.

The auror-in-training in question seemed surprised to be accosted with a curt, 'Hey you, you're with me', but he got up from his desk and hurried after Teddy anyway. When they entered the lift, the auror-in-training asked 'Auror Lupin' where they were going, and Teddy spared the younger man's badge a quick glance before replying.

"We are just going to check out a citizen's report about dark magic use Trainee O'Toole," Teddy explained.

"Oh."

The trainee auror's tone didn't sound as excited as it had before, and Teddy bit his lip to hold in a smirk.

* * *

 **10:01 AM**

"Ugh, why are we even here? We have a by-week, they whole point of a by-week is for us to be anywhere but at this damned place," Clark moaned as he lay out face down on one of the benches in the Puddlemere United locker room.

Mark rolled his eyes and leaned up against his locker since there wasn't room to sit on the bench because his fellow beater was occupying the majority of said bench. "Actually, I think the whole reason for a by-week is because it's a by-product of how the league schedules the games . . ."

"You're definitely a buzzkill right now Mark," Clark complained, his face still pressed against the wooden bench.

Xavier eyed the two beaters warily, "What's up with you two today? You don't exactly seem like your normal cheery selves."

"Clark had half a dinner with his parents last night," Mark explained as he leaned forward and patted his friend on the head.

"Half a dinner?" Xavier asked confusedly.

Clark groaned, "My parents are awful and I'm amazed that I even made it through half of a dinner with them."

Xavier sent Mark a questioning glance, and the beater just shook his head as if to say 'it's-best-not-to-ask-any-more-questions'. Clark stayed face-down on the bench until two of the team's chasers came in and forced him to move so that they could sit on the bench.

Once there was room for everyone to sit on the bench, Nadia Cassano stalked into the room and sat down heavily on the bench next to Xavier.

"Aren't you supposed to be in Italy?" Clark asked the chaser when he seemed to finally stop sulking over his own problems.

Nadia had planned to spend most of her by-week in Italy so that she could visit her family, and specifically her friends Dante and Annalisa Azzarà as Annalisa was set to give birth to their fourth child in a few weeks.

"I got a message saying that I needed to get back here right away, no other information than that," She replied a little grumpily.

She had been looking forward to her mini-vacation in Italy, and now that it had been cut short she would probably have to stay in England for the rest of the week, and add to the fact that her boyfriend Malcolm Wood wasn't in England, but off in Brussels doing research and writing an article, she didn't enjoy the way the week was turning out.

"We don't know why we're here either," Mark told her comfortingly in reply.

Seconds later the team's seeker walked into the room along with the coaches.

"Thank you all for coming in even though this is supposed to be a by-week," Their head coach began.

He then turned the floor over to the team's seeker, who was unobtrusive as he explained why they had all been called in that day. He reminded his teammates that his parents, who lived in Sweden, had been ill for some time and that it didn't look like they were going to get any better. He swallowed thickly before admitting that he had agreed to take a spot on a quidditch team in his family's hometown of _Arboga_ so that he could move his family and be closer to them. His teammates looked sympathetic, but they did all seem taken aback when he said that his trade would become effective by Thursday.

"So, the reason why you are all here," Their coach said, picking up the explanation, "Besides to hear about this trade, is because we have heard from the league that our by-week will end early, and a new game has been scheduled against the Falmouth Falcons at their pitch for Friday night."

Clark immediately raised his hand, "But if we're losing our seeker on Thursday, how are we supposed to find a replacement for him for Friday?"

The coaches shared a look before one explained, "Since we are losing our seeker on such short notice, Puddlemere's second string seeker will be filling in until we pick the permanent replacement."

The players all nodded their heads and then the coaches said that they expected all of the players to be ready for practice by one o'clock that afternoon, and then excused themselves. They all spent a few moments so that they could speak to their seeker and wish him well, and when they were done, they slowly started to leave the locker room.

As a Xavier walked out of the locker room with Nadia, Clark, and Mark, Nadia started to grumble.

"The coaches better find a permanent replacement for our seeker soon. I don't know Mullin that well, but if he's still dating Tracey's daughter there is no way that I'm going to be able to handle having her around and trying to stick her prissy nose into the team's business."

"Unfortunately Nadia, I have a feeling that Chris's tenure as our seeker might end up becoming permanent," Xavier commented as he thought about the discussion he had had with his friends last night. Sandra's comment about Giavanna wanting to marry someone who had more money or was more famous stuck with him and was now running through his mind.

Nadia made a face, "Why would that be?"

"Because Giavanna is marrying Chris, sooner rather than later too," Xavier explained quietly.

Nadia looked like she wanted to hex something or, more likely, someone, " _Blech_. I can just see it now, Miss Richie-Rich is probably going to nag her father until he puts pressure on the coaches to give her fiancé the starting seeker position."

Clark and Mark wisely stayed silent while Xavier patted Nadia on the back, "We don't know for sure what will happen, so let's just get through this each day at a time."

"Fair enough. But if I have to see Giavanna's smug and snobbish face more than twice a week from now on, I am definitely going to hex someone."

* * *

 **10:04 AM**

"So we're here to check out a sighting of dark magic in Engollan?" O'Toole asked Teddy more than a little incredulously as they walked through the small town.

Teddy understood the younger man's suspicions. Engollan was a very small muggle town in Cornwall, and not exactly known to be a popular haunt for dark wizards.

"The man who owled in the sighting this morning is from here, and as you know it is important to check the viability of all sightings sent into the department," Teddy recited in a very proper tone as they walked down the main street.

O'Toole nodded his head and mused, "I just thought that once you have as much experience as an auror as you do, that you were no longer required to answer low-priority sightings of dark magic."

"There's no task in the Auror Department too small," Teddy replied, "Besides, I have experience with this particular person."

They were just coming up to a small cottage, and Teddy noted that there were no security spells or wards around the property like most wizarding homes had.

"What experience?" O'Toole asked inquisitively.

Teddy didn't reply, instead he just knocked on the door and then took a step back. An elderly wizard with silver hair and a stooped posture opened the door widely and almost toppled as he leaned through the front door to get a look at who was at his front step.

"Ah Theodore," The wizard exclaimed jauntily as he squinted through the lenses of his thick-framed glasses, "What a nice and unexpected surprise this is. Have you stopped by for a visit?"

Teddy grabbed the man's hand and gave it a firm, yet still rather gentle, shake, "I am afraid that this isn't a social call Elphias. I'm here because you contacted the Auror Office this morning about an incident that you witnessed that involved dark magic."

The old wizard looked a little surprised by Teddy's words, but then he quickly started nodding his head, "Yes of course . . . I remember doing that. I just didn't expect you to get here this quickly."

Teddy nodded his head and then gestured to O'Toole, "Mr. Doge, this is trainee auror O'Toole." He turned to O'Toole, "O'Toole, this is Mr. Elphias Doge."

O'Toole nodded his head and muttered something about being pleased to meet him while Teddy and Elphias mostly ignored him and walked into the house. Mr. Doge ushered the two aurors into his cozy living room and then asked them if they wanted any refreshments. Teddy and O'Toole told them that they were fine, and then Teddy started asking Mr. Doge questions.

"Elphias, your message to the Auror Department said that you saw someone using dark magic this morning, could you explain what you saw please?" Teddy asked him gently.

Mr. Doge frowned and spent several moments as he tried to think. Teddy waited patiently for a response, but it seemed that the silence just made O'Toole antsy.

"Mr. Doge, in your report you mentioned something about your neighbours. Which neighbours did you mean?" O'Toole questioned the silver haired wizard firmly.

Mr. Doge's hands started to flutter around the arms of the chair he was sitting in, and his face started to look flustered, "You gentleman must be thirsty. I'll get you some tea."

"Mr. Doge," O'Toole interrupted as he held a hand out to stop the wizard from getting up off his chair, "We have already declined your generous offer for refreshment. What we would like is for you to talk about the dark magic sighting you contacted the department about."

The silver haired wizard's hands started to shake and he stood up rather wobbly, "I'll go get you that tea."

O'Toole tried to stop him once more, but Teddy shook his head at the younger auror and they were quiet until Mr. Doge was out of hearing range in the kitchen.

"Let him make the tea. The routine is soothing for him and it should calm him down. If you continue to fluster him his memory will only get worse," Teddy told O'Toole in hushed tones as he glanced into the kitchen to make sure that Mr. Doge was being careful during his preparation of the tea.

"Does the man normally have such an abysmal memory?" O'Toole questioned Teddy.

Teddy took a deep breath and did his best to hide the frown he wanted to send at the other auror, "Mr. Doge has Alzheimer's disease."

O'Toole blinked and Teddy could tell that those words meant nothing to him.

"It's a disease that affects the memory. It gets worse as the inflicted person gets older. The magical world doesn't have a name for it, they lump it together with other memory problems and consider it a side effect of extreme old age, but the muggle world does have a specific diagnosis for it. Mr. Doge has almost all of the symptoms of it," Teddy explained his tone getting quieter as Elphias started to limp out of the kitchen with a heavily laden tray in his hands.

Teddy stood up and took the tray out of the man's hands and placed it on the coffee table. Mr. Doge affectionately slapped Teddy's hands away and started to pour the tea.

"One lump of sugar and lots of milk, right Theodore?" Mr. Doge asked kindly as he made the tea and then held the cup out to Teddy.

The metamorphmagus nodded his head as he accepted the tea, and decided not to voice that his tea preference was actually the opposite, and that Mr. Doge had made the tea the way Victoire normally drank it. Mr. Doge finished handing over the plain tea –as requested– to O'Toole, and then he began dressing his own cup.

Once he had put the sugar in and started stirring, Teddy asked him a question, "Elphias, were you out in your garden this morning?"

Teddy knew the man's routine pretty well, and he was almost certain that if Elphias had seen some dark magic related to his neighbours, that he was most likely outside when he saw it as opposed to seeing it from glancing out a window.

"Yes," Mr. Doge said as he continued to stir his tea, "I was in the back garden. My pumpkins are coming in lovely despite the fact that we've had less rain than normal."

Teddy nodded and glanced twisted his head so that he could see out the window in the kitchen that looked out onto the back yard. He could see a small patch of pumpkins near the right side of the fenced-in backyard.

"And were you tending to your pumpkins before you sent the Auror Department a note?" He didn't want to specifically mention the sighting of dark magic because he was worried that feeding him information in his state could create a false memory.

Mr. Doge looked down at his tea, made a surprised expression as if he had just remembered that he had tea, and started to put sugar into it, again, "I always start my mornings by tending to my wiggenbushes, they are delicate things and need to be watered and weeded first thing."

O'Toole interrupted here, "Is this when you heard an incident?"

"Well no . . . after the wiggenbushes I move onto the begonias," Mr. Doge explained, adding more sugar into his tea. He glanced at Teddy next, "You remember those, I gave you a few bulbs in July when you and your fiancée visited me last."

"Yes, and I am happy to report that those are still alive, for now, as long as I keep away from them they should prosper," Teddy replied cheerily, "Were the pumpkins the last part of your garden that you tended to?"

Mr. Doge considered his words carefully, "Yes, they were. Although usually I check my valeria last . . ."

Teddy latched onto this, "So you worked on your pumpkins, but then skipped the valeria. Did something happen that made you change your schedule?"

"I heard a noise. It was like a squeal of pain. I looked around the garden to make sure that the neighbour's cat didn't get caught between the cactuses again, but there was nothing in the backyard," Mr. Doge explained as he kept stirring his tea in uniform circles.

"So where was the noise coming from?" O'Toole interrupted, finally thinking that they were getting somewhere.

Mr. Doge titled his head at Teddy and said earnestly, "The cat seems to think my plants are overgrown scratching posts, but besides that it's a gentle thing. I wouldn't want the Milligans to get in trouble just because their cat is a little adventurous."

Teddy nodded understandingly, "We won't get your neighbours in trouble because their cat gets loose sometimes. So it wasn't the cat that was making the noise?"

"Not in my garden it wasn't. I was about to go back to tending to my plants when I heard the sound again, so I just peeked over the fence to make sure that the cat wasn't stuck between anything else."

O'Toole started to tap his quill –which he had pulled out earlier along with a notepad– against his thigh and questioned, "What did you see when you looked over the fence?"

"The younger Milligans aren't usually outside that early in the morning, but the weather was nice today," Mr. Doge expounded.

"So your neighbours were outside when you looked over the fence?"

"Just the younger ones, I thought they were playing with sticks at first, but then I saw a flash of light shoot out of one of the sticks and hit the other one."

Teddy nodded his head and glanced at O'Toole to make sure that the auror was copying down what Mr. Doge was saying.

"What colour was the light?"

Mr. Doge added more sugar to his tea and stirred again, he had yet to try to taste it, "It was the same colour as my begonias, a bright red."

"Did you hear anything while the children were playing with sticks?" Teddy asked.

"Just more grunts and squeals of pain," He paused for a moment and then shook his head and frowned, "Then yelling. The father doesn't have much patience with the children on a regular day, and today he didn't seem happy."

"Did you see the father in the garden?" O'Toole asked.

Mr. Doge was still stirring, "Yes, it was before . . . or maybe it was after . . . in any case he took the stick from the boys and then pulled them back into the house."

"The stick? Was it just a stick, or was it a wand?" O'Toole questioned sternly.

"It was crooked, not smooth, but also very firm," Mr. Doge described.

O'Toole sighed as he wrote down the description.

"And when did you write the message to the Auror Department? After you saw the boys go into the house?" Teddy enquired as he took a sip of his tea. It was cool by then, and a little bitter, but it made his question seem more casual than strict.

"The red light looked sinister. Dark. Anything that causes a person to screech with that type of pain must be dark magic, right?" Mr. Doge asked innocently.

Teddy nodded and patted the elderly wizard's knee, "You're right, that does sound dark."

They ended their interview shortly after, and Teddy promised to stop by in a few weeks for a real visit. The pair of aurors wandered over to the house next door, the one that had the mailbox with the name ' _Milligan_ ' on it, and Teddy knocked on the front door.

There was no reply and he knocked again while O'Toole looked around at the house and property curiously.

"This town in mostly muggles, right?" O'Toole asked Teddy as he stared at the non-animated lawn ornaments.

"Yes."

"This place definitely looks muggle Lupin. I don't sense any magic but I can hear the hum of electricity," O'Toole explained.

Teddy nodded his head and cast a few spells on the house. When he was finished he came to the conclusion that there was no one in the house, and that it was definitely a muggle dwelling, with no magic.

"Mr. Doge's statement can't be correct then if these people are muggles," O'Toole reasoned.

Teddy sighed, and while he deliberated he peeked through the living room window. He could see a few photos of the family. None of them moved, and the children in the newest photos all looked older than eleven years old.

"It does seem as though these people are muggle," Teddy stated slowly.

"And Mr. Doge was wrong about the whole thing," O'Toole repeated.

Teddy frowned, "He might have confused what he saw, but I don't think that he's purposely lying to us."

"No, but you said yourself that he had memory problems. Maybe he saw the muggle children playing with actual sticks and was mistaken about where the flash of light came from. He did compare it to his begonias, which he had been watering, he might have mixed up the two concepts," O'Toole reasoned.

"Maybe," Teddy allowed, feeling uneasy as he did so, "Either way, when we get back to the auror department you should check with the muggle hospitals in the area to see if they had patients come in with complaints of pain or odd injuries that couldn't be easily explained."

O'Toole nodded, "Should I contact St. Mungo's as well? In case there was somehow a wizard involved in this incident?"

"I'll handle that part," Teddy told him.

* * *

 **10:45 AM**

Victoire just discharged a nine-year-old boy who thought that he could fix a battered old wand of his older brother's –and then use it to make his chores easier– but instead, ended up hitting himself with an unknown spell that had knocked him out cold. Because the parents of the child weren't sure what spell their son had accidentally cast on himself, he was brought to the D. A. R. ward as a precaution.

Thankfully, the spell wasn't dark, and Victoire was able to reverse it and then send the family on their way after no more than ten minutes. Once she was finished, she went to the healers' station and finished filling out the report.

She was just about to place it in the pile of paperwork to be filed away when Cassidy came up to her and handed her a ringing mobile phone.

"Why do you have my mobile?" Victoire asked Cassidy curiously as she accepted the phone from her friend's hand.

"Because it was going off in the pocket of your jacket in the office room and it was starting to annoy Fabius. He was complaining about it so I said that I would bring it out here to you," Cassidy explained.

Victoire rolled her eyes and put the phone up to her ear.

"Hello?"

" _Hello Love_."

She smiled to herself and started walking towards where the stairwell was, "Well this is a surprise. Are you calling to check up on me?"

Teddy's voice on the other end of the line let out a low sigh, " _I wish this was just a friendly call, but I actually have to ask you a favour_."

"Concerning what?" Victoire asked him as she finally made it to the stairwell and stood unobtrusively in the corner of the landing of the staircase.

" _The Auror Department was contacted today about a dark magic sighting_ -"

Her eyebrows rose on her forehead, "Wait, are you actually about to give me classified information?"

" _Don't worry, you have clearance for this_ ," Teddy told her with a slight twist of humour in his voice, " _I need to know if any male children younger or just above Hogwarts age have been admitted to St. Mungo's for complaints of pain without obvious injury, or with odd unexplainable injuries. They would have most likely been caused by a spell, and the child could be muggleborn, or with muggle or muggleborn parents._ "

"I just treated a nine-year-old who used an old wand and accidentally knocked himself out cold. But both parents were wizards and even when the child woke up he didn't complain of pain," Victoire told him.

Teddy made a musing sound, " _Were they from Cornwall?_ "

"No, London."

" _Well it's not that then . . ._ "

Victoire nodded even though he couldn't see her, "I haven't seen all the patients this morning though. I'll look through some of the completed files and get back to you."

" _Thanks, but if you can't find anything don't worry too much . . . the person who contacted the Auror Department may not have . . . gotten all of the facts right_ ," Teddy's voice predicated.

"Why's that?"

She could hear him clear his voice through the phone, " _This brings me to the second favour I'm going to ask you. The person who witnessed this sighting was Elphias Doge_."

Victoire nodded again, "So you think his memory might have been muddled?"

" _Maybe, if anything I'm worried enough about him that I think maybe you should stop by and see him the next chance you can_ ," Teddy told her.

She had started making plans in her head when Teddy first mentioned the old wizard's name, "I have my lunchbreak in about an hour. I'll send a note down to the potion's department now to see if Ally can make the potion, and in an hour I should be able to pick it up from her and then apparate to his house. I should have enough time to do a quick check-up on him."

Teddy let out a sigh of relief.

"I'll keep looking for this potential victim too."

" _Thank you_."

They said their goodbyes quickly and then Victoire vanished her phone back to her coat pocket.

She was finally able to file away her last case report before Healer Seward came up to her and told her that the Spell Damage ward had a case of accidental magic that they suspected might be dark, and that they requested a healer to come and check it out. Since Cassidy had gone straight to the Emergency Medical ward after giving Victoire her phone, she was the only one free to take on the case.

Once Victoire got to the Spell Damage ward, she found someone named Healer Strauss and was quickly ushered into a room that was filled with a surprisingly large number of people. Healer Strauss handed her the medical file of the teenaged girl who was sitting on the hospital bed.

Healer Strauss then addressed the two adults in the room, who Victoire assumed were the girl's parents, and introduced Victoire to them.

The mother repeated the words 'the Dark Arts Reversal ward' worriedly while the father frowned, "I don't think that's necessary Doctor, Lygia just got hit by some sort of light. The boys weren't supposed to be using magic, but they both said that they weren't using any particular magic. The only reason we're here is because my wife wanted to make sure that the magic wouldn't cause any after effects."

Victoire frowned a few times while the father spoke, and she looked closer at the teenaged girl's –Lygia's– file. She was sixteen years old, and from what it looked like she fully muggle; it even listed the muggle school she usually attended. From the use of the father's word 'doctor'; and his awkward use of the word 'magic' in general instead of the word 'spell' when describing the situation; pointed towards the fact that the father was muggle. She glanced at the side of the room where 'the boys' were sitting almost unnaturally still, and she was surprised to see that they were around the ages of twelve and thirteen. Old enough that they should be in Hogwarts if they could perform magic.

"I apologize," Victoire started as she looked directly at Lygia, her patient, "But this file isn't making much sense to me. Perhaps you could repeat to me how up ended up here?"

Lygia opened her mouth to reply, but her father beat her to it, "The boys were in the backyard of our house. They were supposed to be playing _normally_ , but they must have grabbed their wand on the way out. They were playing around with it even though it's _against the rules_ , and when Lygia opened the door to join them, she got hit with wayward magic."

Victoire nodded her head, "It is late morning though, why weren't all of the children at school?"

"Lygia was ill this morning so we didn't make her go to school. She was starting to feel better so she went outside to get some fresh air, and that's when she got hit," The father explained.

Victoire noticed that Healer Strauss had noted that the patient had mentioned that she had vomited that morning and still felt a little nauseas.

"And what about the boys? If I'm not mistaken they are able to do magic and are both of Hogwarts age, why aren't they in school?"

The father's customary frown turned even deeper when Victoire mentioned the words 'magic' and 'Hogwarts', and it helped validate the picture her mind was starting to create.

It was the mother who replied this time, "Lygia is Clyde's daughter from his first marriage, and the boys' are mine from my first marriage. I am a muggleborn myself, and Lygia and Clyde are both muggles-"

The father –Clyde apparently– took over the explanation from there, "Lygia and I are both _normal_ and we try to keep our lives as normal as possible. In keeping with this, we try to limit the amount of magic we allow in the house. We regulate it highly and it is only allowed to be used when the boys are learning their magic lessons."

"Magic lessons?" Victoire asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I homeschool the boys," The mother explained, "That way I can keep an eye on their practical magic use . . . or normally I do. The boys share a wand, and usually it is locked away tight, but they must have snuck it out this morning when they went to play outside."

Victoire nodded again and this time she glanced at the boys, "So what spell was it that ended up hitting your step-sister?"

Both of them looked down at their hands and they were silent. Clyde tried to answer for them, but Victoire stopped him and looked at the boys again.

"It was accidental magic," The older of the two finally replied in a quiet tone.

Victoire smiled softly at them, "Accidental magic happens to the best of us, but perhaps you could tell me what you were _thinking_ about when you cast the spell."

"I wasn't really thinking about anything," The boy muttered, still not meeting Victoire's eyes.

Considering that Victoire had just spent the past few days studying up on magical intent, she highly doubted that the boy was thinking _nothing_ when he cast the spell. She let it slide though, and glanced back down at the notes that were on Lygia's medical file.

Besides the nausea that they correctly attributed to the girl having the flu, she had come in with complaints of pain in her abdomen, and some of the distal muscles of her limbs. Healer Strauss had suggested that the areas with pain were similar to areas that were known to seize up with muscle cramps or spasms when tickling charms were abused.

Even though Healer Strauss could explain away the reasons for the complaints, she became suspicious of the actual magical cause of the pain after they treated Lygia with spells and potions to relax the muscles and take away the pain. The girl had claimed that she could feel them working, but her movements were still very self-restricted, and Healer Strauss thought that it seemed as if she was still in pain, but pretending not to be.

Victoire cast a few spells on Lygia –basic diagnostic spells– some of which she didn't need to cast but did so anyway to make it seem as if she was doing something more complex. After pretending to nod interestedly after each spell was finished, she asked Healer Strauss if she could speak to her outside of the room.

"What do you think?" Healer Strauss asked her enquiringly when they were out of earshot of the family.

Victoire folded her arms over her chest, "Well, she has elevated resting respiration, blood pressure, and heart rates, which can all indicate that she is still feeling pain."

"So she _is_ lying about not feeling pain then," Healer Strauss summarized.

Victoire sighed in response, "Maybe. But she is also a muggle, in a strange wizarding hospital with witches and wizards figuratively, and sometimes literally, poking and prodding her with their wands. She could also be very nervous and anxious about being here, which could explain the elevated rates."

"Do you think that it's dark magic? We're told here that if the pain spells and potions don't work, that there's probably an element of dark magic in it," Healer Strauss explained.

"It's hard to tell. It doesn't sound like any of them are being completely truthful, and all of the children and the wife seem afraid of the father. It looks like they want to brush everything under the rug and get on with it. We can try to separate the girl from the parents and the siblings for a minute and see if she has anything new to say, but if she won't admit to anything, then we don't have any proof to take this any further, or to give her any additional treatment. We can't treat her if both she and her parents want her to be discharged," Victoire explained.

Healer Strauss nodded and when they went back into the room they were able to extract the parents from the room under pretense of needing them to sign some forms, and then Victoire was easily able to convince the boys to wait outside while Victoire asked their sister some more _personal_ questions.

"Healers are like muggle doctors in many respects, just like a muggle doctor anything you tell me is confidential. If there is anything else you haven't mentioned yet, I promise that I won't tell either of your parents," Victoire told the girl in a quiet tone as she eyed the room's closed door.

Lygia shook her head and started to push herself off the examination table, "It was an accident. My step-brothers were just playing around with magic, they don't get the chance to do it very often because they share a wand and my father is so strict with them, and I accidentally walked out the back door when they cast a spell. The spell startled me and I called out in pain. Dad ran to the door after I yelled out and then the three of us went inside. There was a bit of pain with the initial impact of the spell, but it was gone shortly after. We're only here because Lauren convinced Dad to take me to this magic hospital to make sure that the spell didn't cause lasting damage."

Victoire frowned when she heard the girl's words, but since she was backing up the story her family had already told, there wasn't much more she could do. She escorted the girl out to her family, and after they shared a few words with Healer Strauss, they left. Victoire watched the family closely as they left, and once they were gone she turned to Healer Strauss.

"I can tell you one thing, it definitely doesn't look like that girl is intimidated by magic."

She asked Healer Strauss if she could have a copy of the girl's file to bring back to the D. A. R. ward, and then Victoire was on her way back to her own floor.

When she got back to the D. A. R. ward, she was going to place Lygia's file with all of the others from that day, when she paused. Looking at the stack of files reminded her that Teddy had asked her to search for a file that involved male children of Hogwarts age that were admitted with complaints of pain from odd injuries. Lygia was most decidedly not a male child of Hogwarts age, but she still had the urge to check and see if the family was from Cornwall.

She glanced at the personal information portion of the medical file, and her eyes zeroed in on the address. The family was from Engollan.

* * *

 **3:37 PM**

Teddy ran a hand tiredly down his face as he, Hayden, Kurt, and Jilly stepped into the ministry lift. One of the other aurors pressed the button for the floor that housed the Auror Office, and then the lift started to move.

"I didn't think that going over Mr. Penzik's material would take that long," Hayden commented wearily from beside Teddy.

Jilly sighed, "It only took us a long time because he decided to explain in excruciating detail how he was able to collect all of the samples and information that Victoire had asked him to."

"Hey, I was personally impressed with how he got everything he needed to medically prove that Patient Zed _was_ in those specific tunnels in Peru," Kurt replied easily.

"Lachapelle," Teddy corrected Kurt, "We're going to need to start referring to him by his real name and identity if we want to convince the members of the Wizengamot that Patient Zed _is_ Lachapelle, and that Lachapelle _was_ in Ecuador in February."

The others nodded and then they were silent again until the lift doors opened up to the Auror Office. Getting off the lift was a more difficult venture than it usually was, as the front office area of the department seemed to be cluttered with the first and second-year auror trainees who must have just come off other lifts from some sort of training exercise somewhere else in the Ministry.

Teddy was about to try to walk _through_ the throng of trainees, when Hayden grabbed him by the shoulder to stop him, and pointed towards where the secretaries desks were. He moved his head a little, and then realized why everyone was standing in the area just passed the lifts and not moving further.

They were all watching O'Toole make a prat out of himself.

O'Toole was leaning up against the secretaries desks, trying to put on a casual attitude, and attempting to chat up a blonde woman who was standing beside him and holding a dark red file folder.

"What does O'Toole think he's doing?" Kurt asked humorously as he watched the young auror trainee try to flatter the woman who seemed to become increasingly more uncomfortable with his presence with each second that passed.

One of the first-year trainees in front of them turned around and answered Kurt's question even though it wasn't directed at him, "O'Toole said that he ran into this healer at St. Mungo's a few weeks ago. Said that she was flirty with him."

"Did he now?" Hayden asked with a huge grin on his face as he aimed his smirk specifically at Teddy.

"I don't think so though," A different trainee piped up this time, this one was female, "O'Toole likes to embellish his stories."

Kurt and Hayden started to snicker, while Jilly just rolled her eyes and let out a huffy sigh.

Teddy pinched the bridge of his nose and muttered something to himself before finally pushing through the crowd of eager onlookers and walking up to O'Toole and the blonde woman –who was out of her healers robes but still wearing her professional black pencil skirt and dark purple button-up top.

The blonde's expression turned relieved when she spotted him, and he didn't have time to say anything to either her, or O'Toole, before the woman thrust the file folder at him.

"I believe that you may find this interesting Auror Lupin," She told him with a sly smile.

Teddy smiled slyly in response as he accepted the file, "Is this about the case I asked you to keep an eye out for Healer Weasley?"

"I believe it is. Although your description left a lot to be desired, I believe this is what you _meant_ you were looking for, even if it doesn't fully match your description," Victoire told him seriously.

Teddy's expression turned curious and he opened up the medical file and peeked at it, "A sixteen-year-old muggle girl came into St. Mungo's?"

"Is this about the case we were working on this morning Auror Lupin?" O'Toole piped up, sending Victoire a self-important smirk as he did so.

She barely spared him a raised eyebrow before she turned to Teddy and answered his question, "She came into the Spell Damage ward, who contacted me because they thought that her symptoms were suspicious. She is a muggle, but her step-brothers are wizards, and apparently they accidentally sent a magical spell at her. The spell caused temporary pain in some of her muscles. Her step-mother was the once who decided to bring her to St. Mungo's to make sure that the spell caused no lasting damage."

"And you think that this is the person from my case because . . ." Teddy trailed off.

"Look at the girl's home address," Victoire told him as she crossed her arms over her chest.

Teddy glanced at it, "Engollan."

"They live right next door to Elphias Doge," Victoire told him.

"So the old man wasn't batty then?" O'Toole asked.

Victoire's head whipped around and she gave O'Toole a glare, "Mr. Doge has a degenerative disease that sadly affects many of his mental abilities, including his memory. He is not batty, or crazy, or a nutter. He is sick and he is taking medication for his illness."

She knew that fact specifically as she was one of the people who were looking after his treatment. She had stopped by St. Mungo's apothecary on her lunchbreak, grabbed the potion that Ally was thankfully able to make for her, and then went to visit Elphias. She gave him the stronger dose of potion –which was supposed to slow down the creation of the plaques that cause his Alzheimer's disease– and then she sat on his couch and listened to him re-tell how Teddy had been there earlier, interspersed with comments about his garden of course.

O'Toole put his hands up in a surrendering gesture, and Teddy captured her attention again.

"So do you think that there was dark magic involved?"

He had scanned the file while she was chastising the trainee auror, and noted that the conclusion of the girl's injury was caused by a misfired tickling jinx. It wasn't exactly a dark spell.

"I had my suspicions but the girl and the family wouldn't corroborate them, so she was discharged. The notes at the bottom explain my reservations, but I still feel as though I don't have all of the facts in the case," Victoire clarified.

Teddy nodded, "I feel the same way."

"So Mr. Doge did see some dark magic?" O'Toole asked just for the sake of trying to weasel himself back into the conversation. He gave Victoire a leer while he did so.

"Perhaps," Victoire and Teddy replied at the same time.

Victoire looked down at her watch and then back at Teddy, "I have to go soon and meet Healer McDavid."

Teddy smiled, "I'll call you if I have any pressing questions about this, but don't be surprised if I end up bringing it up later."

"Don't worry, I'd expect nothing less from you," She replied, stepping closer to him and stretching up onto her tiptoes.

She pressed a quick kiss smack dab on the centre of his lips and then said, "I'll see you at home later."

She didn't even bother to acknowledge a gobsmacked looking O'Toole as she turned and walked towards the lift. The crowd of trainees that had still been watching the scene parted for her, and she gave Jilly, Kurt, and Hayden a wave before entering the elevator.

Teddy turned to O'Toole, who was still staring in the direction which Victoire had left with an open mouth, and raised an eyebrow at him, "I see you've met my fiancée."

" _Your_ . . ." O'Toole trailed off, his eyes going wide.

"Yes," Teddy replied, he glanced towards his partners and noticed that Jilly, Hayden, and Kurt were shooing the rest of the trainee aurors away. He pulled out his wand and duplicated the file that Victoire had given him, and then handed the copy to O'Toole, "There's not enough information to do a further investigation right now. But it is good to keep this on record in case something like this comes up again."

O'Toole nodded his head at Teddy's words, but before he could say anything else Teddy had swept by him with the aim to go back to his office. The other aurors scattered in different directions, and a handful of auror trainees came up to him as he watched Teddy walk away with Hayden, Kurt, and Jilly.

"He's never going to take me on a case with him again."

The other trainee patted O'Toole's shoulder a little carelessly, "That's what happens when you flirt with the girlfriends of the fully qualified aurors."

* * *

 **4:17 PM**

Victoire and Healer McDavid had agreed that most of their meetings would take place at his home. He had an oversized office where he usually worked on his research, and he welcomed Victoire into it for the duration of their research project. When Victoire arrived, the first thing Healer McDavid did was ask her if she had caught up on the reading he had suggested. She then explained, in detail, how she had read even more than what was 'assigned' and that the extra research she did brought up some questions that interested her.

"I know earlier we discussed that if we do get to the spell creation portion of this research, that we will most likely have to make the spell from scratch," Victoire began, only waiting to see Healer McDavid nod along with her before continuing, "But I thought that it would be worthwhile to look and see if there are any spells we could build off of. To do so I ended up looking into obscure and sometimes poorly documented stories and tales about someone being extraordinarily healed from some sort of dark magic."

Healer McDavid smiled at her, "It makes sense to look at general dark arts healing when looking for something that will cure scars left by dark magic. After all, we are hypothesizing that the scars are only impossible to remove because they themselves are the remnants of dark magic still in the victim's body. Did you find anything connecting the cases you looked at?"

Victoire bit her lip, "Most of the cases I looked at were very varied in the injury itself, as well as the demographic of the victim, the geographical location, and even the time period in which it happened."

"So no connections?"

Healer McDavid noticed her pause and smiled, "There _is_ something that you want to mention."

"In most of the cases in which someone was healed from the dark injury and didn't end up with a scar . . . it seemed as though each victim was either completely healed by, or first worked on by, someone who was not exactly a medical expert. They were almost always first treated by a family member or close friend, someone that was there when the injury first took place," Victoire explained, waving her hand and making a small notebook appear.

Healer McDavid took the notebook and started to skim her notes, "And in all of these cases the victim was healed and there was no scar left behind?"

"In most of the cases there was no scar, in the ones in which there were scars, the injury was very severe and the medial experts who looked at the cases were surprised to find out that the victim had survived it."

Healer McDavid nodded and then there was silence for several minutes as he continued to read the notes she collected, "And you don't think that these miraculous healing feats were all accidental or coincidental, do you?"

Victoire shook her head, "What if the injuries of these people healed so well because of the intent of the person who was healing them? Obviously anyone who would help someone who was injured would want to cure or heal the victim as best as they could, but perhaps the family members who healed these victims had a more personal, and therefore stronger intent when trying to save the victim?"

"You're suggesting that the magical intent of the person who was the first to try to heal the victim is the reason why so much of the dark magic in the injuries was healed?" Healer McDavid summarized.

She clasped her hands together, "We know that with all types of magic that the stronger the intent the castor has, the stronger the magic. Perhaps the purity of the intent of the familial first responder who healed the victim was more effective on healing the dark magic than the occupational intent of the medical expert who worked on the victim after."

Healer McDavid pursed his lips as he considered her, "You almost died in your seventh year, didn't you?"

"Multiple times."

"You told me one time about how you were attacked by a manticore, and that you obviously lived through it," He continued.

She nodded, "Yes."

"How did you survive again?"

Victoire shrugged her shoulders, "It's a medical mystery. Aunt Angelina still has no idea how I survived."

"Like some of the victims in the few case studies you found?"

"Yes, but my injury wasn't caused by dark magic," Victoire argued.

He looked back at her notes, "But magical theory is magical theory, it shouldn't matter what the cause of the injury is, the same principles should still apply, if those principles do work."

Victoire ruminated on this for a moment.

"Who was the first person to work on you when you were attacked by the manticore?"

"My friend Xavier, he was there with me when I was attacked. After the manticore ran away, he tried to help me. He knew that he wouldn't be able to cure me, so he cast some stasis spells on me to stop me from losing too much blood," Victoire expounded.

Healer McDavid tilted his head in her direction, "Your friend cast some homeostasis spells on you?"

"No, he knows how to heal small injuries but he wouldn't know how to cast a healing level type of homeostasis spell."

"So it would have been a basic stasis spell that you learn in fourth-year Charms?"

Victoire nodded, "Most likely."

"That shouldn't have been strong enough to keep you 'together' in time for a real healer to work on you," McDavid mused.

"Not unless Xavier had very strong _intent_ when he cast the stasis charm," Victoire added, seeing where he was going with her earlier theory, "And that intent caused the charm he cast to hold my blood in long enough for Madam Pomfrey to get to me."

Healer McDavid drummed his fingers on the table, "Maybe your friend's intent to save you was stronger than just what was needed to keep you from bleeding out."

Victoire's eyebrows narrowed over her eyes.

"Maybe his intent was strong enough that when he cast the stasis charm, it not only stopped you from bleeding, but it also stopped the venom from spreading too far in your body," Healer McDavid suggested.

"Not even a medical grade homeostasis charm could stop manticore venom from spreading that well," Victoire pondered.

Healer McDavid pointed to her notebook, "But if we go along with your theory, it's the intent that makes the healing magic stronger. Your friend's intent when he cast those stasis spells might have been to stop you from dying, so not only did it stop you from bleeding out, but it also could have stopped the venom from spreading too freely."

His suggestions did seem to add to the theory she had created concerning the dark magic injuries, but everything they had was just conjecture at that point. There was no way to know for sure without doing a controlled experiment if their theory was correct. Even so, it was an intriguing, and something that might really affect their research later on down the road.

For now, Victoire just took her notebook back and looked at her notes.

"So Xavier Wood _might_ have saved my life back in seventh-year."

Healer McDavid smiled at her, "If your theory is correct, your friend most _certainly_ saved your life."

Victoire sighed, pinched the bridge of her nose, and muttered to herself, "I will _never_ live it down if he ever finds out about this."

* * *

 **A/N:** I hope that you liked this chapter :) So a few things:

 **1**. I always find the wizarding world interesting because it seems like they are so advanced (because there is so much stuff magic can do for them) but they also seemed behind in several aspects. It seems like the concept of degenerative memory disorders would be one of those things that the wizarding world doesn't fully understand (unless it came about because of a misfired memory charm, which is probably the only one they know how to handle).

 **2.** In case anyone is wondering, as of yet there is no cure for Alzheimer's in the real world, and I don't want you to think that the potion Victoire had Ally make is this miraculous cure. The real world does have medications that are supposed to help with Alzheimer's (mixes of medications and different doses) so this potion works pretty much like muggle medicine would.

 **3.** In the last chapter we established that Vic and the others found out about Chris having a baby and getting married, however, as of now Colton, Dom, and Xavier are the only ones that know that he has a chance to get the starting seeker position on Puddlemere United.

 **4.** How fun is it to see Teddy and Vic both in detective mode?

 **5.** You guys said that you like the added magical theory, so here's some new magical theory. I know it may sound a little confusing, but we'll come back to the subject a few times later, and it'll make more sense when we build upon it and when it comes to practical use later.

So, please leave me your thoughts in a review!

 **Next Update:** Next week.

 **Next Chapter:** We finally get to see the end of the trial, but that means that we will have to say goodbye to Konstantin and Nikolina. Which also means that we get to see Dom, as well as Teddy and Vic. In addition, we're going to get a visit from someone we haven't seen in awhile; and that's going to lead to another discussion about the Holmwoods, and oddly enough, Vic's healing research.

Teaser for Next Chap:

 **"He pressed the button for the Atrium, and then the one for the floor the courtroom was on, "Should I tell Konstantin that you were looking for him?"**

 **Dom laughed, "Merlin no. That would totally defeat the purpose of playing hard to get. Don't you know anything?"**

 **Teddy sighed, "Apparently not.""**

Thanks as always to everyone who has followed, favourited, read, and reviewed!

As especially big thanks to those who reviewed because we now have 600+ reviews!

So thank-you, thank-you, thank-you to:

 **AngelTwins527, Revliledpembroke, Guest (1), carbo21, Seher Syed, Beckster384, MuggleCreator, ntlpurpolia, Katie, KiMaYa, Jilly98, zvc56, Mundane, HalfBloodPrinces, rosesnlilies, cjaben1, Jennifer Jules, kawaiiotaku0405, Guest (2),** and **jeremiah123**.

 **Guest (1)** : There was a smidgen of Clark and Mark in here, but don't worry we will see more interaction between the three of them before this is over.

 **carbo21** : Thank you :)

 **Katie** : And thank you for joining my wizarding world, I hope you enjoy the ride ;) I actually started writing my first story because I had an image in my mind of Teddy and Vic that I couldn't find in the other fanfictions at the time, so I just decided to write my own.

 **KiMaYa** : I will explain later how Teddy ended up with the Lestrange family vault, but for now all I am going to say is that it occurred because Narcisssa Malfoy was very determined in what she wanted, and in the post-war world, she was really the only person who was left to claim the Lestrange family fortune. As for how long it takes to write a chapter, I really couldn't say because the time-range can vary a lot. If I've got the time in front of me and I'm really motivated it could take as little as two days, if I have much less time and much less motivation it could take a few weeks.

 **zvc56** : Thank you, that's the range of emotions I was going for.

 **Mundane** : You have a good memory. The search for medi-wizard from the LAH Mitch-not-Mike-Matt-or-Mack, is still ongoing, so we'll just have to see if Teddy and Hayden get any information on him.

 **HalfBloodPrinces** : Well Al is good friends with both Scorpius and Rose, so I'm sure we'll see some interaction between them. I think what you really want to ask is if we'll see the Hogwarts kids soon. We will, in about three chapters' time. As for another Tri Wizard Tournament, I hadn't planned to write about one, but originally the Tournament was only held every so many years or so (I read this earlier online, but when I went back to find the website the page was unavailable) and to me it seemed like there were a lot of years between tournaments. Several decades even, so if another Tournament occurs, it won't be while her cousins are still at school.

 **cjaben1** : If Andromeda read my reviews, I think she would say that's she's too old to worry about potential romantic relationships. All I'm going to say is that she and Healer McDavid are friends, but that they didn't always like each other to start.

 **Jennifer Jules** : We get to see the end of the trial in the next chapter, and in three chapter's time we are going back to Hogwarts for an entire chapter, to check up on the kids there, if you can wait that long ;)

 **kawaiiotaku0405** : We're going to delve more into Teddy's inheritances at a later date when they go to Gringotts with Colton to get a physical look at the vaults.

 **So, again, I hope that you liked this chapter,**

 **PLEASE leave me some reviews, so if you have any questions, comments, or concerns, feel free to leave them,**

 **Any guesses about who's going to be the new visitor in the next chapter?**

 **Until next time, DFTBA**!


	26. Too Many Veelas in the Office

**A/N:** Howdy everyone, here's the latest chapter. I had a lot of fun writing it, especially the latter half, so I hope you enjoy it.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own _Harry Potter_ , but I will take credit for my OCs in this chap.

 **Warning:** I think we're all aware here that my accents are horrible, so let's just try to ignore them. 'Kay?"

* * *

 **Quick Reminder:** So, this chap has the end of the trial, so a quick re-cap. They have discovered the name of Unnamed Patient Zero (who is now known as Simon Lachapelle) and have information that connects him to Ecuador.

* * *

 **Too Many Veelas in the Office**

 **Thursday, September 22** **nd** **2022**

 **8:42 AM**

"Good luck today!"

Teddy looked up from his desk, he was sitting in his shared office at work, and he raised a black eyebrow.

"What are you doing here Dom?"

The questioned was asked a little derisively as he was busy trying to collect all of the files that they needed for that day's trail. He wanted to make sure that Mr. Penzik had all of their original notes on the case, but he was in a bit of a hurry as the trial was set to start at nine o'clock on the dot.

"What? Can't a girl come over and wish her sister's fiancé good luck on the last day one of his cases is in trial?" Dom asked doubtfully, putting her hands on her hips and almost completely giving over her original pretense of curtesy.

Teddy had to bite his cheek to hold in a smirk at her petulant tone, "A girl _could_. But I know you better, and I know that you must have an ulterior motive."

"Busted," Dom admitted as she plopped herself down on the edge of Teddy's desk, "I came here to see if I could do an accidental run in with Konstantin."

Teddy rolled his eyes and stood up, all of his files now collected, "He's probably already down at the courtroom. I do believe that he and Niko are on the docket to be cross-examined today. Why did you want to accidentally run into him anyway? I thought Colton's client had to make one last statement today before the trial ends."

"Emil Minkov does need to be at the trial today, but Colton's bringing him in by himself. I have too much paperwork to do so I don't have time to attend the trial," Dom explained, getting to her feet and following Teddy out the room.

Her future-brother-in-law eyed her oddly, "Then shouldn't you be at work?"

"I don't start until nine-thirty today."

Teddy stopped at the entrance of the Auror Office, "Are you going to follow me all the way down to the courtroom?"

"No, I'm going to head to the Atrium and then get to work early," Dom explained although she did step into the same lift as him.

He pressed the button for the Atrium, and then the one for the floor the courtroom was on, "Should I tell Konstantin that you were looking for him?"

Dom laughed, "Merlin no. That would totally defeat the purpose of playing hard to get. Don't you know anything?"

Teddy sighed, "Apparently not."

* * *

 **4:47 PM**

The last day of the trial seemed to last much longer than any of the other trial days –including the one in which Victoire had to testify. The first half of the trial actually went by rather quickly as it was filled with the last few statements and cross-examinations of the witnesses and experts, it was just the latter half that felt longer than a double-Transfiguration lesson with Linkwell in which only theory was discussed and no practical. By their midday break for lunch, Anton Danchev and four of the other defendants on trial for their various crimes in the smuggling ring were all convicted and given various sentences that ranged from a one year to five.

Once everyone was back in the courtroom after the midday break, Patient Zed –Simon Lachapelle– was the last remaining defendant, and he had yet to be convicted. Lachapelle's lawyer, Mr. Bronson, looked smug as they settled in for the latter half of that day's trial. Teddy could tell by looking at him that he seemed convinced that it wouldn't take long for the trial to finish and for his client to be declared innocent.

It was obvious that Mr. Bronson wasn't expecting Mr. Penzik to be able to convince the members of the Wizengamot that Lachapelle was guilty. Which is why he was so surprised when Mr. Penzik began his next statement by calling Patient Zed by his real name. The members of the Wizengamot looked fairly surprised as well, but Mr. Penzik had all of his notes and proof in order, and he handed each member –as well as Mr. Bronson– a thick folder. Inside the folder was the proof the Auror Department had unearthed about Patient Zed's real identity, as well as the documents stating that Simon Lachapelle was in Ecuador in February.

Mr. Penzik used this evidence to convince the members of the Wizengamot that Lachapelle could have easily snuck into Peru from Ecuador. Mr. Bronson then attempted to do his job by stating that just because his patient could have been in Peru, doesn't necessarily mean that he was in the specific area of Peru that the prosecution claimed he was.

Instead of seeing Mr. Bronson's denial as a setback, Mr. Penzik used it as an opening to bring forward a new expert witness. The new witness was a healing professor who specialized in immunology and epidemiology. Mr. Penzik handed the members of the Wizengamot another thick file folder, this one filled with all of the medical evidence that Victoire had told him to collect. The medical language in the reports was very strong, which is why Mr. Penzik had also asked the professor who did the experiments to explain the process to the courtroom.

The summary of the healing professor's testimony was that Lachapelle was tested to see if he did have the exact same disease as the two children Victoire had healed in the tunnels in Peru. After briefly explaining the magical process they used to test the antibodies from the blood samples they collected, the healing professor explained how the setup of the experiment also looked at diseases that had similar affects, but were not the same strain of bacteria. In the end, the professor was able to testify that, without a doubt, Patient Zed (Lachapelle) had caught the exact same strain of bacteria as the two patients Victoire healed in Peru, and that it was also the same strain that the people from the Moche civilization sometimes suffered from. The professor also stated that the only area that the same exact strain of the disease was found was in those tunnels in Peru and, unlike when Victoire and Spencer were on the witness stand, the professor was able to claim without a doubt that Lachapelle had to have been in those tunnels in Peru at some time directly before ending up in St. Mungo's in February.

After the professor's testimony, it was Mr. Bronson's turn to look hesitant and unconfident. He could not come up with any questions to ask the expert witness, so he was forced to release the professor from the cross-examination. Once the professor was gone the members of the Wizengamot told Mr. Bronson and Mr. Penzik that it was time for their final statements, and then it would be time for the members to make their verdict and, depending on the verdict, what the sentence would be if Lachapelle was found guilty.

Mr. Penzik issued his final statement first as he was the lawyer for the prosecution, and once he was finished with it, it was Mr. Bronson's turn. Luckily for the defendant, Mr. Bronson had regained his equilibrium and was able to produce his final statement with his regular pomposity and charisma. Once they were done the members of the Wizengamot called for a short recess so that they could deliberate, and the twenty minutes that it took them to come to a conclusion was, according to a cantankerous Kurt, the longest twenty minutes of his life.

Jilly had commented directly after that it was actually the longest twenty minutes of her life, as she was the one who had to sit directly next to her partner and listen to his almost non-stop complaints. At that point Kurt had argued back that he didn't join the Auror Department to sit in an old courtroom and listen to a pair of lawyers trying to outdo each other in legal-ese. Hayden had then whispered to Teddy that he didn't think that Kurt joined the Auror Department for any particular reason other than because he liked the adrenaline of the chase, and Teddy had to bite his cheek to hold in a chuckle.

Soon after, the Wizengamot entered the courtroom once more and everyone settled back down and were silent as they waited for the final decision.

* * *

 **5:11 PM**

"So I guess this is the last time we'll be seeing you for a while," Teddy told Konstantin genially as he reached forward to shake the other man's hand.

Konstantin smiled at him in response, "Yes, I vill need to make an evfort to write to Vic more now vat I am going back to Vratsa."

"That's a good plan, she can be very particular about her pen-pals when they don't respond to her letters right away," Teddy agreed with a bit of a laugh.

Konstantin laughed as well and then he moved to say goodbye to Hayden and Kurt, while Jilly and Niko were giving each other hugs.

Since the trial was now officially over, Konstantin and Niko needed to go back to Bulgaria, and the group of aurors were saying goodbye to them. They were all in the aurors' shared office space in the Auror Office, as they two groups were making sure that each other had copies of all of the important papers and files from the investigation.

"Auror Lupin?" One of the second-year auror trainees asked in a nervous tone as she knocked on the open door of the office space.

Teddy sent the trainee a reassuring look, "Yes?"

"Um, there's a woman at the secretary's post asking for you," The trainee auror explained.

The metamorphmagus looked surprised by this statement, he wasn't expecting anyone –especially not someone who would wait at the secretaries' desks instead of just walking in straight to his office– but he nodded his head and thanked the trainee for giving him the message.

Konstantin and Nikolina said that it was probably time for them to leave, and they as well as Kurt, Hayden, and Jilly, followed Teddy out of the office and towards the lifts.

They had barely made it to the front entrance area of the Auror Office when they noticed a tall blonde standing near the secretaries' desks. She was wearing skin tight skinny jeans, knee-high black boots, and a patterned scarf that was so big that it looked more like a sweater than anything else.

The blonde turned her head in the direction of the group of aurors and Bulgarians, and she immediately ran towards Teddy and gave him a tight hug.

"Teddy!"

The shocked looks on the faces of his fellow aurors, and Konstantin and Nikolina, were nothing compared to the downright flabbergasted and incredulous look that graced Teddy's –now very pale and almost white– face.

The blonde pulled a little away from Teddy so that she could plant a solid kiss onto both of his cheeks. She pulled away fully when she was finished, and despite her previously bright tone, her green eyes were nervous.

"What are you doing here Alexandrie?"

The woman put her hands on her hips and looked scarily like her cousin when did so, "T'is is w'ere you work, is it not?"

Her French accent was very soft, but it was still obvious to anyone who heard her that English wasn't her dominant language.

Teddy ignored the suspicious and imploring looks he could _feel_ that he was getting from his –as of yet– silent colleagues and held in a sigh as he replied to the woman.

"Yes, but it makes sense for _me_ to be here. I want to know why you are in this country let alone here at the Auror Department."

Before the woman could reply, one of the lifts across from them made a very light ' _ding_ ' sound and opened just in time for another tall blonde woman to step out. Upon first glance, the first and second blonde women looked as though they could be twins if it weren't for the blue eyes and freckles of the second.

Victoire had tunnel vision as she got off the lift and spotted Teddy, so she didn't notice the other blonde's presence until she was almost right next to her. When she did, she stopped abruptly and asked, "Alexandrie?"

Her cousin smiled at her and moved forward so that she could press a quick kiss on either of her cousin's cheeks. Victoire responded almost robotically in-kind, and before Alexandrie could answer her first query, she voiced another one.

" _Pourquoi êtes-vous ici?_ "

Alexandrie replied in French, but based on the brevity of the reply –and the confused frown on Victoire's face– her answer didn't seem to satisfy her cousin.

Victoire was just about to ask her cousin another question in French, while the aurors and Konstantin and Niko watched on still in astonished confusion, when they were interrupted once more by a woman coming off the elevator.

The third woman was just as beautiful and distracting as the first two-women, but she had a head of fiery red curls and was wearing a pair of shoes that had heels twice as high as either of the other women.

Dom also seemed surprised when she saw the scene in front of her with the two blondes and the aurors, and she immediately began asking her sister and her cousin several questions in rapid French.

Alexandrie and Victoire replied in kind, and soon the three women were speaking to and above each other in rapid and rather loud French. Teddy sighed heavily as he listened to them converse –which was sounding more and more like an argument– and then noticed that the three women were starting to draw a crowd almost as big as the one O'Toole had drawn the other day when he was trying to flirt with Victoire.

"Okay," Teddy said loudly after clearing his throat. He captured the attention of the women and continued, "We are now officially three over our quota of how many veelas are allowed in the department before they become a hazardous distraction, so we should probably take this somewhere else."

He didn't even give them the chance to argue before he started to usher them out of the Office's entrance way and towards the area that housed the conference rooms. Teddy's partners shared a series of looks with Konstantin and Nikolina, and even though they all knew that they should probably leave or go on with their days, they all pretty much came to the silent conclusion that they were going to follow Teddy and the women to see how the situation was going to end.

Teddy ended up leading the women to an empty conference room, and he didn't even have the time nor the energy to spare the others a glance when they followed behind him. Everyone was quiet while they waited to see who would start, so Teddy took the initiative.

"What are you doing here?"

The question was soft because it was directed Victoire, and she shrugged casually before replying, "I figured that the trial was over by now, and I was impatient to know how it ended."

When she ended her explanation she gave her cousin an odd look out of the corner of her eye.

Teddy nodded, apparently appeased with his fiancée's answer, and then glanced at his soon-to-be-sister-in-law who it seemed at that moment had taken to covertly checking out Konstantin.

"And why are _you_ here?"

Dom rolled her eyes and put her hands on her hips in a way that made Teddy wonder if perhaps sassiness was something that was genetic, "Thanks Teddy, I'm definitely feeling the love right now."

When her reply received nothing more than an expectant glare from Teddy, she continued, "Colton had a file that he said needed to be given to Nikolina or Konstantin before they left, so I brought it." She punctuated her sentence by waving around a large manila envelope that Teddy hadn't noticed earlier was in her hand.

Both Victoire and Teddy looked a little suspicious at Dom's words (Teddy because of the conversation he had had with her that morning, and Victoire because she was generally suspicious any time her sister was in the same room as Konstantin).

Dom sent her sister and future-brother-in-law a steady look back, and after a few seconds Teddy looked away and glanced at Alexandrie.

"Your turn."

She didn't respond because Hayden suddenly raised his hand and asked, "Could we perhaps do introductions first?"

Teddy sighed but named and pointed out everyone to Alexandrie, and then after a sweeping gesture he said –a little tetchily, "Everyone who probably doesn't need to be here, this is Alexandrie, she's Victoire and Dom's cousin."

"Third cousin," Victoire, Dom, and Alexandrie corrected at the same time.

Teddy raised an eyebrow at them, "Does it really matter?"

"Well personally _I_ thought that she was some sort of twin of Victoire's who was separated from her at birth so . . ." Kurt piped up with a nod in her direction.

Alexandrie's replying laugh sounded almost musical, "No, I am two years older t'an Vic. Besides, I am already someone else's evil twin."

Victoire and Dom nodded in agreement.

"I'm still stuck on how much they look alike," Hayden admitted. Even though he was the only one to say the words, it looked like Kurt, Konstantin, Niko, and Jilly all agreed.

"Victoire and I do get t'at a lot," Alexandrie acknowledged, she sent Hayden a bit of an impish smile, which caused Victoire to roll her eyes at her cousin and admonish her in French.

Dom said something, sounding like she was defending Alexandrie, and then Alexandrie said something in a mischievous tone. The three started conversing in rapid French once more, and even though Teddy was able to put a stop to it a few moments later and get them back on track, it did seem as though the conversation was drifting into an argument between Victoire and Dom (both of whom were throwing non-covert glances in Konstantin's direction while Alexandrie piped in with random cheery-sounding questions).

"Alright you guys can do this later, so can we please circle back to why Alexandrie is here at the Auror Office when she should be at home in France?"

Alexandrie pointed her finger at Teddy, "Actually, I just came from t'e States."

"Still not exactly the explanation I'm looking for," Teddy chastised his fiancée's cousin.

The blonde, who admittedly, did look a lot like his fiancée, just rolled her eyes at him and replied, "Somet'ing 'appened w'en I was in t'e States for a couple of days, and I t'ought it would be best to stop 'ere before I went 'ome and tell you about it since you are an auror after all."

"What happened? Are you in danger?" Teddy quickly asked Alexandrie in a worried tone.

Alexandrie folded her arms against her chest, "Actually, I t'ink Victoire is t'e one 'oo is in danger."

Victoire was the first one to respond. She flopped into a chair, triggering a slow chain reaction as she did so, "Well that's not something that's entirely new."

Teddy sent his fiancée a look that said that he was _not_ impressed with her response before addressing Alexandrie, "Explain."

"I went to Lake Placid to do an engagement photo s'oot for a friend of mine from sc'ool 'oo relocated t'ere a few years ago. After I took t'e pictures I spent t'e rest of my time t'ere seeing t'e sights. I went to Nova's Magical Conservatory w'ile I was t'ere, and w'en I left I 'ad a feeling like someone was following me," Alexandrie described.

Dom interrupted here, "Were you being followed?"

"Be patient and let her get to that part Dom," Victoire rebuked her younger sister.

"It was just a simple question," Dom argued back.

Teddy ignored their bickering and gave Alexandrie a look to implore her to continue.

"I changed my route of walking up a little to make sure t'at t'e person was following me for certain-"

"You mean instead of contacting the authorities like most people would do when they assumed they were being followed?" Teddy asked her exasperatedly.

Alexandrie waved his concerns off, "I can take care of myself Teddy."

"You know, I thought your nosey-ness and inability to understand when you might be in danger was a Weasley trait," Teddy told Victoire, "But right now I'm thinking that you may get it from Fleur's side."

"Oo t'ere is definitely t'at on our side," Alexandrie agreed.

Teddy looked at her again and pinched the bridge of his nose, "Continue please."

"So, w'en I was sure t'at t'ere was someone following me, I turned around abruptly confronted t'e person–t'e man, t'at was following me."

Victoire's expression said that she didn't find anything to worry about in her cousin's recitation, while Teddy looked like he wanted to bang his head against the table in frustration.

"I am going to pretend that I didn't hear that."

Alexandrie pursed her lips, "So I s'ould not tell you t'at we were in a secluded area w'en I confronted 'im?"

"No, you really shouldn't," Teddy replied.

The blonde nodded and then smiled brightly, "Anyway, w'en I asked 'im if I could 'elp 'im wit' somet'ing, 'e looked visibly taken aback and surprised. 'E frowned at me even more w'en I repeated myself, as if 'e could not understand w'at I was saying, and t'en 'e squinted at me and looked over me closer."

She paused to see if her words were going to cause Teddy to react –unnecessarily anxiously– again, and then added more.

"'E was paying particular attention to my face, I am assuming my eyes and my nose, and t'en 'e apologized, said t'at 'e t'ought I was someone else, and turned around and left."

"And then you carefully went back to your hotel?" Teddy asked her.

Alexandrie laughed, "No, I waited a few minutes and t'en followed 'im. I did a better job of it t'an 'e did too. I followed 'im all t'e way back to t'e conservatory and saw 'im enter t'rough t'e employee's entrance."

"And then you went back to your hotel?" Teddy questioned.

She sighed in response and sent her cousin's fiancé a glare, "If you are not going to be quiet I might as well stop my story 'ere."

Teddy mimed zipping his lips and then gestured for Alexandrie to continue.

"I took out my muggle mobile phone – _fantastique_ invention by t'e way, and pretended to be talking on it _en_ _Français_ and stumbled in t'rough t'e employee _entrée_ ," Alexandrie explained. Teddy looked like he was close to being apoplectic, so she hastily continued, "I made sure to wait a few moments so t'at t'e man 'oo was following me would not be close by t'e _entrée_. I made it a few feet into t'e _entrée_ before some ot'er employees noticed me. T'ey yelled at me first, but t'en I pretended t'at I only spoke French and t'ey more gently showed me out. I did over'ear a bit of conversation between t'e employees before I left, and I 'eared t'e name 'Olmwood."

When she finished her explanation a heavy silence filled the room.

Teddy spoke first, "Do you think these other employees who made you leave would remember in detail what you looked like?"

" _Non_ , t'e employees from t'e Conservatory were not exactly paying attention to my facial features w'en t'ey were asking me to leave," Alexandrie told him dismissively.

He didn't exactly seem happy with her answer, but for the moment he _was_ satisfied with it.

"So, this little visit of yours makes you think that Victoire is in danger because . . . ?" Teddy added, remembering the first part that she had told them.

Alexandrie crossed her legs primly, "Because it is obvious t'at t'e first man was following me because 'e t'ought I was someone. T'is someone 'as to be someone t'at resembles me from a distance, and also up close until t'ere is time for a more detailed inspection. Now to be fair, t'ere are several people 'oo probably look like me from a distance, and up close, most of t'em being related to me. 'Owever, t'e only person 'oo looks a lot like me, but would not speak _Anglais_ wit an accent –w'ich confused t'e first man– is Victoire."

"That's actually some pretty good deductive reasoning," Dom pointed out to no one in particular.

"So all of t'at, added to t'e fact t'at t'e man 'oo was following me went into a place w'ere I 'eard someone use t'e name 'Olmwood, makes me t'ink t'at t'ey t'ought I was Victoire," Alexandrie told them.

Jilly tilted her head to the side in curiosity, "How do you know that the Holmwoods are suspicious?"

Alexandrie scoffed, "As if I did not get t'e 'ole story about Victoire almost getting repeatedly kidnapped back in 'er sevent-year."

"Fair enough."

"W'ich is w'y I came 'ere looking for Teddy. I wanted to give 'im a 'eads up about t'e man I met in America."

Teddy nodded, "And I appreciate this Alexandrie, I really do, but now I'm curious as to what people, who were connected to the Holmwoods, were doing in the Nova Magical Conservatory in Lake Placid."

"A magical conservatory _would_ be an optimum place to grow maple trees even in the middle of winter," Victoire observed.

Teddy, Hayden, Jilly, and Kurt all perked up at hearing this, and they tried to remember what Hayden and Teddy had said about their maple-leaf lead from Peru which hadn't gone very far.

" _I_ am confused now," Alexandrie said.

"Don't worry, it is need-to-know information," Teddy told her.

Alexandrie turned to Victoire, "Does it bot'er you w'en 'e says t'ings like t'at and gets secretive?"

Victoire shrugged, "Only when I'm not already in on the secret."

" _Je ne pourrais pas accepter cela_ ," Alexandrie replied.

Victoire responded in French with a very blasé tone, and once again Dom decided to jump in and add her own comments, also in French.

Before the women could start up another loud and domineering conversation in a language that only the three of them understood, Teddy interrupted them and got everyone back on track.

"Thank you for this information Alexandrie . . . but it's probably best if you leave now and go back home."

Alexandrie glanced at her blonde cousin, "Is t'at code for 'it is time for you to leave so t'at we can discuss t'ese sensitive matters wit'out you'?"

"Pretty much, only he was much more polite with you than he was with me last time he wanted me to leave so that I wouldn't hear something that I wasn't supposed to," Victoire enlightened.

Teddy rolled his eyes, "Dom should probably leave too if we're doing away with common politeness."

Dom glanced at her sister, "Are you going to let him just kick me out of here?"

"If it means that he's going to overlook that I'm here and actually keep me in whatever conversation about the Holmwoods' he's about to have, then yes, I'm going to let him kick you out of the Auror Office," Victoire replied.

Dom sighed dramatically and stood up, "Well I can see where your loyalties lie."

She nodded at Alexandrie, who stood up as well, and then she slid her manila envelope across the table so that it would land right at Konstantin's elbow. He raised an eyebrow at her, and she smiled brightly at him and then winked. Victoire let out a _very_ loud scoffing sound and pointed towards the door. Her sister and cousin followed her cue and they were gone shortly.

"Are you sure that you want to leave things with your sister that way?" Hayden asked Victoire in a tone that said that the idea made him feel uneasy and a little guilty.

Victoire snorted, "Please, when I get back to my flat I'm sure that I'll find both Dom and Alexandrie there, at least one bottle of wine in."

Teddy pinched the bridge of his nose, but it seemed to be a sign of defeat instead of frustration.

"So . . ." Victoire mused, "How did the trial end up today?"

"Patient Zed – Simon Lachapelle, was convicted of smuggling and selling stolen antiquities and was sentenced to at least four years in jail," Hayden reported in a happy tone.

Victoire nodded her head and then grabbed Teddy's hand (who she had sat down beside) and gave it a squeeze, "That is really good news. This is all over with now."

"Well," Jilly deliberated, "This section of it is, but it sounds now like Teddy and Hayden's lead about the maple leaf has found new life."

Teddy held his free hand up as if to tell Jilly to 'slow down', "We don't even know if the Nova Magical Conservatory even has a maple tree in it."

"We could have asked Alexandrie if you hadn't chased her and Dom out of here," Victoire muttered in a tone that wasn't exactly quiet enough.

Her fiancé sent her a look that clearly said 'if-you're-not-quiet-I'll-chase-you-out-of-here-too' and said, "It would be easy to look up what kind of plants and foliage they have at the conservatory, but it might be best to actually send someone there to really take a look at it."

"I'm sure that the N. A. M. C. O. C. I. D. would absolutely love to have the chance to send someone in there," Kurt observed.

"Although if we don't want to get railroaded by them, it might be best to send an auror over as well, in the spirit of sharing information and working the case together," Hayden noted.

Teddy frowned, "But after we just helped put away not only Lachapelle but six others from their organization, I don't think it would be smart for any of us to enter their home turf of America, especially not Lake Placid if they do have some sort of connection or even base there."

"I could go to New York state though," Victoire mused as she pursed her lips in thought.

The metamorphamgus rounded on her and his expression did not look happy, "You think it's smart to go to the place that your cousin just came from, where someone might have tried to stalk her because she looked like you from a distance? Are you serious right now?"

"I'm not suggesting going to Nova's Magical Conservatory, or even Lake Placid, but I could go to New York state, with you, and you could meet up with the agents from the N. A. M. C. O. C. I. D. You can morph to look like someone else while you go to the conservatory with them, and if the Holmwoods' somehow have your travel flagged, we could have a solid reason for being in the state," Victoire described.

Teddy pursed his lips, "And what would this solid reason for being in the state be?"

Victoire smiled, "I was speaking with Healer Rhee today, and he informed me that if I wanted to look at case studies of dark magic injuries from other countries, especially the Americas, it would be easiest to go there and go to one of the libraries or healing schools directly and ask for copies of some of the cases. I asked Spencer, one of the largest and the oldest healing schools in the United States is in New York state."

Neither Teddy nor anyone else seemed like they were immediately going to argue with her plan, so she continued, "You can bet that the Holmwoods are going to have access to both muggle and magical travel records, so they will see that both Teddy and I have travelled to New York. They're not going to do anything unless we specifically confront someone from their organization, so we'll go on a weekend and make it seem like a leisure trip. I'll go on my way and get the copies of the cases that I want to see, and you can slip out and go in undercover with the agents from the N. A. M. C. O. C. I. D. to the conservatory."

"Do you think that they'll buy that Teddy travelled with you just so you can get some medical files from a few libraries?" Kurt asked seriously.

Victoire shrugged, "They'll understand that Teddy would probably not want me to visit New York alone, so they'll probably buy that part. As for the other, it won't take long to visit the conservatory or the libraries and medical school, so Teddy and I can spend the rest of our time seeming as though we're looking at arrangements for our wedding. I'll get a list from Spencer and we'll visit places that carry decorations, muggle and magical suits and robes for special occasions, and maybe even a few bridal shops."

"That's actually a good plan," Hayden agreed, "Even if the Holmwoods attempted to send someone to follow you, which I doubt because they wouldn't want to get too close to you and make you and Teddy suspicious, they would get bored following you around to a bunch of wedding vendors. I know that just hearing this much about it is making me feel incredibly bored."

Everyone looked at Teddy next because it was obvious that it was up to him whether they would go through with this, since it technically wouldn't exactly be an auror mission as they were just going to go to New York for a weekend.

He seemed to deliberate for several moments before replying, "We would have to arrange this for sooner rather than later . . . and I'd have to contact the N. A. M. C. O. C. I. D. to see if they'd even want to check out the conservatory in the first place."

"But when this is done, you'd know once and for all whether that maple leaf lead is important –and something you'll need to follow for later– or whether you're done with this Holmwood business for now," Victoire pointed out.

Hayden, Teddy, Kurt, and Jilly shared a look, "That would be nice."

Victoire clapped her hands together, "Well it seems like I'm going to get my hands on _lots_ of research real soon."

Teddy smiled softly at her, glad that she didn't seem to have any intention of going to the conservatory if they even went to New York, and then made a mental note to contact agents MacKenzie and Brown from the N. A. M. C. O. C. I. D. as soon as he could.

The group started to break up shortly after, it was a long day for all of them after all, and Victoire got a chance to wish Konstantin and Niko goodbye before they left to go back home to Bulgaria.

"We're going to have to start writing to each other, I don't trust Konstantin to tell me everything that is going on in his life, especially the very private, but no doubt important, points," Victoire told Niko as she gave the other woman a hug.

Nikolina laughed, "Oh don't worry. The minute I've got gossip about him I will owl you. It'll really piss him off when he finds out that I'm ratting him out to you, so that'll be fun."

Victoire giggled and glanced at Konstantin, who was taking a peek into the file from Colton that Dom gave him, "Are you guys going right back tonight?"

Niko's gaze followed Victoire's, "That was the plan, but I have a feeling now that that's going to change, or at least for Konstantin it will."

"What makes you say that?" Victoire questioned as she narrowed her eyes in Konstantin's direction.

Niko sent her a superior smirk, "Come on, like your sister didn't sneak a private note for Konstantin into that envelope that she gave him."

"You think she did that?"

"That's what I would do," Niko replied with a grin, "I wish that I had found someone here in England to help pass the time with during the trial."

Victoire rolled her eyes, "You say that as if both Hayden and Kurt didn't come on to you when you first met them."

"True, but they were both very professional about the situation and a few flirtatious conversations were as far as it got," Niko explained in a tone that Victoire couldn't figure out. She wasn't sure if the other woman was fine with what she said, or a little wistful.

Victoire chuckled, "If I had known that you were looking for someone, I would have found someone to set you up with."

Niko shook her head, "No, I don't do blind dates."

"Too late, I'm already running through in my mind all of the single males I know, in case you find yourself in England for another extended period of time," Victoire told her.

Niko shook head, with amusement this time, and just gave Victoire another hug.

* * *

 **6:59 PM**

"So where did you say my sister wandered off to again?" Victoire asked her cousin as she took a big gulp of her wine.

Alexandrie filled her glass up again and smirked, "She told me, and I quote 'I'm going to go give a personal send-off to that handsome hunk of a Bulgarian'."

Victoire snorted into her glass, "Godric that girl has no filter. Or sense of decency."

"What's indecent about her having a little fun with him? He's a total hottie, and they're both unattached and consenting adults," Alexandrie pointed out as she took a sip of wine.

The other blonde drained her wine glass and then filled it once more, "It's indecent because he's a friend of mine, and because I specifically asked her not to."

"Teddy was a friend of yours too, and that didn't stop _you_ from tapping that," Alexandrie observed before innocently glancing up at her younger cousin from underneath her eyelashes.

Victoire rolled her eyes, "Teddy and I were about ten-times more serious after one month of dating when I was seventeen, than Dom and Konstantin are right now. Besides, she didn't ask me _not_ to date Teddy."

"One, would you have abstained from dating Teddy if she had? And two, you're talking as if no one's ever asked you _not_ to date Teddy," Alexandrie countered.

Victoire took a swig of her wine and replied, "Okay, so Teddy's completely jealous and delusional friend might have asked me not to date him, but we were already _way_ too far gone by that point. As for your first question, I don't know what I would have done if Dom had asked me not to date Teddy. I would like to think that I would have for her sake, but I honestly don't know what I would have done considering that Dom's actual reaction was pretty much the complete opposite of asking me not to date him."

"True, I wouldn't put it past her to have asked you if Teddy had a talented tongue when you came back from your first date with him."

Victoire blinked owlishly at her cousin, "It's like you were there."

Alexandrie noted her cousin's sarcasm and threw pillow at her.

In between her giggles Victoire asked, "So, since you've imbibed in so much wine, both with me and before me with Dom, I'm going to assume that you're staying in England for the night until you can safely travel back home."

Alexandrie snickered, "Yes mother."

Victoire ignored her tone and continued, "The spare bedroom is really more of an office, but I can transfigure the couch that's in there into a single bed if you'd like."

"I'd appreciate that," Alexandrie agreed, she took a sip of wine before asking, "So, how long do you think it's going to take before you're turning that office into a nursery for a baby?"

Teddy, who had been in the kitchen while the two women were in the living room, stopped what he was doing (mainly cooking dinner) and sent them a frightened look. The two had been drinking their wine and conversing in French (a habit Victoire slipped into when she was speaking to the French dominant family members on her mother's side), and even though he could hear their voices clearly, he could only really understand a few isolated words. One of the words that he did understand though, was the French word for baby.

"Um . . . Vic . . .?"

His fiancée turned her head towards him, noted his pale expression and wide eyes, and then asked, "Yes Teddy?"

"Did I just hear Alexandrie say . . ." He trailed off, but Victoire knew what he was worried about now.

"She's just teasing me Teddy, don't worry."

His expression still looked worried despite her assurances, but she turned her back to him so that she could answer her cousin's question –still in French, "Hopefully we'll be needing a nursery nine-months after we get married."

Alexandrie quirked an eyebrow, "Do you honestly think you'll be able to make it that long?"

"I hope so, I _can_ control myself you know," Victoire informed her.

Alexandrie held her hands up, "I believe you, just asking. Also, if you're that determined _not_ to have a child out of wedlock, you should make sure that Great-grandmother Séraphine doesn't go anywhere near your birth control. Full veelas are devious, and you already know that she really wants _you_ to give her great-great-grandchildren."

"Why must that job fall to me exactly? I'm in the younger generation of her great-grandchildren, there are others who are older than me, and also in committed relationships, like your sister Aurélie," Victoire complained, drinking more wine to try to drown out thoughts of her full veela great-grandmother.

Alexandrie snorted, "First, you know that Séraphine isn't exactly the biggest fan of my twin's boyfriend. Second, with great-grandchildren like myself, Dom, and Louis –apparently she's also not the biggest fan of Cecilia, although I'm starting to think that Séraphine not liking your significant other is actually a good thing– and let's not forget Gabrielle's very young twins, it's unlikely that she'll be wanting or expecting great-grandchildren from us anytime soon. This leaves the heavy burden of giving her great-great-grandchildren to fall to those few of her great-grandchildren and their significant others that she _does_ approve of, specifically you."

Victoire made a face and her cousin continued, "As for why you specifically, well you have freakishly strong veela powers for one. I mean I know that _I_ certainly can't create or control as much veela flame as you can. Two, you're going to procreate with a metamorphmagus, if there was any gene pool that a full veela woman would want her descendants to mix with, it would probably be a metamorphmagus. Can you imagine it, veela powers –not just the fire aspects– and the ability to look like absolutely anyone, your kids are going to be set."

Teddy entered the living room at this point and interrupted the French conversation, "I'll admit that I don't understand much, but the amount of times I've heard the words veela, metamorphmagus, your great-grandmother's name, and the word children is really starting to worry me."

Alexandrie just sent him a bright smile while Victoire patted the empty cushion next to her on the couch. Teddy sat down next to her, and then she pressed a kiss to his cheek.

"Don't worry, we're just discussing how crazy Séraphine is."

"And," Alexandrie added with a specific look to her cousin, "W'en you are going to have kids."

Victoire sent a glare to her cousin, who was reminding her more and more of her sister at that moment, but before she could reply Teddy responded.

"Oh! I know the answer to that one: once we get married."

Alexandrie smirked, "We _ll_ in t'at case, I know a bloke in S'effield t'at could marry you tonight."

"We're _not_ eloping, especially not with just you as a witness," Victoire told her.

Teddy's face went white, "Merlin no, I can imagine more than a handful of people who would be _very_ angry with us for eloping."

"It was just a suggestion."

A minute later, an owl flew towards the window in the kitchen and knocked on the glass, and Victoire waved her hand to open it. The owl flew directly to her, she took the envelope from its leg, and then it flew back out the window.

"I guess it does not expect a response," Alexandrie remarked casually.

Victoire glanced at the front of the envelope in her hands, and before she tried to open it she noticed that only her name was written on it.

"It looks like an invitation," Teddy remarked curiously.

"What would I be getting an invitation for though?" Victoire asked him as she started to open the envelope.

Once she had it open they put their heads together to read it, and after they were silent for exactly five minutes Alexandrie said, "Do not keep me suspense, w'at is t'e invitation for?"

Victoire answered her, but she stared at Teddy as she did so, "It's an invitation to Chris Mullin and Giavanna Tracey's wedding."

Teddy glanced at the words on the paper again, "It's scheduled for Saturday October twenty-second."

"Isn't that the same weekend that the agents from the N. A. M. C. O. C. I. D. said would be the soonest that they could arrange everything to visit the magical conservatory in Lake Placid?" Victoire asked him.

Teddy had contacted agents MacKenzie and Brown before leaving that Auror Office that evening and told them of the new developments concerning their maple leaf clue, and about Alexandrie's story from the conservatory. He explained his and Victoire's plan to go to New York, and they agreed that it would be good to check out the conservatory, and that they would appreciate Teddy's presence and help while they did so. The closest weekend date that they could settle on for the trip was the weekend of October 22nd-23rd.

"It is."

They were quiet for a few more moments before Teddy slowly added, "If you want to go to Chris's wedding I can contact MacKenzie and Brown and ask them to re-schedule for another weekend."

Victoire swallowed thickly as she considered his words, "The thing is . . . I don't want to go to Chris's wedding. I know that we've been friends since first year and that it's been a while since the incident in our seventh-year, and that I should probably just forgive and forget . . . but I don't want to. I mean, I'd love to forget that it ever happened, but I can't really forgive him for it. He never really _sincerely_ apologized to me, and if him sending me this invitation means anything –because I doubt Giavanna sent me this– I think it's a sign that he really hasn't moved on. If he had he would have added your name to it as well, he knows that we're engaged."

"Are you sure that you don't want to go?" Teddy questioned softly. _He_ didn't like Chris, and honestly he'd prefer that she have as limited contact with him as possible, but the decision _was_ hers to make.

She shoved the invitation back into the envelope, "I'm sure. I don't like Giavanna or Chris. Giavanna really doesn't like me, and Chris–Chris is about to get married and become a father and he needs to move on. I don't think that my being there for his wedding is exactly going to help with that."

"So . . . we're still on for New York that weekend?" Teddy asked.

Victoire nodded, "We are still on for New York. I will politely write a reply to this invitation and state that while _we_ appreciate the invite, we have already made plans and commitments for that weekend."

"If you are tired of taking t'e 'ighroad, you can also attach a 'ex or a curse to t'e reply," Alexandrie suggested in a helpful tone.

Victoire laughed a little, which was doubtless her cousin's plan all along, "Thanks for the suggestion, but I think my reply will sound firm enough."

Teddy smiled gently and threw his arm around his fiancée's shoulders, "I'm proud of you. Honestly, if I was composing that reply I probably would add some very choice and not so polite words to Chris."

Victoire snuggled closer into his side as he continued, "But I'm glad that you're trying to be so mature about this. Especially since I know that it grates on you that _Chris_ is going to be married and have a baby before you."

She let out a disgruntled groan, " _Ugh_ , you have no idea how much it bugs me."

He raised an eyebrow at her and she tenderly amended, "Sorry, I guess you do have an idea."

"Your impatience in this matter is something that I am one-hundred percent perfectly fine with; it's very flattering," He replied, moving forward to press a kiss to the freckled bridge of her nose.

She turned her head into the crook of his neck and her nose trailed across his throat, "Like _you_ aren't just as impatient to marry me and start our family."

He pressed a kiss just below her earlobe, placed his hand high up on her thigh, and whispered to her, " _Very_ impatient."

"T'at is right, you two carry on as if I am not 'ere," Alexandrie interrupted them as she muttered into the half-drained contents of her wineglass. "T'is is just like w'enever I visit Aurélie and Denis at t'eir place. _Dieu_! I s'ould start taking bets on 'oo is going to pop out a baby first, you or my twin."

* * *

 **A/N:** So show of hands, how much do we love Alexandrie? Also, how did we like this chapter as a whole? We've now got the trial over with, and it's time to move onto new things.

 **Next Update:** Next week, but might be a smidge later than normal.

 **Next Chapter:** Is a little different. We haven't seen a lot of Eliza or Cecilia in a while, so next chapter it going to be mostly those two. Speaking of, Eliza has an appointment, Benjamin gets to take Rowan to his house, Cecilia and Eliza have girl talk, and Cecilia and her father have an overdue 'conversation'.

Teaser for Next Chap:

 **""I haven't been working more than usual this week. Louis on the other hand, I'm not fully convinced that he didn't meet his demise during MLE training earlier this week and that the Ministry isn't just covering it up completely," Cecilia mused.**

 **Eliza snorted, "It's not necessarily a government scheme Cecilia, perhaps Louis's family was told about his death during training, and they're just keeping it from you to protect you."**

 **"I appreciate the support there Eliza.""**

Thank-you to everyone who has followed, favourited, read, and especially reviewed this chapter.

Biggest thank-you to:

 **LadySnowTheStark, Revliledpembroke, shraddhap, Guest(1), Izzy, no cure for crazy, rosesnlilies, Encypher, MuggleCreator, jml2002, Jennifer Jules, Paddfoot12, Devi2509, AngelTwins527, cpnjky, mazzmataz,** and **zvc56**.

 **Revliledpembroke** : I did consider the 'lifting a car off a child thing' when writing this, but I specifically went in a slightly different direction. Lifting a car off a child has to do with an adrenalin rush, it's a physiological process. What I am getting at with the intent is that it's more of a emotional reaction/preconceived bias that the person is not fully aware of, but is something that could be managed at a later date, whereas physiological processes like adrenaline rushes are hard to copy or manipulate. You'll see a little more where you are going later on as we get more into it, but I do like that you made the comparison because the sense of the act is close enough.

 **shraddhap** : Thank you.

 **Izzy** : Great job remembering the maple leaf, and your comment about the greenhouse tour of North America, it was like you knew where I was going with it! Great job remembering all of that!

 **MuggleCreator** : No, as of yet I have not read the thing on Pottermore about magical illnesses vs muggle ones. I'll have a look at it, but as of yet I've got my own theories ready to go, so I might just stick with mine if they match better than hers.

 **Jennifer Jules** : I didn't exactly plan for the part from last chapter to fit perfectly into what I wrote in TTA, but I did write TTA the way I did because I knew that I wanted for their to be a little more around Vic's injury than just a simple injury, it was just how the rest presented itself that was left out in the open until I found that it fit right into this spot.

 **Paddfoot12** : I do plan on taking this story through until Christmas, but because of that the Christmassy chapters will have a bit of everyone in it, and they'll also have parts of the plot (because Charlie's bringing his muggle girlfriend how for Christmas and of course I'm going to write that part).

 **Devi2509** : Glad to hear that you're still reading :)

 **AngelTwins527** : So it was Alexandrie, did you see that coming?

 **cpnjky:** Just for the record, I had that storyline with the muggles and the accidental magic in my head already before Fantastic Beasts came out, but yes it seems a lot like it, doesn't it? Only these wizarding children aren't being completely repressed, their magic is just heavily guarded.

 **I hope everyone liked this chapter,**

 **Please leave me your thoughts and opinion, or questions or comments in a REVIEW,**

 **Until next time, DFTBA!**


	27. Family Can Be Complicated

**A/N:** Hi everyone, I'm sorry that this is a day late, but I got hit with a heck of a cold over the weekend.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own _Harry Potter_.

 **Warning:** Cecilia and Eliza do have some girl-talk here, so be prepared.

* * *

 **Family Can Be Complicated**

 **Friday, September 23** **rd** **2022**

 **10:45 AM**

If you had asked Eliza at that moment if she was nervous, she would have empathetically stated the negative and then gone back to packing up Rowan's baby-bag. While her words and even her posture would display her confidence, the fact that she was presently re-packing Rowan's baby bag for what had to be the eighth time that morning told a very different story.

"Eliza?"

The black-haired young woman jumped in surprise and spun around on her heel, with her hand pressed against her rapidly beating heart. Her breathing started to calm a second later when she saw who had called her name.

Benjamin was standing awkwardly at the threshold of her bedroom door, holding a sleeping baby girl in his arms.

"Lord Benjamin, you startled me," Eliza told him as her hands went back to playing with the three different receiving blankets she had packed in the diaper bag, "Um . . . how did you get in?"

Benjamin adjusted the cradle hold he hand on his daughter and then shifted his weight. He was still standing awkwardly just outside of her bedroom, "Through the unlocked front door . . . I _did_ knock, but when you didn't answer after a few minutes I came ahead in. You did tell me to be here at a quarter to eleven, right?"

Eliza stopped fiddling with the blankets and moved to rearranging the other contents of the bag to make sure that there was enough room to put another empty bottle in it, "I did . . . was Rowan fussing in her crib?"

"No, she just looked so sweet there sleeping and I–I kind of wanted to hold her, but if you want me to put her back-"

She interrupted him, "No, no. It's fine. You're going to be leaving with her in a few minutes anyway . . ." Her voice trailed off and she started to pull a few fuzzies –that may or may not have been imaginary– off an extra sweater that was tucked under four extra pairs of adorably small socks.

Benjamin took a few steps forward so that they wouldn't have to speak with so much physical, if not figurative, space between them, "If you've changed your mind, I'm sure we can arrange something else. I could go with you to the appointment and sit with Rowan, and then you can have her when you're done."

Eliza actually stopped in her borderline-obsessive arrangement of Rowan's bag and looked up at Benjamin. His face looked entirely sincere and she took a deep breath as a genuine smile twisted her lips.

"I appreciate the offer, but no thank you. We agreed that you would look after Rowan today while I have my healer's appointment and then my lunch with Cecilia, and I agreed that you could take her for the afternoon to your home so that your parents can actually have a chance to spend time with her," She reminded him, her words almost mechanic.

He took a few steps closer and smiled down at Rowan before replying, "I know what we agreed to, but if you're feeling anxious about being separated from Rowan for so long then we can change the plan."

Eliza forced her hands to stop fiddling with the baby bag and then firmly closed it. She took a deep breath and then held the bag out to Benjamin.

"No, the anxiety that I'm feeling is normal and if I avoid the anxiety by keeping her always with me, it's only going to make it grow worse. I need to spend some time away from her, and you deserve to have some time with our daughter without me breathing down your neck."

He accepted the diaper bag and slung it over his shoulder, still holding Rowan in one arm, "You don't breathe down my neck."

"It was figurative," Eliza argued even though she _knew_ that he _knew_ that, and that he was just trying to lighten her mood with a joke.

Eliza then switched topics slightly and then went on to recite a very long list of tips –that sounded oddly like a set of rules– on how to care for Rowan without her. Most of the information Benjamin already knew, despite the arguments the two had about him not being involved enough in Rowan's life, because he _was_ around enough to catch onto Rowan's normal schedule and routine. He assured Eliza that he would take very special care of their daughter, and that his parents were excited to get to see her.

She readily believed the earnestness of the first part, but slightly doubted the authenticity of the second. Either way, she was pleased with the sincerity of half of his words and leaned forward to press a kiss to Rowan's forehead before stepping back and watching Benjamin floo out of her fireplace with their still-sleeping daughter in his arms.

She might have called out when Benjamin stepped into the fireplace, a reminder to make sure that Rowan's face was turned towards him and slightly down so that she wouldn't accidentally inhale ashes from the fireplace, but since he had already done so, they both pretended that she hadn't said anything and shared a quick goodbye.

Once the fireplace was clear, Eliza turned her back towards it and wrapped her arms tightly against her chest. She took a breath that was shallower than she would have liked, and exclaimed aloud to the empty flat, "God I wish I could have a drink right now."

* * *

 **12:37 PM**

"Eliza, are you sure that you're alright?" Cecilia asked her friend for what had to be the sixth time since they had received their drinks from a server who looked to be about the same age as them.

Eliza looked up at Cecilia, her hand still stirring the bendy straw around her soda, and replied, "Yeah, I told you that the healer gave me a clean bill of health."

Cecilia narrowed her eyes at the raven-haired girl across the table from her, "I was talking about your separation anxiety."

"The healer didn't actually diagnose me with that," Eliza countered before taking a sip of her drink.

"Alright, denial it is," Cecilia retorted, "I can play along though, so you just had _your_ six week physical?"

Eliza nodded, "Six weeks minus a day."

"And everything is good then?"

"If a person's health could be all rainbows and sunshine then mine would be," Eliza retorted.

Cecilia appreciated the other woman's sarcasm. It was something she hadn't heard in a while since almost everything that came out of Eliza's mouth in the past month was child-directed-speech that was appropriate for her one-month-old to hear.

"So the healer gave you the okay to have sex again then?"

Eliza had been halfway through a sip of soda and started choking on it once the words were out of Cecilia's mouth. She pulled her napkin up to her face and covered it as a few drops of the dark cola fizzled through her nose and out her nostrils.

"Cecilia!"

The other woman bit her lip to hold in her smirk and defended herself, "What? It's a valid question about your health. If the healer didn't say it was okay then it's probably because you're not fully healed _down there_."

Thankfully, Cecilia whispered the words 'down there' since she spotted their server coming up to their table again with their lunches. She may have wanted to embarrass her friend, but she wouldn't do it within hearing distance of another person.

Their server placed their plates in front of them, and then noticed that both girls were staring at him with too-large smiles on their faces, which were, unknown to him their attempt to mask their uncomfortableness at his sudden presence. They had gone completely silent when he came up to them, and he looked between the both of them before shooting Eliza a flirtatious smirk and a wink.

He was barely gone before Cecilia broke out into a set of giggles, while Eliza's face just went red.

"Well that was rather convenient, since we were speaking of your clean bill of health and all-"

The glare Eliza sent Cecilia stopped her words there, and –even though the server was good and gone– Eliza whispered furiously back, "I am not planning on having sex with anybody anytime soon, let alone our random server."

"Our random but very cute server," Cecilia pointed out.

Her friend gave her another look and then started to eat her meal.

It didn't seem as though Cecilia was done with the topic though, "But let's forget the server for right now. If you honestly don't want to have a physical relationship with someone anytime soon you don't have to, but if you're talking like this because you're irrationally worried about what happened the last time-"

"Don't beat around the bush Cecilia, you can say it, I got pregnant last time," Eliza countered as she stabbed a piece of veg with her fork.

Cecilia observed her friend closely before gently saying, "Eliza, your getting pregnant was an accident. I can understand that you're worried about entering a relationship because of your history, but don't let that stop you from entering any type of relationship if you really want to. When you finally feel ready for one."

Eliza was still eyeing her hesitantly, so she continued.

"I'm not saying that you need to go out and hook up with Benjamin, or Baxter, or that cute server bloke, but you are an eighteen year old woman and it's natural for you to have emotional and physical needs. You are one of the smartest people that I know, but you're also very hard on yourself. Just because you're a mother now doesn't mean that you have to repress all of your complicated feelings for the opposite sex –or the same sex if that's also your thing, I don't judge– until Rowan turns seventeen and is officially an adult," Cecilia told her in as supportive and non-judgemental tone as she could.

The other woman nodded her head, and even though it seemed as though she took her friend's advice to heart, she did have one important question for Cecilia, "Why are you so interested in my sex life all of a sudden?"

Cecilia sighed and rested her cheek in her hand, "I don't know. It's probably because _my_ sex life is nonexistent."

"Been working a lot this week?" Eliza asked, finally smiling a little because she wasn't the centre of attention anymore.

"I haven't been working more than usual this week. Louis on the other hand, I'm not fully convinced that he didn't meet his demise during MLE training earlier this week and that the Ministry isn't just covering it up completely," Cecilia mused.

Eliza snorted, "It's not necessarily a government scheme Cecilia, perhaps Louis's family was told about his death during training, and they're just keeping it from you to protect you."

"I appreciate the support there Eliza."

She rolled her eyes, "He's doing intensive training for Magical Law Enforcement. He's probably just been busy."

"Oh, I know he was, I did get a few text messages from him this week," Cecilia paused to eat a chip and then continued, "But that does not mean that it doesn't _feel_ like the universe is trying to keep us apart."

"The universe? That's quite the conspiracy theory," Eliza retorted more than a little sarcastically.

Cecilia pouted, "The universe, my dad, seems like the same thing right now."

"Ah, this is going to be another one of those meetings where I listen to you rant about your father, isn't it?" Eliza questioned with a sympathetic smile.

"Yes, you're a better listener than Louis is, he keeps trying to defend my father," Cecilia muttered, shoving another chip into her mouth.

Eliza gave her friend some time to settle down before enquiring, "So what has your father done now?"

That launched Cecilia into a longer explanation, "So, Puddlemere was supposed to have a by-week this week, but their schedule shifted and they now have an away game tonight in Falmouth. Dad and Mum both have to go of course, and if they're travelling that far for such a late game they're probably going to stay the night."

"So your parents are going to be away tonight? I don't see how that will stop you from seeing Louis, quite the opposite actually," Eliza said.

Cecilia sighed, "There's more. Mum and Dad never take their kids with them when they go to Falmouth for games. I'm not entirely sure why, but Mum use to say that it was because their crowds usually got really rowdy and she was worried about us or something. The 'why' isn't a big deal, the point is that Mum and Dad aren't going to bring Brogan with them tonight, so they need someone to watch over him. When we found out about this on Wednesday, I kindly volunteered to watch my younger brother."

"Of course, you are a paragon of kindness."

"Exactly, so I generously offered to give up my Friday evening to watch my four-year-old brother, but the one little thing I asked of my parents, my Dad had to vehemently disagree with."

Eliza stole a chip off of her friend's plate, "You asked your parents if Louis could come over and help you watch Brogan so that you can spend time together, didn't you? And your dad didn't take the bait."

"His face looked exactly like I imagine it would look like if I ever actually admitted to him that I've spent the night at Louis's a few times," Cecilia explained.

"A few times?"

Cecilia ignored her and continued, "Thank Circe for my mother, or Dad and I might have had it out right there and then."

"She soothed him then?"

"Even better, she loudly stated that she thought that inviting Louis over was a lovely idea, and that she's sure that Brogan would love to see him," Cecilia recited.

Eliza smirked, "Oh, she played the little brother card for you then."

"Yes, but Mum is ever the mediator. She convinced Dad to allow me to invite Louis over tonight, but he only agreed to it if I promise to kick him out by midnight," Cecilia clarified.

Eliza nodded her head, "I don't know what your father is so worried about anyway, it's not like you and Louis would get up to anything serious with Brogan in the house and as your responsibility."

"Exactly!" Cecilia agreed, "But Dad's just got an awful double-standard is all. I've never heard him tell Xavier that Ally can't stay at his flat past midnight."

"To be fair, Xavier does pay for his own flat, and you're living under your parents' roof," Eliza reminded her.

Cecilia made a face, "The only reason why I'm still under my parents' roof is for their benefit and because I know that they're clingy and over-protective. I have the means to move out if I wanted to, and trust me, Dad is making me _really_ want to right now, but I'm going to stay. Until the next thing happens between Dad and I that is."

* * *

 **4:00 PM**

Eliza had fun with Cecilia during lunch, and then when she went back to her flat she was glad that she had the time to get to work on a bunch of chores that had seemed to be piling up. It didn't take her long to finish the chores and cleaning because, despite what she thought of her own housekeeping skills, her flat was rather clean and organized. After she finished her chores she took the time to read the newspaper, as well as the quidditch magazine Cecilia wrote for, front-to-back. (She had read Cecilia's latest article of course, but that was the only part of the magazine that she had even looked at.)

She was able to while away a few hours in such a fashion, but by four o'clock she was more than itching to see Rowan again. She deliberated for several minutes with herself before she decided to bite the bullet and go to Benjamin's house. It was almost time for Rowan's next feeding, and even though she had packed the baby bag she gave Benjamin to the top with bottles and breast milk, she figured she'd use that as an excuse to see Rowan.

Originally, Eliza had promised Benjamin that he –and by extension his parents– could have Rowan until six o'clock that evening. She didn't intend to take Rowan back from Benjamin early, but she though that she would go over and suggest that since she was no longer busy, that she could feed Rowan herself instead of having to bottle feed her. It probably wasn't the best plan that she could have created, but in her anxious state it was the only thing she could really come up with.

So, even though it was one of the last places that she thought she would ever go to, Eliza soon found herself on the doorstep of the Dickinson family mansion. She knocked on the door, and then everything else after that action happened in a bit of a blur until she found herself awkwardly standing near a couch in a sitting room with Benjamin's mother.

His father had been in the room earlier, but when she was led into it he quickly left to inform Benjamin that she was there, leaving Eliza and Benjamin's mother in the room alone together.

Even though taking a seat on any of the couches or chairs in the sitting room would put her in even closer contact to Benjamin's mother Grace, Eliza had to admit that it would have been nice for her daughter's grandmother to at least offer her a seat. If she had been in almost anyone else's home, she probably would have gone ahead and causally taken a seat. However, in the snobbishly sophisticated home of Benjamin's perfectly poised and pretentious pureblooded family, she knew that taking a seat without being offered one would create one more strike on Eliza's already not-very-clean record with the elder Dickinsons.

Her first strike apparently was seducing their only son and encouraging him to cheat on his fiancée; and her worst strike to date was when Rowan was born and she insisted that Rowan's last name be the hyphenated Parker-Dickinson, instead of just Dickinson like Benjamin's parents wanted.

With all of their poor, admittedly limited and chronologically short, interactions, it didn't necessarily surprise Eliza that Mrs. Grace Dickinson didn't offer for her to have a seat.

"So, how was Rowan today?" Eliza asked Mrs. Dickinson in as neutral of a tone as she could manage.

Mrs. Dickinson sent Eliza a leisurely and sweeping glance before replying, "She was very quiet, so that was pleasant."

Eliza bit her lip, "That's . . . good. I was worried that the unfamiliar environment might scare her."

She was actually worried that the unfamiliar environment combined with the unfamiliar people (excepting Benjamin) would scare Rowan, but she wasn't about to voice the entirety of that concern.

"Well if she was here more often perhaps she would become more familiar with the environment," Mrs. Dickinson snarked.

Eliza just nodded her head. In reality she wanted to respond that she doubted what she said, because it was unlikely that Mrs. Dickinson would allow a baby (who was always sticky or gooey from something) into her pristine and immaculate sitting rooms.

"She is an objectively pleasing infant though. Her looks are fair so far, although it is too early to tell whose bone structure she will inherit. Of course, I'd prefer for her to take after Benjamin and his noble and aristocratic features, but in the worst case scenario, your cheek bones are surprisingly agreeable for a muggle."

Usually whenever someone referred to her as a muggle, Eliza would correct them that she was a muggle _born_. She didn't feel the urge to so in this situation however.

"Since this visit has gone so well, I'm sure that it will make it easier for Benjamin and I to agree on and arrange more visits when they'd be most convenient in the future," Her speech sounded overly formal, but she doubted such a concept existed in the pureblood world.

Mrs. Dickinson just frowned, "That would be amenable. In fact, Benjamin's father and I would like to hold a dinner party so that our friends and family can come over and finally see Rowan. We wanted to do something today, but Benjamin was adamant that only he and we were present today."

She stopped talking and then leveled an accusing glare at Eliza, "He even told his fiancée, who he cares very deeply for, that she couldn't come over today because he didn't want too many people around Rowan."

Eliza tried to keep her face neutral. That was news to her, she'd never told Benjamin that Winnie couldn't be around Rowan when he had her today.

Before either of them could say another word, Mr. Dickinson came back with Benjamin, who was holding a fussy sounding Rowan. Benjamin's expression when he saw Eliza was surprised, but even through that, she could tell that he was starting to feel a little harried. Most likely because their daughter's sounds of complaints had quickly changed to wailing cries and he didn't like the sound of it. If there was one thing that Eliza had learned about Benjamin in the six weeks that had passed since Rowan's birth, it was that Benjamin couldn't stand the sound of Rowan crying; it was almost like his heart broke a little each time she did.

Benjamin hadn't yet asked Eliza why she was at his home two hours earlier than the time they had agreed he would return Rowan at, and since his daughter was still screaming he didn't really have the chance to. Rowan's cries actually created a very opportune moment and allowed Benjamin to slip out of the room with Eliza on his heels, as they took the screaming infant out of the room so that Mrs. Dickinson didn't have to hear her granddaughter's wailing anymore.

Eliza flushed as she explained to Benjamin, in between Rowan's cries, why she had stopped by. Benjamin gave her a sympathetic look as he led her up an ornate staircase and to the room of the very large house that was Rowan's designated nursery. He had tried to hand Rowan off to Eliza when he first saw her, but she insisted that he try to calm her first.

After bouncing her a little in his arms Rowan did settle down, and only then did Eliza allow Benjamin to hand Rowan over.

"I'm glad that you're here actually. She took the first bottle fine around two, but when I tried to give her another one about ten minutes ago she wouldn't take it. She was obviously hungry, but she didn't want the bottle," Benjamin explained to Eliza.

She nodded her head, understood why Rowan had been crying earlier, and could tell without a doubt that her daughter was hungry considering that the infant was presently trying to nestle her head into Eliza's still clothed chest.

Eliza grabbed a receiving blanket from Rowan's baby bag, and sat down on the rocking chair that sat in the corner of the room, very close to the crib. She unbuttoned her shirt and started to feed Rowan, while Benjamin stood several metres away and pretended to busy himself by collecting all of the items from Rowan's baby bag that had escaped over the course of the day.

They had learned early on that the only thing that was more awkward than Benjamin being in the room while Eliza fed Rowan, was when he attempted to stutter out an unconnected excuse and pretended that nothing was going on before leaving the room so that she could feed Rowan. She was always covered, so it as actually slightly more comfortable for the both of them if they didn't treat it as such an awkward situation in the first place.

"I hope that you didn't have to spend too much time with my mother," Benjamin began as he started to fold a receiving blanket that was sitting on a side table in the room.

Eliza sighed, "It was fine, but if she said one more reprimand in that superior chastising tone of hers, I was going to tell her the truth about Rowan's middle name."

Benjamin smirked, "Go for it. I'd love to see the look on my mother's face when she finds out that Rowan's middle name is Grace _not_ because of _her_ , but because it's the name of a grandmother of yours that you were very close too."

His smile made Eliza grin in response and the atmosphere in the room turned more comfortable as Rowan continued to feed.

"So . . . your mother brought up that she would like to throw a party here on one of the day's that you have Rowan so that your family and friends can meet her . . ."

Benjamin rolled his eyes, " _Ugh_ , please tell me that you told her no."

An eyebrow rose up on Eliza's forehead, "No. I'm not going to do your dirty work for you. If you don't want to have a party for Rowan, you're going to have to be the one to tell her that."

He frowned and took several steps closer to where Eliza sat on the rocking chair. He knelt down in front of her, "I would like nothing more than for the people I consider my family and my friends to meet our daughter. However, the people my mother will invite will most likely be neither familial nor friendly. Rowan's almost like a side show attraction to these people in my social circle, they just want to take a peek at her to see if they can tell by looking at her if she's be a squib or not."

Eliza's eyes widened, "Really?"

"I'm probably exaggerating. I'm sure that not _everybody_ thinks that way, but the most vocal ones definitely do," Benjamin replied tiredly.

She frowned as she thought over his words, but then shrugged (or attempted to shrug as it was a little difficult to do when you have an infant attached to your breast).

"We knew that this was going to be an uphill battle, we really shouldn't be surprised."

Benjamin smiled brightly at her all of a sudden, and then Eliza realized that she had used the word 'we' when she probably should have used the word 'I'. She was too tired though, to really consider why saying something like that would make him smile like he did, so instead she changed the topic.

"Your mother also told me that your lovely fiancée, who you care about _so_ much, wasn't invited over today because of Rowan," Eliza ventured a little uneasily. She didn't know how she felt about Benjamin using their daughter as an excuse to avoid his fiancée.

He easily read the emotions on her face and then hastily explained, "I don't like how Winnie acts in concerns to Rowan. One minute she's talking about her, complimenting her, and trying to dote on her even though she's not even here; and the next Winnie's complaining about her and asking me if I'm sure that it's too late to terminate my parental rights."

Eliza's green eyes blazed and her voice was cold, "Well obviously you lied to her, because it's never too late to terminate your parental rights."

Benjamin's teeth clenched, "I lied to her because I'm tired of her bringing the topic up. I tried telling her that I love Rowan and that I will never give up my rights to her or pretend that she isn't mine, but Winnie is good at ignoring things she doesn't want to hear. I just told her that it was too late so she'd stop bloody bothering me about it."

"Lying to her, that's a great way to start a marriage. I can't believe that you're still engaged to a woman who so blatantly dislikes your daughter," Eliza snapped.

He gave her a look that was an odd mix of a glare and weariness, "Trust me, if breaking off my engagement was as easy as you make it sound, we probably wouldn't be in this position right now."

Eliza wasn't sure if 'this position' referred to Winnie badgering Benjamin, Mrs. Dickinson's overt abhorrence of Eliza, or Rowan's existence in general.

Rowan finished eating a few moments later, and then Benjamin not-so-casually suggested that they go back to her flat so that he could spend the rest of his time with Rowan without having to worry about his parents being passive-aggressive to their granddaughter. Eliza agreed with the suggestion because she didn't actually want to say goodbye to Rowan and wait two more hours to see her, and she left it to Benjamin to explain to his parents what the new plan was.

Eliza apparated to her flat, and then a few minutes later Benjamin flooed into the fireplace with Rowan in his arms. Benjamin sat down at a bar stool near the kitchen's island, still holding Rowan, while Eliza went to make tea.

Benjamin was absently talking to Rowan, narrating actually, everything that was around her and how it seemed that Eliza had tidied up the apartment, and then his running description suddenly stopped.

"What's this?" He called to Eliza curiously as he grabbed a book that was sitting on the counter next to the latest copy of _Up in the Air_ magazine.

Eliza turned so that she could see what he was referring to and then smiled softly, "That's a book filled with muggle fairy-tales and fables. I read it to Rowan at night, but in all honesty any book would probably do. The fairy-tales make me feel warm, nostalgic . . . they're comfortable and familiar."

Benjamin smiled at hearing the content in her voice, "Is it yours? It looks well-loved."

"Um . . ." She replied, suddenly very intent on making tea once more, "It was a gift actually. From Baxter."

His smile fell but his voice was still calm and collected, "He gave you a used copy of a book as a gift?"

"It wasn't exactly a gift," Eliza told him, backtracking a little now, "He was over one night last week with Cecilia and Louis, and he heard me reciting a muggle fable to Rowan from memory when I was trying to put her to sleep. He stopped by the day after and gave me the book. He said it was his as a child, and then he apologized for its wear-and-tear, but he said that he thought that I would appreciate the fact there were so many different fairy-tales and fables collected in one volume. He said it should be easier to tell Rowan the tales if I was reading them to her."

Benjamin nodded but kept his expression blank, "How nice of him to give you a book for Rowan."

She wasn't entirely sure how to respond, so she went with a solid, "Yup." And then slid a cup of tea over to him.

He was quiet as he drank the beverage, which gave Eliza a chance to covertly study him. She was honestly surprised that Benjamin's reaction to finding out about Baxter's gift was as small as it was, so she was partially just looking at him to see if he would react after the fact.

He didn't seem to notice that she was staring at him, but her attempt to inspect him was slowly starting to turn into something else. When her mind started to drift to the conversation she had had with Cecilia a lunch she _mentally_ slapped herself and turned away from him to manually put the dishes away, but mostly so that she could compose herself.

When she was done she turned back to him, silently thanked the universe that he hadn't noticed her distraction, and then started up a random conversation about quidditch.

* * *

"Merlin Brogan's got a lot of energy," Louis commented as he carefully eyed the four-year-old who was lying underneath the Puddlemere United themed sheets on his bed.

Cecilia stopped what she was doing (muttering spells underneath her breath that would activate to inform her if Brogan got out of bed) and twisted around and glared at Louis. In a harsh –yet still quiet– whisper she admonished him, "Keep your voice low Louis! You don't want to wake him, do you?"

Considering that it had taken them almost an hour to get Brogan to sleep –the four-year-old wanted to stay up later than he was allowed– it was doubtful that either of them purposely wanted to wake him up. When Cecilia was done casting the spells she gently pulled the door almost to a close, leaving enough space so that if Brogan did wake up before morning, he wouldn't be afraid of how dark his room was. She left the hallway light on, and then grabbed Louis's hand and dragged him downstairs.

With Brogan now asleep Cecilia finally had the chance to spend time with her boyfriend and actually _talk_ to him. She would have preferred to take him to her bedroom to do so, but she actually didn't intend to take things too far, so she figured that the living room would probably be best to help her achieve that goal.

When they got to the living room Louis collapsed onto the couch, "Man do I feel like I'm getting old."

"It's okay," Cecilia replied as she fell onto the couch and cuddled up next to him, "I think I'd rather fancy a distinguished looking older bloke like you."

Louis wrapped his arms around her and smirked, "That's just because you have daddy issues."

She wiggled out of his grasp so she could punch him in response, and then she curled up to him again, "That's not funny."

He smiled again, and then something on the coffee table caught his gaze, "Did I send you flowers this week and forget about it?"

Cecilia looked over at the flower filled crystal vase and smirked, "No, it was another distinguished looking older gentleman."

"Are we actually talking about your dad this time?" Louis asked confusedly.

She shook her head, a laugh visible on her face, "No, Eli Martell sent them to me."

"Why are you getting flowers from a professional quidditch playing friend of your father's?"

Cecilia bit her lip and blushed a little, "He sent them along with a thank-you note. Apparently he really liked the article that I wrote about him in my magazine, and he wanted to thank me for being so professional and polite about it, and not asking him any personal questions. His note also said that he appreciated the fact that I made him sound like a much better person and quidditch player than he actually is."

Louis smiled, "That was nice of him. The flowers are beautiful."

"They are," Cecilia nodded, "And they don't even look the worse for wear after their accident."

"What accident?"

She shrugged, "It wasn't much. They came in a box via owl, and Mum was the one who took it from the owl and opened the box. As she did so she dropped it and it fell to the floor, the vase broke into a million pieces. I don't blame her though, Brogan did scream something from the other room at the same time because he found a spider. All the vase needed was a sufficient _reparo_ , and then a sticking charm when I put it on this table. It's right at Brogan's height and I don't trust him not to accidentally knock it off."

"I thought your article was good too, but I didn't bring you flowers," Louis explained.

Cecilia smiled slyly and then turned a little so that she could lay across his lap, her head resting on the arm of the couch, "You _did_ say that you wrote me a poem though."

His hands wrapped around her waist, "I did. I don't have it with me at the moment though . . ."

"Oh dear, I guess we'll have to skip the part where you read it to me then, and we'll go straight to the part where I snog you senseless as a thank-you," She whispered as she slipped her hands around his neck and pulled his face down to hers.

She smothered the smirk that was on his lips with her mouth and he was somehow still able to chuckle around their kiss. Her hands travelled up to his head and she curled her fingers around his blonde hair; while one of his hands wrapped around her waist, the other sliding up to the middle of her back.

Cecilia's fingers tightened in Louis's hair when he captured her bottom lip between hers, and she let out a breathy sigh. She could feel a chuckle beginning in his chest again, but her mind was honestly too scattered to worry about whether he was laughing with her or at her. All she was able to focus on was the tingly feeling she felt everywhere their bodies touched.

Her heartbeat and her breathing sped up as his mouth continued to caress hers, and just when she thought that he was going to deepen the kiss, he would pull back slightly and keep it soft and gentle. The part of her that could create a complete train of thought became a little upset that Louis was 'wasting' their very limited alone time together, and not giving her the tongue-twisting-teeth-clashing-lip-chapping type of snog that she wanted.

When she started to kiss him more aggressively he was somehow able to twist their positions around so that he was on his back and pressed against the cushions, and she was lying on top of him. She would have been surprised by Louis's skilled ability to manoeuver them without falling off the small couch, or breaking the contact of theirs mouths, if it wasn't for all of the practice they had snogging in chairs and on couches in the Gryffindor common room over the past four years.

As they continued to kiss, both his hands traveled up her back to rest just behind her shoulder blades. He pressed firmly there, and then Cecilia stopped kissing him for a minute so that she could let out an embarrassingly loud moan.

Louis pulled far enough away from her so he could look at her and raise his eyebrow, "Like that did you?"

Cecilia felt her cheeks and even her ears reddening, and she hid her face against his chest while she defended herself, "My back's been sore, particularly my shoulders. The pressure felt nice."

"Budge up a little," He informed her, helping her wiggle up a little more so that her head was just under his chin. The position gave Louis more arm room so that he could reach around her back and massage her shoulder blades.

"Ugh," She groaned once more, "My stupid sweater is in the way."

It only took her a minute to sit up and discard said stupid navy blue cardigan before she cuddled up to him once more. He smiled down at her while his hands went back to pressing into her shoulder blades, this time with barely any fabric in the way as she was just wearing a red tank-top underneath her cardigan.

"I love you Louis," Cecilia murmured in contentment as he kept working the knots out of her shoulders and back.

Underneath her cheek, his chest rumbled as he chuckled once more. His hand momentarily stopped pressing into the muscle on her back so he could draw a heart on the skin at the tip of her shoulder.

"I love you too."

* * *

 **Saturday, September 24** **th** **2022**

 **8:31 AM**

"Cee-Cee?"

Cecilia, while still half-asleep, cracked one eye open, and when she noted that the blurry face looking down at her belonged to the voice, she closed her eyes once more and grumbled, "Get out of my room Brogan."

There was a beat of silence that Cecilia thought meant that her younger brother had left, but just when she thought she was falling back asleep, she heard him again.

"But we're not in your room."

It wasn't actually the content of Brogan's words that caught her attention, but the innocent and questioning tone he used.

Both of her eyes popped open this time, and her full field of view gave her not only a view of her pyjama clad little brother in the foreground, but also the living room as the background.

She closed her eyes again, "Give me ten more minutes Bro, and then I'll get you breakfast."

Cecilia was just snuggling back into her comfortable sleeping position when Brogan cheerily announced, "Don't worry 'bout that. Mummy's making breakfast."

She nodded her head into the firm cushion underneath her, and then two separate thoughts popped into her head:

One: While the cushion under her head was familiarly firm, she quickly realized that the fact that it was breathing most likely meant that it wasn't actually a cushion, but instead a person.

Two: Brogan had said that 'Mummy' was making breakfast, and she wasn't supposed to come home with _Daddy_ until later that morning.

Cecilia's eyes burst open once more, and she found herself staring at the green fabric of the sweater Louis had been wearing the night before. Said sweater was still _on_ Louis and he was presently still asleep, wedged between her and the actual couch cushions.

"Cecilia Kathryn."

Hearing her name in that firm tone and in her father's voice caused her to roll off the couch as she tried to move to see if she could find where the voice was coming from. She landed on the ground with a thud, a pained cry escaping her mouth as the side of her head hit the floor hard; and because of the way she had been tangled up with Louis when they fell asleep, she wasn't the only one to fall off the couch.

Louis followed after her only a few seconds later, but he landed on the floor face-first; which was probably _not_ the best wake-up call he'd ever had.

He sat up at the same time Cecilia did, and while she held the back of her head that had glanced off the floor, he was holding his nose, which blood was starting to pour out of. He swore in French as he groggily held his nose and stared at Cecilia, and she wondered if he was awake enough to remember Brogan was there and was swearing in another language because of him, or if he was still so dazed that he didn't realize he was speaking French.

"Are you guys alright?" Katie's voice frantically asked as she came around the corner with a concerned look on her face.

Instead of looking at her, Cecilia and Louis's heads turned towards the silent figure of Oliver Wood, who was standing near the couch they had just fallen off of, with his arms crossed over his chest and a decidedly unimpressed expression on his face.

"Dad-"

"Can I see you upstairs for a moment Cecilia?"

Cecilia bit her lip, sent Louis a worried look out of the corner of her eye, but ultimately she decided that it would probably be best to listen to her father at that moment. She got to her feet, looking worriedly at Louis once more until he did a waving gesture to inform her that he was fine, and then she nodded at her dad.

Oliver angrily turned on his heel and started to walk towards the staircase, and Cecilia quietly followed him. Katie rolled her eyes and muttered something under her breath before she too followed behind Cecilia. And Brogan, who seemed to think that he needed to go upstairs too, made it to the bottom of the staircase before he was picked up by Xavier (who Cecilia just realized was also in the living room) and placed on his older brother's hip.

"This doesn't exactly concern you Bro."

Neither Cecilia nor her parents spoke as they went up the stairs, and they walked all the way to Katie and Oliver's bedroom before someone said anything.

"What are you guys doing back so early?" She asked her parents confusedly as she tried to meet her father's steadily disapproving gaze. She couldn't do it so she stared at the neckline of the faded Puddlemere United tee-shirt he was wearing instead.

Oliver's expression was still fuming, so before he could answer, Katie interrupted with a soft look towards her daughter, "We decided that we didn't want to stay in Falmouth last night, so when the game was done we came back home around one o'clock-"

"And then we found you on the couch _with_ Louis-" Oliver interrupted, his hazel eyes blazing.

"We found you and Louis _asleep_ on the couch," Katie corrected, giving Oliver a hard _look_.

" _With_ Louis when he was supposed to _go home_ at midnight," Oliver added, giving his wife a _look_ back.

From the tone of their voices, Cecilia could tell that her parents had already had an argument about the situation. Most likely when they came home and found the two on the couch earlier that morning.

"Sorry?" Cecilia said, interrupting the intimidating staring contest it seemed that her parents had started, "Looking after Brogan after a long week of work was tiring. Louis and I were on the couch talking and we–we must have fallen asleep."

Oliver looked away from his wife and glared at his daughter, "You were _talking_ on the couch?"

"Yes," Cecilia defended. Talking _and_ snogging, but if her father was this unhappy, she wasn't going to brag about the second part, "We were talking, we haven't seen each other much this week. You and Mum said that it was okay for him to come over-"

"As long as he left at midnight," Oliver reminded her.

She continued, "It was an accident Dad. I don't see what the big deal is. Obviously you don't trust me, but I _am_ eighteen and old enough to make my own decisions."

"Oliver-" Katie began in a warning tone when she saw the expression on her husband's face darken.

He ignored her and stared steadily at his daughter, "It's not _you_ I don't trust Cecilia-"

"Ollie," Katie sighed regretfully as she shook her head.

It was too late, Cecilia had already taken his words very personally, "So you're telling me that this is about Louis? How in the world can you not trust him? What has he done in the past five years–no. What has Louis done in the past eighteen years that you've known him that makes you claim that he's untrustworthy?"

"I'm not going to have this conversation with you Cecilia-"

"That's quite an order Dad, but I'm not Brogan. Just because you _tell_ me that we're not going to have this conversation doesn't mean that I'll stop. You either have a solid reason for why you don't trust Louis, or just have a horribly unfair double-standard," Cecilia argued.

Oliver frowned at her, "Cecilia Kathryn!"

"How about we put a pin in this for right now," Katie said loudly as she clapped her hands together, "I'd guess that Ally and Xavier took over finishing up breakfast, so it's probably ready right now."

"But-"

Katie sent both Oliver and Cecilia a stern look, "No harm, no foul. I'm not saying that we should just forgive and forget –because I highly doubt either of you will– but right this moment is not the time to start this argument. Now, let's go get breakfast before Xavier has to start awkwardly answering Brogan's questions about why we're upstairs having an argument."

"Brogan doesn't know that we're having an argument," Oliver disputed.

Katie raised an eyebrow, "He may be four, but he knows when you're angry Oliver."

She ended the conversation there and gestured for Cecilia to go down the stairs first, her and Oliver following after. Cecilia took the stairs slowly, but she did almost slip down the last step. She landed fine, but her misstep worried her mother, and by the time they entered the kitchen, Katie was concernedly commentating on Cecilia's head and wondering if her fall off the couch gave her a concussion.

"I'm fine Mum," Cecilia complained as Katie forced her into a kitchen chair. Her mother took out her wand and then threateningly held it around Cecilia's head as she insisted that she should run a few spells to check.

Cecilia sighed but didn't have the time to argue, her eyes were busy glancing around the kitchen and trying to figure out what the atmosphere in the kitchen was. Ally was transferring scrambled eggs from a frying pan to a serving bowl; and Brogan was sitting on the kitchen counter near the toaster, being regaled by stories from the quidditch game from the night before by Xavier, who was cutting pieces of toast and putting them on a large plate. Louis, who had been handed a pitcher full of juice by Ally, brought it over to the table and then sat in the chair next to Cecilia's.

"How's the head?"

"It's fine," Cecilia replied a little passive-aggressively since her mother was still casting spells around her skull. She glanced at her boyfriend, "How's your nose?"

Louis sent her a tight smile, "Ally fixed it for me."

"Fixed it?" She asked, her voice rising in alarm.

"It was broken, I–uh–my hands didn't come out in time to stop or soften the fall," He explained.

Cecilia grimaced, "I'm sorry."

"It wasn't your fault," Louis told her with a smile that was more natural but still a little forced looking.

Ally and Xavier then announced that breakfast was ready; Katie thanked the both of them profusely for finishing it up; and Oliver walked into the kitchen, picked Brogan up off the counter, and then plastered a somewhat believable smile on his face as he placed his youngest son in a chair and sat in between him and his wife.

Cecilia noticed Ally and Xavier share a worried look, but then the both of them put small smiles on their faces and started to fill their plates with food. She glanced at her mother next, and since Katie had put her wand away, she was busy making sure that Brogan had something from each major food group on his plate, an oddly uncomfortable looking smile on her face as well.

In fact, the only person at the table who looked sincere in their happy expression was Brogan, who was content to be surrounded by his family and his favourite breakfast foods.

* * *

 **A/N:** I know you guys wanted more of a discussion between Cecilia and Oliver, but Katie had to put a stop to it because it was not the right time to get into the nitty-gritty. As you can see however, Cecilia and Oliver definitely won't be able to keep quiet for much longer, so a real long talk should be coming soon. Also, this was our first 'in person' meeting with Benjamin's parents. How'd you like them?

 **Next Update:** Even though next week is Christmas, I should be able to update on Boxing Day :)

 **Next Chapter:** We're going back to Hogwarts to get a look at the kids there, there'll be special emphasis on James and Freddie though.

Teaser for Next Chap:

 **"There were two entire minutes of silence before Freddie frowned and reached out to rap his knuckles against James's forehead.**

 **"Oi! James Sirius, answer my question man!""**

Thanks again of course to everyone who has followed, favourited, read, and reviewed!

Biggest thank yous of course to:

 **ntlpurpolia, Power Winter, Guest (1), zvc56, Bookworm742, rosesnlilies, Mariana, MuggleCreator, loverloverlover, no cure for crazy, AngelTwins527, cjaben1, HalfBloodPrinces, Paddfoot12, mazzmataz, The doctor, Jennifer Jules, jeremiah123, cpnjky, Seher Syed, kawaiiotaku0405,** and **Izzy**.

 **Mariana** : I don't know about Dom with a serious boyfriend, for now it seems like she's rather just have fun. And don't worry, discussing the wedding and children will be sporadic throughout.

 **loverloverlover** : Are you still on the Benjamin Eliza ship after this chap? I'm glad that you're so invested into Dom and considering how she might actually feel about Konstantin, or not. It might sound mean of me, but I love how all of you are so suspicious of my writing now, that you can't tell if my writing something is foreshadowing for a larger piece later on, or just insignificant. I love keeping all of you on your toes :)

 **Paddfoot12** : Don't worry, I have no plans to end this before giving you a peak at Teddy and Vic as parents.

 **Jennifer Jules** : I didn't do the dialogue part of the trial because I knew it would run very long, and I felt like I would just be slowly repeating absolutely everything already discussed in the previous chapters about it, so I decided that a quick summary of the trial without dialogue would be more palatable for everyone. I hope your finals go well :)

 **cpnjky** : Next chapter is actually all goign to be about the kids at Hogwarts, so good guess there.

 **Izzy** : Sometimes it takes more to learn a language than just being around someone who sometimes speaks it. I took French (core French, so not as much as French immersion) since Kindergarten into grade nine and I would not consider myself even close to being fluent in French, however, like Teddy, I can pick out words that are said, but I can't exactly string together a proper sentence (besides 'hello' my name is . . .' that is). Teddy wouldn't have been exposed to enough French to learn it, and definitely not in a way to learn optimally because when French speakers are speaking to each other, they speak much more quickly than when they speak English (or at least the French/English bilinguals in Canada do). Also, Victoire's speaking in French would be limited to three people mainly (I'm thinking that Bill may know a little French, but not enough to carry on a long conversation). Memorizing a few French phrases is not the same as being able to really understand a detailed conversation between two others. There'll be some mention of a full moon chap later on, I just haven't found the time to fit one in yet. I know that Louis may seem perfect -like Vic did at the beginning of TTA- so you'll just have to pay look out for little clues of Louis's faults that may come. I will tell you one thing though, sometimes he is very easily led (which is obvious when he was around Cecilia, although it may seem more like her fault than his own). But keep an eye out, you'll see it soon.

 **I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter,**

 **Please leave me a review,**

 **Or any questions, comments, or concerns you may have,**

 **I hope that everyone has a Merry Christmas,**

 **Until next time DFTBA!**


	28. Pranks and Libraries

**A/N:** Hello everyone, I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and a Happy Holiday. I apologize for not updating this chap on Boxing Day like I had promised, but my holidays were busier than I expected, in a good way, but it made it more difficult to find the time to update. Anyhoo, this is the Hogwarts chapter, and I know a lot of you have been waiting for it, so I hope you like it.

It does take place over a few Hogwarts days, and everyday is labelled, so make sure to pay attention to those.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own _Harry Potter_.

* * *

 **Pranks and Libraries**

 **Tuesday, September 27th 2022**

 **7:58 PM**

 **Hogwarts**

". . . And I'm still trying to work out the logistics of our exit plan, but that's not _that_ important. So, what do you think?" Freddie asked his favourite cousin/best mate in an excited tone as he leaned over the back of the scarlet couch to better see the face of said partner-in-crime.

There were two entire minutes of silence before Freddie frowned and reached out to rap his knuckles against James's forehead.

"Oi! James Sirius, answer my question man!"

James reacted to the knuckles-knocking-against-the-forehead-thing and he reflexively moved his head back as he looked wide-eyed at his cousin, "What in the world was that for Frederick Alastor?"

Freddie put his hands on his hips, "I just spent the last ten minutes detailing the plans _I_ made all by myself for _our_ next epic prank, and you weren't even listening?"

"I was so," Was James's not-so-mature response. It was a knee-jerk reaction and he _was_ lying.

He _hadn't_ actually been listening.

The expression on his cousin's face said that he didn't believe him, and when he squinted in the direction that James had been staring off into, he noticed Mélanie across the room giggling with some friends of hers. Freddie rolled his eyes and then scoffed.

"You do remember that you're her boyfriend right? You don't have to stare at her from across the room like a plank anymore. You can actually go up to her and snog her now if you'd like," Freddie reminded him.

James rolled his eyes at his best mate, "I'm not staring at her, I'm thinking."

"Sometimes certain types of thinking are best done in private-"

He couldn't finish his statement because James threw a pillow at him specifically to stop him, "Oh shut up. I was just thinking about how I should ask Mel to go to Hogsmeade with me this weekend."

Freddie titled his head to the side in confusion, "You're already dating her. Shouldn't it just be assumed that you're going to Hogsmeade together?"

"Girls still like to be asked," James argued.

Freddie snorted, "Says who?"

James looked down at his hands, "Says Teddy actually."

"Yeah, ask the bloke who's engaged to the most high-maintenance woman on the planet for advice on girls," Freddie said with an eye roll.

"One, Victoire actually isn't _that_ high maintenance. Two, he's been in a relationship for six years with the same woman and he's still happy enough with it that he wants to marry her, so he must know a thing or two about keeping a girl happy," James disputed.

Freddie frowned, "I still don't see why it's necessary."

"And that might be why you don't have a girlfriend," James retorted with an eye roll.

"I'd actually bet that the reason why Freddie doesn't have a girlfriend is because he thinks grabbing random girls and snogging them is the way to worm himself into their hearts," Hugo supplied in a cheery tone as he suddenly popped up from Godric-knows-where and fell onto the side of the couch that James wasn't sitting on.

Freddie punched Hugo in the shoulder, "I do _not_ just grab random girls and snog them."

"No," James agreed, only partially coming to his best mate's defense, "The only girl he grabs at random times and snogs is Norah Summers."

"And that's almost worse because he so clearly fancies her, but obviously has no idea what to do with that," Hugo continued as if Freddie wasn't right next to him.

Freddie grinned wolfishly and winked, "Oh, I know exactly what to do with her."

Hugo slapped the back of his older cousin's head, "You've never had a girlfriend, so I highly doubt that."

"Like you're much better, you're fourteen and I bet you've never even snogged a girl," Freddie argued.

James tried to interrupt before their bickering could get worse, "Do we really have to do this right now? It's been a long day, double-potions and Transfig and all of that."

His two cousins seemed to ignore him.

"At least I know better than to grab girls and snog them without their consent," Hugo countered, putting his hands on his hips.

"You don't know what she would and would not consent to," Freddie disputed his face going red.

Hugo clenched his fists, "And you would? You spend most of your time within her presence openly ogling her, and the other portion trying to show off. Have you ever actually had a conversation with her?"

"What I do with Norah is none of your business!" Freddie cried his hand twitching towards his wand.

"Honestly you two," James muttered.

He was ignored as the other two continued.

"You're right on that point; what you dream about doing with Norah, which is the only dimension in which you actually have a chance with her, is your business and not something I want to hear about," Hugo taunted.

Then, before James could realize who moved first, both of his redheaded cousins had pulled out their wands and were pointing them threateningly/defensively at each other.

Oddly enough, a verbal and almost magical altercation between the Weasley family members wasn't anything new to the other members of Gryffindor house who were in the common room. Therefore, besides a few odd looks being shot in their direction from Mélanie and her friends, the only other person in the common room who noticed the almost-familial-duel was Gryffindor's Head Girl.

"Do you know how sad it is that the first-years are better behaved than you lot?" Selene Spiros chastised them three of them as she came upon them, her arms folded firmly over her chest. She may have taken off her heavy Hogwarts robes, but her Head Girl badge affixed to her jumper still illustrated her authority.

James held his hands up defensively, "Hey, hey, hey, leave me out of this. I didn't do anything."

Selene almost smiled at him, "Good, I'd hate to have to take points away from my Quidditch Captain, and then maybe get stuck with doing extra laps at our next practice."

She glanced at Freddie next and gave him a withering glare, "You on the other hand, I'm not afraid to give you a lecture and to take points away because of you."

"C'mon Selene-" Freddie tried to cajole only to be cut off.

"No Freddie. Nothing might have happened between you and Hugo here, but if this was you and another student in the middle of the grounds or in the corridor, you can bet that you'd be getting detention. Maybe even on a night that we have quidditch practice. I know that the thought of detention doesn't cow you anymore, but missing quidditch practice should at least," Selene reasoned.

Freddie's eyes did go a little wide, and then Selene turned to Hugo, "And you, you may be younger, but you _are_ smarter than this Hugo. Even if the person you're having an argument with isn't being mature, it doesn't mean that you can't be."

After delivering the brow-beatings she took five points away from each Weasley, and then pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration, "And for the love of Godric Gryffindor Freddie, remember that when you're trying to prove something, talk is cheap."

He stared at her in confusion and she sighed.

"If you're trying to prove that you've got something that Merlin-only-knows-what going on with Norah, maybe actually going out on a date with her, like to Hogsmeade this weekend, would be more believable than just loudly arguing about it."

Freddie's mouth popped open but no words came out. James snickered and then held his hand out to Selene for a high-five. She slapped his hand and then turned her back on the three cousins, muttering sarcastically about not getting paid enough for her job as she walked away from them.

* * *

 **Wednesday September 28** **th** **2022**

James looked down ashamedly at his feet.

Professor Linkwell was droning on and on about how degenerative, sinful, and malicious he and his 'partners in depravity' were for pulling the (relatively harmless) prank that they had pulled during lunch.

Headmistress McGonagall didn't say anything to them while Linkwell carried on (chastising and sermonizing to students was one of his favourite past times). What she was doing was actually worse. She was just sitting behind her desk in her office, and staring at them (James was rather certain that it was mostly him) from behind her glasses.

But worse than the combined disapproval –and from one disappointment– of the professors' was the frustrated glare that was aimed at the back of his head. He had the urge to turn around and meet her eyes, but he knew moving a muscle would remind Linkwell that they were there in front of him, and his long-winded scolding would probably start all over again.

Just when Linkwell was finally finishing his lecture, he felt the eyes on the back of his head slowly slide off of him, and then the voice that belonged to the eyes spoke from behind him, "I don't think that their prank was _that_ bad Professor."

Professor Linkwell stopped glowering at James, Freddie, and Nolan Finnegan so that he could scowl at Selene Spiros.

"Their actions traumatized all of the first and second year students Miss Spiros!" Professor Linkwell yelled.

Selene exhaled heavily, "What they did was wrong, and inappropriate, but I wouldn't go so far as to say that they traumatized their fellow students. If anything, they've made all of the students and staff more conscientious of their food choices."

James, Freddie, and Nolan Finnegan (who was primarily supposed to be their lookout) had charmed the food in the Great Hall to announce every time a person took a bite of it, where it came from, via the person themselves. It started out as just annoying when every bite of mash potato made the student announce exactly which town or village it had been harvested from, but it turned downright creepy when the bites of chicken or pork made the eater announce which farm the animal had lived on. The first and second years had taken the prank hard, and some of the especially soft-hearted ones started to cry when they were reminded that their food had at one time been alive.

"You're only coming to their defense because Potter's your quidditch captain and you don't want him or Weasley to miss too much practice," Will Dyson, Head Boy for Ravenclaw, complained as he frowned at Selene. He had been silent since he and Selene had brought the other Gryffindors to the Headmistress's office.

Selene glared at her fellow head student and he automatically took a step away from her, "If I was trying to let this whole thing slide because I play quidditch with them, then why would I get them in trouble for this in the first place?"

She left out the part that it was actually Rose Weasley who had figured out that it was the boys who pulled the prank on the Great Hall, and that when the younger prefect was having trouble deciding whether or not her cousins would listen to her if she was the one to bust them, Selene volunteered to do it instead. Will Dyson had had his own suspicions about who was responsible for the prank and was about to confront the boys, so Selene had to quickly call them out in front of their peers at the Gryffindor table.

Will grumbled something, but then Linkwell started discussing punishments with McGonagall. After the headmistress _reminded_ Linkwell that corporeal punishment was not allowed at Hogwarts, the professor suggested the next best thing that he figured would cause James and Freddie almost physical pain.

"Then Potter and Weasley should not be allowed to play in the next quidditch game."

Will Dyson smirked at Selene but innocently asked Linkwell, "You mean the one at the beginning of November against Slytherin?"

The Gryffindor Head Girl folded her arms against her chest and eyed Will haughtily before addressing Professor Linkwell.

"I don't think that that punishment is a good idea Sir."

Her words were respectful, but her tone was firm.

Professor Linkwell rounded on her, "Why Miss Spiros? Because you know that Gryffindor would have no chance to win that game without two of their players?"

"Actually, I think that the punishment would be ineffective since the time between their prank and their punishment is so large. Effective punishments should occur as quickly after the act of reprimand as possible, and should be reflective of the level of the act of reprimand," Selene announced.

She might have been paraphrasing from a muggle parenting book that she found at her father's house the previous summer. Her _much_ younger half-brother was starting to go through a phase where he was getting into trouble at day-care, and her father and step-mother were trying to figure out how best to handle him.

Professor Linkwell didn't seem to appreciate a seventh-year student giving him advice on how to punish his students, but before he could comment Headmistress McGonagall voiced her opinion.

"I think Miss Spiros has a very valid point," McGonagall declared standing up from her chair, "Denying them the ability to play in the next quidditch game would not be an efficient punishment because of the time delay between the two. In addition, Mr. Finnegan does not play on the quidditch team, and we would have to come up with a separate punishment for him. Therefore, I think the best punishment for the boys would be to take away their Hogsmeade privileges for this upcoming Saturday."

Linkwell did look like he wanted to argue, but before he had the chance McGonagall dismissed all of the students from her office. The Gryffindors separated from the Ravenclaw at the corridor, and then the Gryffindors all started to walk towards their common room. Nolan soon began to complain about getting caught, and when no one responded to that, he started to grumble about how Selene had gotten them in trouble and now they couldn't go to Hogsmeade on Saturday. It was Freddie actually, who came to Selene's defense (most likely because she had both scared him and given him good advice the night before) and who reminded Nolan that their punishment would probably be a lot worse if Will Dyson had gotten to them before Selene had, and if she hadn't been the one to slyly encourage McGonagall to go over Linkwell's head and dole out her own sentence.

Around that point they entered the portrait hole and found a familiar group waiting for them in the common room. Mélanie ran to James the minute they took in their surroundings, and while his best mate kissed his redheaded girlfriend, Freddie took a seat on the arm of the armchair Norah Summers was sitting in and raised an eyebrow expectantly at her while he looked significantly between her and James and Mélanie.

Norah scoffed and rolled her eyes at Freddie, but she didn't push him off of the arm of her chair, which was an improvement really, considering that he'd almost gotten a concussion last week when he tried to sit on top of her on a bench in the Great Hall. Norah had pushed him off of her, causing him to fall to the floor and for his head to accidentally bang against the house-elf polished marble.

"So tell us what happened!" Hugo and Lily called eagerly from where they were perched on the couch, with Rose. Al was sitting in an armchair near them, and on the other couch was the keeper and the third chaser from their house, rounding out the Gryffindor house quidditch team.

Everyone had seen what had happened in the Great Hall, but they didn't know what happened after the three boys left with Selene and Will Dyson, Linkwell hot on their heels.

"Well I'm fairly certain that Linkwell wanted to give us all the rack, so the fact that we got off with only suspended Hogsmeade privileges for this Saturday is decent," Freddie explained since James's mouth was busy snogging his girlfriend.

Al smiled with relief, "Oh thank goodness, Scorp was convinced that Linkwell would try to make it so that you guys couldn't play in the Gryffindor-Slytherin quidditch game in November. He was bragging about it for the rest of lunch."

"He tried," Nolan explained as he sat down on the other arm of Norah's chair, sending her a wink before continuing, "But Selene helped convince Linkwell to _not_ do that."

Rose raised an eyebrow, "Selene convinced Linkwell _not_ to punish you?"

"Actually, she convinced McGonagall to change Linkwell's punishment. But if she hadn't been there and it was just Dyson, we definitely would be missing the next quidditch game," Freddie clarified.

Hugo smirked at Selene, "This is probably the closest Freddie will ever come to praising you, you should bask in it."

Selene laughed and then Al spoke, "As long as James and Freddie won't be missing quidditch practice, that's all that matters."

"Now you sound like James," Lily piped up.

The eldest Potter child turned reflexively as he heard his younger sister say his name, and once his face was separated from Mélanie's, he asked, "What?"

"Freddie's just explaining how you got off with just your Hogsmeade privileges being revoked," Al explained.

James grinned his roughish smile, but Mélanie's face took on a confused expression.

"Wait, are you saying that you are not going to Hogsmeade this weekend?"

James patted his girlfriend on the shoulder, "It's not that I don't _want_ to go, but I'm not _allowed_ to go now . . ."

His confirmation just seemed to upset her more, "But we are not going to go together anymore?"

"No," James enunciated slowly.

Everyone else in the common room looked at each other awkwardly. They could see that James and Mélanie needed to have a personal conversation about this.

"Well I need to get going or I'm going to be late for Herbology," Selene announced loudly. She summoned her school bag to her and then walked towards the portrait hole.

When she realized that no one was following her, she loudly reminded them that she wasn't the only seventh-year Gryffindor that had Herbology that period. Freddie then remembered that he had Herbology as well, and he raced to catch up with her. Rose stood up and said that she and Al were going to spend their free period in the library (if Hugo or Lily needed something from them).

Al frowned and told Rose that he had to do something first, and that he'd meet her and Scorpius –who they had arranged to study with– in about fifteen to twenty minutes. Rose thought that he seemed a little uncomfortable as he explained this, but she shrugged it off and let him have his secrets.

Norah Summers, Nolan Finnegan, and the two other Gryffindor quidditch players quickly made themselves scarce, and Hugo dragged Lily out of the common room by reminding her that they had Charms, leaving James alone with his girlfriend.

Mélanie frowned at James and crossed her arms over her chest. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, and even though he did have every intention to have a mature discussion with his girlfriend about him not going to Hogsmeade anymore, he chickened out and reminded her that they were expected at their Care of Magical Creatures class.

* * *

 **Saturday, October 1** **st** **2022**

 **10:10 AM**

"I can't believe McGonagall's making us spend our Saturday in the library," Freddie complained as he dragged his feet towards the direction of the school's library wing.

James didn't reply, but Freddie didn't really expect him to. He was happy just to imagine that his cousin was listening to him, and he continued his tirade, "I mean it's bad enough to take away our Hogsmeade privilege today, but to force us to study while all of our friends are having fun, that's even worse."

Headmistress McGonagall had told the three boys that they should spend their newly free time doing school work, specifically in the library, which is why Freddie and James were making their way towards the –most likely rather empty– school library. Nolan Finnegan was also supposed to share in their punishment, but he had ended up sleeping in that morning. James had suggested waking him, but Freddie wasn't too happy with Nolan at the moment (the other boy was getting on his nerves because he was also flirting with Norah Summers) and they ended up leaving him to his own devices.

"Also, what do we even have to work on? It's the beginning of October?"

James rolled his eyes, "How about that essay for Potions?"

"It's not due for a week," Freddie argued as they finally came up to the library.

"But if you finish it now, you'll have more free time later," James explained as he pushed open the library door.

Freddie frowned, "And what do you suggest I spend that free time doing? Spending time with my girlfriend? Practicing quidditch plays so that I have a chance to be recruited to a professional quidditch team once I graduate? Oh wait, no, that's not me James, that's you."

James sighed and they walked further in the library to find a table farther away from the few students from the lower years who had decided to spend their Saturday at the library.

"One, there is only one person to blame for why you don't have a girlfriend, and that's-"

"Nolan." Freddie finished.

His cousin frowned at him, "No, it's you. Nolan's attempts to flirt with Norah are just as immature and unsuccessful as yours are. Sooner or later one of you is going to have to step up your game, and I wouldn't be surprised if she agrees to go out with however that person is, even if it's just to stop the other one from continuing to flirt with her."

There was a beat of silence before Freddie replied in a hopeful tone, "Do you think if I ask Norah out that she would say yes and Nolan would stop flirting with her?"

"I think that all you have to lose in asking Norah out would be your dignity, and since you lost that in her eyes a while ago, there's nothing to lose now."

Freddie considered his best mate's words carefully, but then the musing expression turned to distaste.

"Wait . . . if I do plan to ask Norah out, does that mean I have to turn into a blighter like you have?"

James frowned, "I haven't turned into a blighter!"

"Oh, you totally have. You spend all of your time with Mélanie-"

"No I don't! I spend several hours a week at quidditch practice-"

"Which is pretty much the only time, apart from sleeping, that you're away from her. In fact, if she didn't know that it would be dangerous to make you choose between your love of her and your love of quidditch, she probably would have asked you to choose by now," Freddie told him in a bit of an exasperated tone.

James rolled his eyes and continued what he had been saying before, "As for the second part of what we were discussing, just because it's not your dream to play quidditch professionally, doesn't mean that you shouldn't be working towards your own goal for after graduation."

"What goal? I'm going to work at Dad's shop once I graduate. I don't even technically need to graduate to do that, the only reason I'm going through with school is because Mum would kill me if I didn't graduate. Anyway, this brings me back to my original point, neither of us really need to do well in school for our future careers. I mean, my dad never finished his seventh-year of school and he's fine, and you don't need to get fantastic grades to get offered a spot on a professional quidditch team. Heck, Xavier was hired to the first string of Puddlemere United before he finished his seventh-year," Freddie debated.

James stopped moving and then rounded on his cousin, "First, you're going to graduate, don't even joke about not going through with it. Second, Xavier's situation was completely different from mine, his father was a professional quidditch player and he was given the opportunity to take over his father's spot-"

"Yeah, completely different. It's not like your mother wasn't a professional quidditch player for years for the Holyhead Harpies or anything," Freddie replied sarcastically.

The black haired cousin continued, "Well I'm not exactly guaranteed a spot on my mother's old quidditch team, and Xavier did finish his seventh-year. He completed his N. E. W. T.s and did very well. Even though my intent is to become a professional quidditch player, it's still important to do well on my N. E. W. T.s in case I need a back-up plan."

"Well this definitely doesn't sound like the determined and single-minded James Sirius Potter I know and love. You definitely have turned into a blighter," The red-headed cousin sulked.

James glared at Freddie, but before their argument could continue, they came upon the end of the part of the library that held tables and chairs. However, instead of finding the last table empty, they found Selene Spiros seated there with piles of books scattered around her.

When the dark haired Head Girl finally looked up from her Transfiguration textbook, she greeted her fellow quidditch teammates a little agitatedly and then politely asked them if they wanted to sit at her table. Both boys thanked her for her offer, James taking a seat and starting to work on his Potion's essay, Freddie choosing to sit in an arm chair close to the table and deciding to try to catch an early morning nap.

"Why didn't you end up going to Hogsmeade?" James asked Selene conversationally as he opened up his Potion's textbook.

The girl sighed and ran a hand through her hair, "I don't have the time. With all of my Head duties, quidditch practice, and all of the work for our N. E. W. T. year, I don't have the time to spare. Especially not to spend the whole day away from school work."

"How many courses are you taking this year?" James asked curiously.

Selene sighed again, "Enough to get into healing school, plus a few more."

James grimaced sympathetically, "Dang, well you're a great quidditch player on your own accord, so if you ever need to skive off a practice here or there-"

She stopped what she was sure was about to be a generous offer, "Thanks James, but I think I'd go crazy if I didn't have quidditch as an escape. None of my parents seem to understand my fascination with the sport, especially because they're all pressuring me to do everything I need to to become a healer, but I think it would be even more detrimental to my mental health if I didn't play quidditch."

"Well you certainly do have a lot going on," James commented, feeling a little guilty as he glanced at Freddie, who had fallen asleep a few minutes.

"A lot of people have had to deal with more than I do and they survived," Selene told him, not serenely, but resignedly.

James still felt guilty because of the blasé attitude Freddie, and usually he, had towards school work. His guilt must have been somewhat visible on his face because Selene then changed the subject, "I'm sorry that you couldn't go to Hogsmeade today with Mélanie."

His expression turned into a grimace, "It worked out in the end, somewhat. She was happy to go ahead with her friends when I made it clear that I wouldn't be able to get out of serving this Saturday detention."

Selene blushed and she looked down at her textbook, "I know that it was a bit of a . . . contentious topic between the two of you until you came to an understanding, and I'm sorry that I played even a small part in it."

"How did you-"

"I live in the same dorm room as her," Selene explained, "And she wasn't very happy about it when she was _discussing_ it with one of her friends."

James swallowed thickly but replied in a brighter tone, "I didn't know that you lived in the same dorm room as her."

Selene blushed redder, "Well . . . we're not exactly friends . . . more the level of acquaintances . . ."

James nodded his head. He had forgotten that the relationships between girls were generally more confusing than the relationships between boys. However, considering that Mélanie had never directly mentioned Selene, he guessed that the two girls probably just hung-out in different cliques.

"Anyway," Selene continued, clearing her throat, "I know that it's not my place, but if I could give you a bit of advice, it's probably best if you just let Mélanie be for a little while. She'll come around and soon you'll both be apologizing to each other in-between obnoxiously snogging in the middle of the common room."

James smiled a little at the end of her words, "Thank you. That's some good advice. I know that both she and I can sometimes be quick to anger, so spending today as a cooling off period is actually probably for the best."

She smiled slightly in response, and then her gaze drifted over to a lightly dozing Freddie, "I'm glad that _someone_ listens to my advice."

"Freddie can be a little prideful, but eventually he'll realize that asking Norah out is better than not-so-subtly ogling her from a distance," James told her.

"And preferable to trying to peek into the girls' quidditch change room?" Selene added.

James sent his sleeping cousin a glare, "He's been doing that?"

"Someone has," Selene explained, "Norah thinks it's Freddie, but I'm not so convinced. I think it's Darwin."

"Our new keeper?"

Selene nodded, "Yes, but I don't have any proof."

James pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, "Well let me know if you do get proof. I'll have to replace him."

She sent him a sympathetic look, "With who? We held try-outs earlier and he was the best candidate."

"I know, and even then he's no Oliver Biskup or Cecilia Wood," James lamented.

"Who would be next in line to cover? You don't even have an alternate for him," Selene pointed out.

James pursed his lips, "There is someone who can play keeper even better than Darwin does."

"Then why isn't this person our keeper right now?"

"Because I promised only to beg her to join the team as a last resort, and we hadn't gotten to our last resort yet," James explained.

Selene smirked, "Well I hope for your sake that we don't get to that last resort. I'd hate for you to have to debase yourself to the state of _begging_."

James smiled at her teasing tone, but his reply was serious, "I would do anything for the good and success of this team, begging, bribery, and blackmailing included."

"As Head Girl, I'm going to pretend that I didn't hear the last two."

"I'd appreciate that."

They got to work soon after that, and after an hour of studious and nearly silent scholarly pursuits, James picked up his wand and cast a tickling spell at his sleeping cousin. This assuredly woke Freddie up, and once his cousin was done pouting, James convinced him to start working on his own Potion's essay. He only agreed to do so because he knew that Selene Spiros (who was still working at the same table as James) would probably take away points if he hexed his cousin back like he wanted to.

Once Freddie actually began to work on his essay, begrudgingly getting some help from Selene about how to phrase the introductory paragraph, James started to –slyly in his mind– question Freddie about whether or not he was involved in trying to peep into the girls' locker room.

Freddie had begun answering the disjointed questions casually, but when he noticed that both James and Selene were looking at him intently, he began to get suspicious about the direction the questions were heading. However, before he could question James about his interrogation, they heard an excited voice call out:

"Hello boys!"

James and Freddie looked over their shoulders in surprise.

"What in the name of Merlin's bloody pants are _you_ doing here?"

* * *

 **11:30 AM**

"Be careful, that book bites sometimes."

Rose jumped and her hand, which had been stretched out to pull a book off the library shelf, hit the edge of said book, causing it to fall to the floor and emit a loud clattering sound.

Her face turned bright red and she was just bending over to pick up the book when a different pair of hands that were distinctly male, did it first. The male held the book out to her, and Rose's eyes slowly drifted up from the book to face the owner of the hands.

"Thank you," She utilized a soft whisper because they were in the library, even though it _was_ a Hogsmeade Saturday and the school library was relatively empty.

Scorpius Malfoy smiled softly at her and gently handed over the book, "You're welcome. I'm sorry for startling you in the first place."

Rose accepted the book and waved off his concern, "Don't apologize, you were just trying to warn me about this book. You were speaking quietly, the only reason why you startled me was because I thought I was by myself."

"I can see that, where's Al?" Scorpius asked with a curious tilt of his pale blonde head.

Rose pushed a lock of reddish brown hair behind her ear, "At breakfast this morning he informed me that he would be incredibly busy and that he wouldn't make it to Hogsmeade with me today. He told me to go ahead without him."

She stopped and then she frowned confusedly, "He didn't directly say it, but I was led to believe that he was going to be with you."

Scorpius frowned, "He also told me that he would be too busy to make it to Hogsmeade today and that I should go ahead without him. However, he specifically told _me_ that he was going to be here in the library helping someone with their homework as an excuse. I thought that he meant you."

"I didn't decide to come to the library today until after Alice Longbottom informed me that she wouldn't be able to make it to Hogsmeade today either. She promised to spend the day with her family. So I don't know who Al was referring to," Rose explained.

Scorpius's expression had turned unreadable after Rose's last explanation, and he quickly changed the subject, "So why are you in here looking for a book on magical creatures anyway? You're not taking Care of Magical Creatures this year."

Even though Rose didn't forget that Scorpius's expression had changed when they were talking about Al, she put it away for a moment and answered the Slytherin's question.

"I'm writing the paper for Potions about the uses of dragon's blood," Rose explained, her fingers clenching the textbook on creatures tightly.

The blonde nodded his head and then leaned smoothly against the closest shelf, "I don't know why they keep making us write that essay. None of us are ever going to add anything new or different from the already discovered twelve uses of dragon's blood."

"But maybe someone will," Rose replied softly, her eyes moving down from Scorpius's face and to her own hands, which were holding the book.

Because she wasn't looking at him, she wasn't able to see the tender and affectionate expression that slipped onto his face at hearing her words, "If anyone's going to do that, it would be you."

Rose blushed as red as her brother's hair and continued not to make eye-contact.

"So what do you think you'll find in this textbook to add to the uses of dragon blood in potions?" Scorpius asked her curiously.

"I want to start by looking at the uses of blood of other creatures in potions in general, and then see if the blood of one certain creature is used for something else in potions, and if dragon's blood could in anyway be substituted for that," She explained eagerly.

He smiled widely at hearing the excitement in her tone as she spoke about the assignment, "That makes sense . . . is that why you were looking for a book about magical creatures?"

She nodded, "I'm trying to narrow it down specifically to creatures whose blood could be considered as powerful as a dragon's, but all I can think of that fits that description is a unicorn."

"So you're looking for a book about the uses of unicorn blood? I didn't think that the library would have a book on that," Scorpius mused conversationally.

Rose bit her lip, "They don't. Or at least not in any of the sections I've checked. As you know, unicorn blood is very highly regulated because . . ."

"Because it can be considered dark magic?" Scorpius finished for her.

She nodded, "Exactly."

"Which is why the school doesn't have any books about it in these sections of the library," He continued.

Rose nodded again, and then Scorpius smiled brightly at her, "I think I know where you can find such a book."

Before she could respond, he grabbed her hand and started pulling her between the library stacks. They stopped a few sections over, and Rose gave Scorpius an unsure look.

"The restricted section?"

The Slytherin nodded his head, "If the book you're looking for exists, then it's in here."

"But we're not allowed in there," Rose explained, unneeded.

Scorpius made a 'tsking' sound, "Normal students aren't allowed in here, but we're prefects."

"Prefects still need a note from a professor," She pointed out.

"Yes, but considering that it's a weekend, you'll have to wait at least until Monday to get permission, and by then we're sure to get assigned a lot more homework-"

Rose interrupted him, "I get the picture Scorpius. You make a good point."

"I always do."

She rolled her eyes in response, but had to bite her tongue to stop her smile. She considered whether or not she should slip into the restricted section to find the book she was looking for, and when it came down to it, her Gryffindor bravery won out and she and Scorpius snuck into the restricted section.

He helped her pull out book after book until she found one that looked promising.

"It seems a little dark, but I'm not going to use it for nefarious purposes-"

"No just to get an O on your paper," Scorpius teased.

Rose blushed again and she pursed her lips, "I can't sign out this book because we're not even supposed to be here, but I can copy a few passages into my notebook."

Scorpius offered to hold the textbook for her, and while he did so she took out her notebook and her wand, and started to do some simple copying magic. When she was finished she skimmed the copied passages, while Scorpius placed the book back where they had found it.

"See, that wasn't so bad, was it?" He asked.

She flipped a page over and responded, "Not so bad, but then again we didn't get caught."

"No, we did not. And as you can see, taking chances pays off every once in a while," He continued with a bright smile.

She closed her notebook and looked up at him. She wanted to say something about how his words made him sound like James or Freddie, but then she decided against it and instead agreed with him, "Sometimes it does."

His expression suddenly turned shy, but he took a half a step closer to her, "I can think of another chance that I'd like to take."

Rose's stomach suddenly became inhabited by a family of hippogriffs and she felt her face heating up, "Do you think it will pay off?"

"I hope so," Scorpius replied softly, his eyes automatically flitting down to her lips.

Rose felt her breath leave her as Scorpius's head slowly moved closer to hers. She knew what he was planning on doing, and he gave her lots of time to move away from him, but she found herself frozen in place, and even more to the point, she started to lean towards him in return.

Just as their mouths were about to meet, the sound of a thick tome hitting the floor captured both sixth-years' attention. Their heads whipped around and Rose's eyes went wide at what she saw.

" _Merde_. Well . . . I'm going to slowly back away, and you can just pretend that this never happened and carry-on," The voice of Victoire Weasley embarrassedly said as the blonde twenty-two year-old, who had suddenly materialized, literally started to back away from the two sixth-years.

Rose was much too shocked –from the entire series of events– to think properly, and before she knew it the question was out of her mouth.

"What are you doing here Vic?"

Victoire stopped, flicked her wrist, and summoned to herself the book that had fallen out of her arms, which had interrupted her younger cousin and the Slytherin, "Um, I'm doing research with Healer McDavid and I knew that Hogwarts would have some copies of obscure healing books that book stores don't. I asked McGonagall if I could pop by today –when most of the students would be in Hogsmeade – to do some research."

"In the restricted section?" Rose questioned.

The blonde cousin shrugged, "Dark Arts healing, remember?"

There was a decidedly awkward pause and then Victoire asked before she could help herself, "What are you doing in the restricted section Rosie?"

Rose's face and ears went red, while Scorpius embarrassedly bit his lip and kept his gaze away from Victoire.

"I-I mean obviously I know what you were doing a few moments ago," Victoire clarified her own face starting to turn red as she realized what she'd said, "But what I mean to ask is what you're doing here aside from . . . _erm_ . . . the obvious."

Victoire never thought that she'd be this embarrassed talking about apparent relationships, or even snogging, with her younger cousins. However, since it was Rose –who was always very private– and seemingly Scorpius –who despite everything else was Al's best mate and even technically Teddy's cousin– she wasn't sure how to handle the situation. The fact that both sixth-years seemed more embarrassed than her also didn't help matters. At least she would know how to react better if it had seemed like Rose and Scorpius were used to snogging each other behind the dusty stacks, instead of seeming like she had just interrupted their attempted first kiss, which was definitely what it seemed like.

"We were just . . ." Rose trailed off, her face still red, "Scorpius was just helping me . . . find a book."

Victoire's mind had filled in a different explanation in Rose's voice at first, and then she considered physically slapping herself before she realized that that would make the situation even more awkward.

"Yes well, I have books about deadly injuries caused by horrible dark curses to find . . . so . . . um . . . see you later?" Victoire offered before hastily turning her back on the two and trying to escape that particular part of the restricted section.

She had barely made it over to the next section of shelves before she heard Rose following behind her, "Vic?"

Victoire paused and turned to face her cousin, "Yes Rosie?"

"Um, about what you just saw-"

"Oh, I didn't see anything Rosie. Trust me, if anything this is just a very awkward dream that I'm having," Victoire explained, the majority of the words muttered mostly for her own benefit.

Rose still didn't look reassured, "Please Vic, I haven't done something like this before-"

Victoire interrupted her again, "You don't need to explain yourself to me Rosie. I promise not to tell anyone about this, if that's what you're worried about."

"Not even Teddy?" Rose asked unbelievingly.

"Not even Teddy."

Normally, Victoire would tell Teddy pretty much anything and everything (except of course the parts of her job about her patients that were confidential), but knowing how sensitive he was to mention of that side of his family –even Scorpius who he put up with for Al's sake– she had already decided against telling Teddy what she had walked in on in the restricted section that day.

Rose then let out a deep breath she had been holding in and folded her hands together, "Okay . . . good . . ."

"Is there something else you wanted?" Victoire asked a few moments later when Rose hadn't moved to go back to Scorpius.

The reddish-brown-haired girl looked down at her toes, "I just–I don't really know what to do now."

"Well that's something I do have an answer for," Victoire told her, a small smile turning up the edges of her lips.

Rose looked at her both interestedly and embarrassedly, and Victoire placed her hand on her cousin's shoulder.

"You go back there, and you talk to Scorpius about what happened, or what almost happened."

"And what do I say to him?"

"Well Rosie, that all depends on whether or not you want him to try to kiss you again."

The younger girl bit her lip, considered her cousin's words, and then quietly turned around and went to find the blonde-haired Slytherin.

* * *

 **A/N:** Victoire always has the worst timing, or the best, depending on which side you're on. Also, poor Selene Spiros, trying to rein in James and Freddie at every turn, although it does seems like James is starting to mature. Freddie, not so much. I hope that you guys liked this chapter, I do intend to write another Hogwarts chapter later in the story, but while I know chronologically where it will be, I'm not sure how long it will take to get there.

I know that a lot of you were discussing Scorpius and Rose's 'relationship' in the last chapter's reviews, so I'm curious as to what you guys think about this little scene I've written. I've purposely left it where I did, because I'd like some feedback. Do you think that Scorpius and Rose should get together at all? Do you think that they should get together right away? Do you think that they've got a little more ground to cover before it should happen? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

 **Next Update:** It will come out some time next week, although at this point it's the last chapter I have written, so I'm warning you now that I might have to take a short break from updating once more, in order to get some chapters written ahead of time, and of course to continue working on getting my life in order, which is more difficult than it seems.

 **Next Chapter:** We're back with the other characters and just in time for a Weasley family dinner. It's going to be a fantastic chapter, and I love it so I'm sure that the rest of you will too.

Teaser for Next Chap:

 **""No Al? He usually spends most of his time with Rose, especially if they're studying," Baxter commented nosily.**

 **Victoire did her best to hold in a sigh and said, "No, Al was most definitely _not_ with Rose.""**

Thanks again to everyone who has followed, favourited, read, and reviewed this story.

 **So, as of posting this chapter I'm only 27 reviews away from an even 700, and I would love to reach that mark before the I post the next chapter in the new year. The ratio of people who read this story compared to those who review it is very small, so even if you don't normally review, please do this time. You don't have much to say I'd love to get even a very short review from you letting me know if you're happy with where the story is going. You can of course write me a longer one, I don't care at all about the length, but let me know how you're liking the story, and please help me get to 700 reviews!**

Especially BIG thank yous to:

 **nocureforcrazy, MuggleCreator, rosesnlilies, mazzmataz, zvc56, kawaiiotaku0405, cjaben1, Izzy, AngelTwins527, azngurlz093, Guest,** and **Jennifer Jules**.

 **nocureforcrazy** : I'm glad that you agree that it wasn't the right time to Cecilia and Oliver to have a discussion, because trust me, they will and when they do it's best that Brogan not be in the house.

 **rosesnlilies** : I like how Eliza and Cecilia's personal life angst can be considered light in comparison to what happens in other chapters :)

 **zvc56** : We did get hit with a lot of snow, but thankfully I don't have to travel too much at present, and all of my family understands the importance of snow tires on their vehicles, so we were all good. Thanks for the concern.

 **kawaiiotaku0405** : Cecilia is very much her mother's daughter, so yes, she is rather gutsy, she's also a Gryffindor.

 **cjaben1** : I'm sorry to say that my updating might not be so consistent in the next little while, but I've been waiting years sometimes for story updates, so hopefully I'm not that late at it.

 **Izzy** : I'm glad that you're seeing the parallel between Cecilia and Eliza, and not just that but the parts that are the same and yet also differ. Oliver's reservations about Louis will come to light more clearly later on, and hopefully you will understand that they make sense to him when they do, but we've got a little bit to go before we get there. I do like all of the thinking you're putting into this though, but you can understand of course that I can neither confirm nor deny your theories until later. However, I will remind you that a lot of times people's opinions are shaped by their own experiences and biases that they may or may not know that they have, and Oliver (even though he is a 'good guy') is no different.

 **azngurlz093** : I'm sorry that I didn't end up updating on your birthday, but I hope that you had a good one and wish you a happy belated birthday.

 **Guest** : I appreciate your help trying to give me ideas for Vic and Teddy's future progeny, but trust me, I already have ideas concerning that and even if it's not written down yet, it's already firmly placed in my mind. :)

 **I hope that everyone had a safe and happy holiday,**

 **I want to wish everyone a very safe and prosperous New Year,**

 **I hope that this chapter lived up to everyone's expectations,**

 **PLEASE leave me a review, it can be a comment, question, or any concerns you may have,**

 **Until Next Time, DFTBA!**


	29. Engaging Conversations

**A/N:** Happy New Year everyone! Here's the next chapter :)

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Harry Potter.

* * *

 **Engaging Conversations**

 **Sunday October 2** **nd** **2022**

 **9:28 AM**

He knew that it probably made him seem very creepy, but there was just something he liked about watching Ally sleep. She always looked so sweet and untroubled in her sleep. Even if in reality he knew that she was more than a little stressed out between the extra hours she had been getting at work, trying to find a new flat for them, and slowly getting involved with the Puddlemere United charity endeavours that Mr. Webb had suggested she join in on.

"Are you staring at me again?" Ally asked in a husky voice. She was still lying with her head on the pillow and her eyes were still closed.

There was a slight pause before Xavier replied hesitantly, "No?"

A smile found her lips and she cracked one eye open, "You totally were."

"Busted," He sighed.

She closed her eye again and snuggled deeper under the covers, "Well could you stop staring at me so loudly?"

Xavier smirked, "You still sound like you're half asleep Honey."

"I'm going to be fully asleep in a few moments," Ally responded. She continued to lay there for a moment but then she opened both of her eyes, "Unless of course you've changed your mind about going to brunch this morning . . ."

Her boyfriend's facial expression turned into a frown and he pressed his face into his own pillow, "Circe no. I'm not planning on getting out of bed until later this afternoon when we have to leave to go to the Burrow for your family dinner."

Ally bit her bottom lip delicately, "Are you sure that you don't want to go to your grandmother's for brunch?"

"Why would I want to do that?" Xavier asked, pulling his head up from the pillow and frowning at her.

"Because your family is going to be there and expect you there. Not to mention that, for better or for worse, Eilionoir _is_ your grandmother."

Xavier pouted, "She still hasn't apologized for what she said to you, so no, we're most definitely not going."

"But she's your family Xav," She needlessly reminded him.

"And you're the woman I love Ally," He retorted back, "And since my grandmother doesn't seem to be able to accept that right now, I have nothing to say to her."

Ally frowned, "I still don't like this."

Xavier sighed and leaned forward to press a kiss to her forehead, "Just don't think about it."

Even though she _really_ wanted to tell him that ignoring problems never works, she abstained from it.

They had decided to spend more of the day in bed, but that dream was dashed when not more than fifteen minutes later they heard the ringing sound of the flat's doorbell.

"We can just ignore it," Xavier suggested, his arms wrapped around Ally's waist and trying to hinder her from getting out of the bed.

"No we can't," Ally replied. She peeled his arms off of her and then grabbed her dressing robe before going to answer the door. She heard him sigh and then the pattering sound of his feet as he followed after her, once he'd grabbed his own robe.

He still ended up getting to the door before her, and when he opened it he frowned and rudely asked, "What are you doing here?"

Ally rolled her eyes, but decided not to chastise him on his lack of manners. It was Cecilia at the door and Ally didn't want to get between Xavier and his sister.

Cecilia didn't seem to mind that her older brother was being snippy with her, and she walked past Xavier and into the flat as she replied, "I just need to get away from Dad for a little while."

"Shouldn't you be at your grandmother's for brunch?" Ally enquired of Cecilia. She knew better than to ask Cecilia _why_ she wanted to be away from Oliver.

Cecilia snorted and sat herself down on Xavier's sofa, "Yeah no. I'm not going to grandmother Eilionoir's today."

"Are you angry with her too?" Xavier asked his sister a little less testily once he had realized that she seemed just as despondent as he felt.

"With Grandmother? Not particularly. As I said, it's Dad that I'm trying to avoid."

Xavier sat down next to his sister on the sofa, "What's he done to upset you this time?"

"Nothing new exactly," Cecilia muttered.

"Are you still pissy with him because of what he said last week about not trusting Louis?" Xavier questioned a little unfeelingly.

His sister frowned at him and put her hands on her hips, "You'd be angry with Dad too if he said that he didn't trust Ally."

"This is different Cecilia, I don't think there is a father out there who actually _trusts_ his daughter's eighteen-year-old boyfriend," he replied calmly.

Ally gave Xavier a look, "My father trusted you when you were eighteen."

"Yeah, well that's probably because we barely spent any time in the same place when we were together for that first year and a bit. You were at Hogwarts and I split my time between every professional quidditch pitch in the country," Xavier reminded her.

"My Dad also trusted you because he _knew_ you," Ally stated.

Cecilia sighed dramatically, "Which brings me to my point. Dad's known Louis since he was born. If he can't trust the boyfriend I've had since I was thirteen, then who will he trust?"

Ally decided to add her two cents worth in here, "Cee-Cee, I'm not taking Oliver' side here or anything, but he is your father, and you are his baby girl. He's going to be protective of you-"

"Over-protective," Cecilia muttered.

"Yes, over-protective. But he only acts this way because he cares. I'm not saying that he hasn't taken this too far, but you have to remember that he only has the best of intentions. You just need to sit down and talk with him about all of this, once and for all," Ally suggested.

Cecilia frowned, "I've been trying, but I haven't found the chance to this week. He's been busy with work and I've been busy with work, and when we actually find time together Brogan's always around or one or both of us aren't in the mood to bring up the topic."

Both Xavier and Ally nodded understandingly. However, they were both happy when another knock on the front door interrupted Cecilia's chance to start on another tirade about her father. Ally got up to answer the door this time, and she rolled her eyes as she opened it wide to allow Malcolm to come in.

"Are any of you Woods actually going to go to your grandmother's brunch?" She asked more than a little sarcastically.

Malcolm snorted, his laugh sounding almost the same as Cecilia's had, " _Please_ , why would I want to go to Eilionoir's brunch? All she's going to do is tell me that I'm getting both too pudgy, and too old, to _not_ be finally settled down."

Ally had a hard time holding in her smirk, "Your grandmother told you that you're getting pudgy?"

"I tell you that my grandmother's pressuring me to propose to my girlfriend and _that's_ what sticks with you Alexandra?" Malcolm retorted derisively.

"At least Grandmother approves of your girlfriend," Xavier complained.

"At least Grandmother's opinion of your significant other doesn't matter," Cecilia added.

Ally rolled her eyes and clapped her hands loudly until all three Woods gave her their attention, "Listen you three, you can skive off your duty to go to your family brunch this time, but you need to _deal_ with your problems. This means that Cecilia, you need to put away time to have a conversation with your father. Malcolm, Xav, you two need to talk to Eilionoir. Preferably separately so it doesn't seem like you're ganging up on her."

The three Woods grumbled, but Ally could tell that they saw the sense in what she said. Shortly after that Malcolm and Cecilia seemed to decide that they wanted to continue to complain to their significant others, so they left the flat, leaving Ally and Xavier alone again.

"I apologize for my family," Xavier told his girlfriend tiredly as he sat down next to her on the couch.

Ally waved off his apology, "There's no need. You know that my family is worse. I'll probably be the one apologizing tonight after supper at the Burrow."

He smiled a little in reply to her joke, and he wrapped his arm around her shoulder to pull her towards him. She rested her head on his shoulder, and then they cuddled together on the couch for a few minutes before Ally began speaking again.

"Xav . . . I want to talk to you about our flat hunting," She began in almost a shy tone.

Xavier was sure that he knew what she was going to say, and he started to rub her shoulder comfortingly, "I know that we haven't found anything that we can both agree on yet . . . but I'm sure that we'll find something eventually. It's too early in our search to give up."

Ally put a smile on her face, but it looked more than a little awkward, "I wasn't about to suggest giving up Xav . . . I was just going to advocate for a . . . different approach to looking for a place."

"Such as?" He asked her a little confusedly, not exactly following nor liking her train of thought.

"I know that I'm the reason why we haven't been able to agree on a place as I've said no to all of the flats we've seen . . . and I think that the reason why I can't say yes to a place, is because I don't want to live in a flat with you."

Xavier didn't reply, and he was trying not to jump to conclusions, but he really didn't like what she had just said. Ally looked at him and noted directly the frightened look on his face.

"No Xav, I don't mean–I mean what I do mean is . . . I don't want to rent a flat with you, because I want to buy a house with you."

His eyebrows narrowed in confusion over his hazel eyes, "You want to buy a _house_?"

"Yes," Ally replied, the words finally coming out the way she wanted them to, "I want to buy a house with you, because I want to be with you, not only now, but in the future. Forever. I love you, and I want to marry you and spend the rest of our lives together . . . Xavier Oliver Wood, will you marry me?"

To say that Xavier looked more than surprise at her admission and questions would be a drastic understatement. He looked as though someone had sent a stunning curse at him.

Ally counted out the moments of silence in her head, and before she could get to thirty –the number at which she had promised herself she would check to make sure that Xavier actually hadn't been stunned somehow– he finally started to move.

First, it was a blink of his eyes.

Next, it was the licking of his dry lips.

Then, it was a gruff clearing of his throat.

Finally, he opened his mouth.

"Ally did you–did you just propose . . . _to me_?" His voice questioned unbelievingly.

Ally bit her lip, blushed, but determinedly met his eyes, "Yes I did. I know that you want to marry me and that you were just unsure of how I would react to such an offer. So I figured that I'd take out the guesswork for you."

"By proposing to me yourself?" Xavier repeated.

She nodded her head, but didn't respond. She hadn't actually intended to go the whole way and propose, she was just planning on reiterating how devoted she was to him to give him a push in the right direction, but hey, he definitely knew her long-term intentions now.

There were a few more beats of silence and then Ally started to feel apprehensive and anxious about Xavier's silence. She counted to thirty again and awkwardly asked, "So . . . what do you say?"

There was one more, shorter, beat of silence before his expression started to brighten and a smile began to twist on the edges of his lips.

"Yes. Of course I'll marry you."

Ally's eyes lit up and she reached toward Xavier to embrace him. He stopped her just before she could wrap her arms around him, and his expression darkened a little, "Only under one condition."

Her heart jumped to her throat, "What condition?"

"Malcolm and Clark and Mark can _never_ find out that _you_ were the one who proposed," Xavier said, his eyes wide with fright as he considered said event happening.

Ally laughed and she leaned forward to press a kiss to Xavier's lips, "Don't worry, I promise not to tell them."

"You're definitely going to tell Victoire though, aren't you?" He asked her.

"Of course."

Xavier rolled his eyes with an indulgent smile on his face, and then kissed Ally's lips again.

Just when Ally was about to wrap her arms around Xavier's neck, he pulled away, grabbed her hand, and began to drag her toward the bedroom.

Ally smirked wickedly, "Oh, I think I like where this is going."

"Hold your hippogriffs there Honey, we're going to be putting on clothes, not taking them off."

Her smirk turned into a pout, "And why would we do that?"

"Because," Xavier told her, turning to give her his patent and mischievous 'Wood' smirk, "Now that you're my fiancée, you're going to need an engagement ring."

* * *

 **4:51 PM**

Victoire picked up a bottle of wine, squinted sideways at it, and then put it back on the shelf before taking one step to the right and doing the exact same thing all over again. Teddy, who was standing behind her with his arms already filled with three bottles of wine, sighed heavily.

"Remind me why we came to Diagon Alley to buy _muggle_ wine again?" He asked his fiancée as he watched her discard the latest bottle only to pick up another one.

She rolled her eyes in response, "Because this magical liquor store also sells muggle alcohol, and I'm not familiar enough with muggle alcohol to go to a completely muggle store. Therefore, it's not me you should be complaining to. You should be wondering why we have to buy muggle wine for tonight in the first place."

Teddy smirked at her and held his arms out further so she could place the third bottle of wine into his arms, "Now the answer to that question is easy. As you'll no doubt recall, tonight at the family dinner we're all going to be practicing _not_ using magic to prepare for Christmas when your Uncle Charlie-"

"Brings his muggle girlfriend to Christmas dinner. Grandmum wants to make sure that there's no obvious magic, and that includes the food and drink," Victoire finished for him, "I still don't know why _we_ were assigned the task of picking out the muggle wine."

He chuckled a little deviously, "You don't know why? Obviously this is your mother's doing. She's probably hoping that while we're here we're going to get into a further discussion about alcohol, and particularly what we will want to serve at our wedding. Have you not noticed that every topic of conversation with her in the last few weeks ultimately leads back to talk about our wedding?"

She frowned, "I knew that I shouldn't have talked to her about getting our financial portfolios in order for our impending marriage. She's like a niffler with a shiny galleon with this wedding planning stuff."

"Do we have enough wine now?" Teddy asked her curiously as he eyed the large bottles of wine he was carrying.

Victoire considered his question carefully, "Well considering that Dom will probably drink a whole one herself-"

"But it is a Sunday night and everyone has work tomorrow," He reminded her.

"Fair point."

The two began their trek towards the cash, but Victoire slowed when they passed by the champagne.

"Vic, we need to be at the Burrow for around five," Teddy reminded her patiently.

"That's when we have to be there, but dinner doesn't actually start until six," Victoire pointed out before continuing, "I feel like we need to buy champagne."

Teddy would have crossed his arms over his chest if they weren't filled with bottles, "Why would we need champagne for our family dinner?"

Victoire shrugged, "I don't know, it's just a feeling I have."

"Then buy some," Was his blasé response.

"But why would we need some?"

Teddy shrugged, "I don't know. You're the one with the urge to buy it."

Before their debate could continue, another couple ambled by them, also blindly debating champagne. Victoire absentmindedly turned to glance at the other couple. Her eyes went wide and she shared a look with Teddy, as the wide-eyed couple of Giavanna Tracey and Chris Mullin stared back at them.

"Hey!" Giavanna greeted them cheerily in between sending Chris a specific look, "How nice to see you both again!"

"Hi," Teddy replied for his still-shocked fiancée, "It's, um, nice to see you too."

The two couples were both silent for a few more moments, and while Victoire and Teddy were trying to figure out how to politely extract themselves, Chris seemed to come up with a way to drag out the completely awkward meeting.

"So, what are you guys doing here?"

Victoire indicated the bottles Teddy was holding and superfluously explained that they were getting wine for their family dinner. She then belatedly asked them what they were doing there to be polite, even though she really just wanted to leave.

"We're here to look at non-alcoholic champagnes for the wedding," Giavanna announced in a lofty tone, while trying to readjust her hand so that Victoire could have an unobstructed view of her large engagement ring.

"Uh-huh," Victoire and Teddy agreed with a synchronized nod of their heads.

"Speaking of the wedding, you did receive your invitation, right?" Giavanna asked in a faux-concerned tone.

Victoire and Teddy shared a look and then the former replied, "We did, and we sent back a letter as a reply-"

"Oh," Giavanna said with a giggle and a wave of her hand, "That's why I haven't seen it yet. We've gotten a tone of mail since announcing our engagement and sending out the wedding invitations –lots of well wishes and congratulations from everyone we know– so I haven't gone through all the mail yet. I've only gone through the RSVPs we got back, and I haven't come across yours yet."

The part-veela and the metamorphmagus shared another look.

"Well . . . that's because we didn't send back the RSVP, we sent the letter instead. In it we explain that we are very appreciative for the invitation, but that we will not be able to attend. We made a previous commitment for the weekend so we will not be able to come," Victoire explained in as courteous a tone as she could.

Oddly enough, Giavanna's face brightened considerably when she heard this news, while Chris's expression visibly dropped.

Victoire could tell from one sideways glance at Teddy's face that he was as done with this impromptu conversation as she was, and just as she was trying to craft a hasty excuse, Giavanna cheerily asked her what their previous plans for that weekend were.

"We're going to America for the weekend, New York State. Vic had arranged to meet some people to do some research for work at the American libraries there and we decided to make a weekend of it," Teddy explained.

Giavanna eyed Victoire oddly, "You're going to New York and you're going to spend the weekend looking through some dusty old books?"

Victoire opened her mouth to reply, but Teddy beat her to it. He freed one of his hands and clasped her left one with his, "I can't think of a better way to spend a weekend."

She smiled at him in response, and ignored the appalled look Giavanna and Chris shared at their display of affection. Not even Giavanna was interested in prolonging their conversation after that –she had only been encouraging it in the first place because she wanted to flaunt the fact that she was getting married soon– and both couples said stiff and awkward goodbyes before separating.

When Victoire and Teddy got to the cash the former glanced at her fiancé, "Merlin I wish this was all over with."

"What exactly do you mean by ' _this_ '?"

"The fact that Chris still stares at me like he thinks no one else can see him," Victoire explained with a revolted look on her face.

Teddy made a face as well, "Hopefully marriage and fatherhood will help him kick that bad habit."

* * *

 **5:26 PM**

Victoire wrapped her arms around Teddy's neck and smirked, "That muggle wine we bought is not half bad."

He smiled in response and walked her backwards a few steps until her back was pressed firmly against the wall, "How much have you had already?"

One of his hands clutched at the small of her back, while the other travelled up to curl around her loose blonde hair.

"Only about two glasses," She replied in a cheery tone as she suddenly yet smoothly jumped at him and wrapped her legs around his waist.

In response he pressed her back harder in the wall to help disperse her weight, and the hand at her waist slipped down to rest underneath her thigh, "How does it taste?"

A blonde brow rose up on Victoire's forehead, "Why don't you tell me?"

Teddy smirked in reply and slowly leaned towards her until their lips were just touching, "Or I could just go pour myself a glass."

Her hands slid into his hair and she forcefully grabbed a handful of the turquoise locks, "Just shut up and kiss me."

"You could at least say please," Was all that Teddy could mumbled out before Victoire's mouth attached itself to his.

In response to her forceful kiss, he pushed against her more firmly, making it so there was no space between their bodies. She let out a moan in response, and he took the opportunity to slip his tongue into her mouth. She tasted like wine, and like the small piece of the chocolate and vanilla dessert square she had swiped from her grandmother's dessert tray a few moments ago. The combined tastes were both sweet and slightly bitter, and he wasn't sure if it was the wine, the chocolate, or just her that made the flavour so intoxicating; but either way, he felt like he couldn't get enough.

"For the love of Merlin! Yeah, this definitely seems like you're looking for Grandmum's good table linens," Dom's sarcastic voice announced from much closer to Victoire than the elder sister would have like.

Teddy and Victoire's faces separated enough for the older sister to glare at the younger, who had suddenly materialized out of thin air, "Go away Dom."

"I can't. The only reason why I was able to leave Austin's fascinatingly boring story-time was because I said that I was going to help you to find Grandmum's table cloths," The younger sister explained.

Victoire sighed but slowly began to extricate herself from her fiancé. She couldn't blame Dom for taking the out that she did. After all, it was the exact same excuse that she and Teddy had used five minutes ago to get out of listening to yet another one of Austin's pompous monologues about how important he was at work. Their excuse was a lie, so Victoire and Teddy just hid themselves in the Burrow's foyer as they pretended to be looking for the table linens.

Dom sat down on the first step of the staircase in the foyer that led upstairs and took out her mobile phone, "Oh don't mind me you two. Carry on with what you were doing, I'm just going to wait a few more minutes until the coast is clear."

While Victoire did send Teddy a considering look, he shook his head in response. He wasn't going to go back to snogging his fiancée with her sister sitting three feet away from them.

The three's attempt to spend some time out of Austin Pennington's presence was convenient, because that allowed Victoire to be right at the door a few moments later when Ally and Xavier entered the house. Victoire immediately moved forward to greet her cousin, but she stopped short and her eyes went wide as she took in the large shiny object newly situated on her cousin's left ring finger, which must have has some magical spell that forced her gaze to pull towards it.

"Wha-!"

Before Victoire could scream her surprise, Teddy's hand came up and clamped over her mouth the minute he noticed the new addition to Ally's outfit. Dom noted the bling about one second after Victoire, and Teddy soon found his other hand occupied as he held it across Dom's mouth to stop her own loud reaction that had first sounded a lot like the beginning of a shriek.

Ally and Xavier were quiet and hesitant as they took off their jackets and kicked off their shoes, and once they were done Teddy finally removed his hands from Dom and Victoire's mouths. Victoire immediately launched herself at Ally, while Dom and Teddy excitedly congratulated Xavier (although still in a quiet tone because they didn't want to alert all of the other members of the house yet). When Victoire let Ally go, Dom scooped her up and Victoire almost jumped at Xavier as she practically strangled him into a hug.

Once the initial hugs and –quiet– squeals were out of the way, Victoire joined Dom in grabbing Ally's hand and inspecting her engagement ring, "Oh my Godric you got engaged! How long has it been?"

"Only a few hours," Xavier replied, sharing a sweet look with Ally that made the dark haired girl blush.

Dom rolled her eyes at the interaction, but Victoire giggled giddily, her eyes still locked on the platinum ring on Ally's left hand. The band was of medium width, and it had one single princess cut diamond in the centre. Despite the general simplicity of the band, the square diamond in the centre was definitely a show stopper. For one, it was very clear and absolutely humongous, pretty much as big as the diamond on Sandra's heirloom engagement ring. The second thing Victoire noticed was how _sparkly_ the diamond was. In fact, the only reason why Victoire had noticed it in the first place was because it was throwing glittery refractions everywhere.

"Your ring is gorgeous," Dom told Ally in a distinctly envious tone. Not because of what the ring symbolized, but just because Dom liked expensive and shiny things; and Ally's new ring definitely fit into both categories.

Ally beamed happily, and Victoire told Xavier that he did well.

Thus, they were a cheery group as they walked into the living room.

Dom obnoxiously cleared her throat so that everyone in the room would look at them, and from there it was easy. Molly noticed the engagement ring first, and after her excited squeal there was a flurry of activity that acutely reminded Victoire of how her family had crowded around her at Sandra's wedding when they found out that she and Teddy had gotten engaged. They made such a fuss that soon all of the parents were also gathered around the newly engaged couple, including a very excited Angelina and George.

Ally and Xavier were pretty much passed around as they got hugs, kisses, handshakes, and sincere congratulations from everyone –even Austin who took that time to actually stop sounding generally pompous. Fleur and Grandmother Molly seemed almost as excited to hear the news as Angelina did, and George only teased Xavier a little bit about how his future-son-in-law didn't ask him for his permission before proposing. Xavier's ears had gone bright red at hearing that, but Ally soon swooped in and changed the topic slightly.

Once everyone had settled down, and all of the females had stopped grabbing Ally's hand so that they could appreciate her ring, Mrs. Arthur Weasley firmly announced that it was time for dinner.

Victoire glanced down at her watch, "But Louis and Cecilia aren't here yet."

"I'm sure they'll be here soon," Baxter piped up almost a little dismissively. Victoire found his reaction a little odd, so when she shot him a look that no one else noticed, her red-haired cousin just shrugged his shoulders and rolled his eyes in response.

The family members slowly began to make their way to the dining room, but Ally and Xavier soon found their way blocked by Lucy.

"Wands please," Lucy told the pair as she held her hand out expectantly.

"Excuse me?" Ally asked her cousin confusedly.

Lucy straightened her shoulders, "We're having dinner without magic tonight. To aid in this, everyone is handing over their wands so that they won't be tempted."

Ally rolled her eyes but she and Xavier produced their wands and handed them over, "What about wandless magic?"

Lucy smirked and then pulled two purple rubber-looking band bracelets out of her pocket, "Everyone's wearing one of these, if someone does do wandless magic it gives them a bit of a . . . reminder not to do it again."

Ally quirked an eyebrow.

"It gives you a bit of a shock," Victoire clarified with an eye roll of her own, "She doesn't trust us to promise not to use wandless magic."

Lucy's face told Ally that this was an argument that Victoire and she had already had that evening, "It's not that I don't trust everyone, it's just that I thought that a bit of classical conditioning might be useful. We're doing all of this for Uncle Charlie and we owe it to him to do our best to make it work."

It was the same argument she had used on Victoire earlier in the evening, and even though Victoire still felt a little hurt that her cousin didn't trust her not to use wandless magic, there really was no valid counter-argument that she could use.

Ally and Xavier extended their arms in Lucy's direction, and she slipped the bands onto the wrists of their wand hands.

"And these are supposed to stop us from using wandless magic?" Ally asked Victoire as she curiously inspected the band while walking into the dining room.

"Evidently," Victoire replied dismissively before smiling widely at her favourite cousin, "But let's get back to this engagement. I'm so happy for you–but also surprised. I would have thought that Xavier would have at least told me that he was planning to propose, if not ask me for help with it."

She ended her statement with a deliberate glower in Xavier's direction. The professional quidditch keeper's ears turned red with a blush, and Ally smirked wickedly at her fiancé as she replied to Victoire, "Trust me, Xavier did just fine on his own without your help."

The look on Victoire's face said that she highly doubted that, but she didn't say anything else about it, deciding instead to find a seat at the table across from Ally and Xavier and beside Teddy.

As everyone slowly began taking their seats, Dom and Molly specifically arguing over who would get the seat farthest away from Austin, Victoire's Grandmother Molly was still facing towards the direction of the front of the house, as if she could see through the walls that stood between her and the front door. Victoire glanced down at her watch and frowned when she noticed that Louis and Cecilia were officially late for dinner. It was a strange occurrence since Cecilia, if not Louis, was always on time for absolutely everything.

Just before Grandmother Molly would have to make the decision on whether or not to start dinner without Louis and Cecilia, said tardy couple finally made their entrance. The two apologized profusely for several minutes before they sat down at the table, and their apologizes were interspersed with jibes about being late from Dom and Baxter, and reassurances from Grandmother Molly that they were not exactly completely late.

Lucy was able to quiet everyone down not too long later when she demanded that Louis and Cecilia hand over their wands to her. Neither latecomer looked as though they wanted to give over their wands, but they acquiesced with less arguments that Victoire and Dom had because they were already embarrassed about coming in late and without an excuse.

Victoire smiled mysteriously as she watched Cecilia carefully. Everyone had begun filling their plates and glasses up with food and drink, but Victoire moved more slowly. She was waiting to see when Cecilia would notice the new addition to Ally's hand.

As it was, most of them had barely had the opportunity to try a bite of the food before Cecilia's fork fell out of her limp hand and loudly clanked as it hit the rim of her plate. The people seated closest to her stopped what they were doing and stared at Cecilia. Her mouth had popped open (thankfully there was no food in there) and her eyes brown eyes were wide. Beside her Louis also looked surprised, but he didn't look as flabbergasted as his girlfriend.

"Ally . . . what's that on your left hand?" Cecilia asked in an almost robotic tone of voice.

Ally shared a sweet smile with Xavier, and nodded her head in the direction of her _fiancé_ 's younger sister.

" _That_ is Ally's engagement ring," Xavier answered his sister matter-of-factly.

Cecilia picked up her fork and closed her mouth enough so that she wouldn't hurt her jaw. She stabbed a piece of potato with her fork, chewed it, swallowed, and then said, "So who is Ally engaged to?"

Xavier rolled his eyes, "To me, Dummy."

His sister smirked, "Well congratulations then. Although I'm really wondering how you went about it since I saw you earlier this morning and there wasn't a ring on her finger."

"It was spontaneous, but it was perfect," Ally replied with another loving smile in Xavier's direction.

"Well I'm already over this," Dom announced as she made a disgusted face at Ally and Xavier's display of affection.

The couple in question just rolled their eyes, and the pause allowed Louis to offer his sincere congratulations as well. Cecilia then asked whether her and Xavier's parents had heard about the engagement yet, to which her brother replied that they were going to stop by their house later that evening to tell them in person. Ally added that she wrote separate letters to Freddie and Lily about the engagement. The letter to Freddie was more personal because he was her younger brother, and the letter to Lily shorter because she assumed that if Freddie didn't, that Lily would quickly let the rest of their family members at Hogwarts know about the engagement.

"How are the kids at Hogwarts?" Grandmother Molly asked Victoire curiously a few moments after overhearing Ally mention Freddie and Lily.

It was well-known by then that Victoire had visited Hogwarts the day before to do some research for her healing project.

"They seem fine. I only saw James, Freddie, and Rose though," Victoire replied dismissively.

"No Al? He usually spends most of his time with Rose, especially if they're studying," Baxter commented nosily.

Victoire did her best to hold in a sigh and said, "No, Al was most definitely _not_ with Rose."

The later part was muttered more to herself, and it seemed that only Ally and Cecilia had picked up on the fact that there was something more going on in Victoire's words.

"So Ally," Molly began cheerily during the pause in conversation, "Have you and Xavier made any plans on _when_ you're going to get married?"

Cecilia, Dom, and Victoire's heads perked up at hearing Molly's question, and soon Ally had all of her cousin's eyes on her.

"We just got engaged this morning guys," Ally explained slowly.

Her words had the opposite effect as the older adults at the other end of the table stopped their discussions and looked at the newly engaged couple.

"But how long are you planning to wait to get married?" Angelina asked her daughter gently, her eyes quickly darting towards Victoire and Teddy and then back to Ally.

There was silence along the whole table. Victoire could feel more than a few eyes on her, but she ignored it for the moment and thought that it was still Ally's turn to talk.

Ally glanced at Xavier, "Well, obviously we're not getting married anytime soon, and it will take a while to plan a wedding of course . . ."

"Not to mention that it would probably be best to do it in the summer because some of your family is still at Hogwarts for eight months of the year, for the next few years," Xavier added.

Ally nodded, "And quidditch is _less_ crazy in the summer so again, better to be in the summer . . ."

"So this summer?" George asked, pretty sure that that was how the conversation was going.

Xavier and Ally shared a look again and it seemed that, despite Ally's comment about just getting engaged that morning, they had talked about a wedding date at some point that day.

" _Well_. . . this summer _is_ the Quidditch World Cup and we're hoping that Xavier will be busy with that . . ." Ally mused shyly.

"So the summer after that?" Angelina asked in a blatantly worried tone.

Victoire felt even more eyes on her this time since 'in two summers' was when she and Teddy were going to have their wedding. One of the pairs of eyes was Ally, so Victoire took that as her cue to finally say something.

"In that case you and Xavier can have the big fancy family wedding, and Teddy and I can elope," Victoire reasoned with an agreeable nod.

Ally narrowed her eyes at her cousin, "Or, you and Teddy could have the big fancy family wedding, and Xav and I can elope."

Dom, Molly, and Baxter started snickering, but the seriousness of Fleur's next words stopped them cold.

" _No one_ ees elopeeng."

Even though it was Fleur that spoke, and who sent a stern glare at Victoire, Angelina actually looked like she agreed with her sister-in-law.

"Maman's right," Victoire said with a smile as she reached across the table and grabbed Ally's hand, "I'm sure that we'll be able to handle two weddings in one summer."

Although Victoire's words were sweet and it was obvious from Ally's face that she appreciated her cousin's words, Baxter decided that there was still a bit of tension in the room that needed to be cut.

"You could always have a double-wedding."

Both engaged couples' faces froze in shock and all four of them started shaking their heads at the same time.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no."

"Can you imagine how crazy that would be?" Dom asked with a smirk on her face as she imagined it, "A wedding with the whole Weasley family, the whole Wood family, and all of our French relatives?"

Baxter grinned, "That's literally going to happen when Cecilia and Louis get married."

It was Cecilia and Louis's turn to be put in the spotlight, and Ally and Victoire quickly told the other flabbergasted-looking couple, "Don't do it. Elope instead."

Lucy rolled her eyes at where their discussion had led to, "Obviously if that does happen, it's not going to happen for a very long time, so why are we even discussing it?"

Victoire rolled her eyes at her cousin's abrasiveness, but the conversation slowly changed to more mundane topics, and dinner continued. It had been going on rather well once the topic of wedding planning died down, until Victoire tried to use wandless magic to summon a bottle of wine closer to her.

"Ouch!" She called in pain as she dropped her wineglass, it landed on the table and cracked up the side. She looked disbelieving at her left wrist where she wore the purple band that Lucy had insisted they all wear that night to stop them from using wandless magic. There wasn't much pain left, but she had felt a distinctive shock when she was halfway through casually summoning the wine bottle.

Lucy just gave her elder cousin a contemptuous look, "I told you not to use wandless magic."

"Well I didn't really mean to," Victoire countered with a frown at her cousin as she reflexively held the area of skin on her wrist that still stung, "I mean I did intend to summon the wine, but it didn't exactly connect in my mind that it was wandless magic, and that I would get shocked for it."

"That's exactly why I knew we needed to wear these bracelets, you guys use wandless magic so casually that you're definitely going to give us away at Christmas to Uncle Charlie's girlfriend," Lucy continued.

Victoire scoffed, "I know better than to use magic in front of a muggle."

As she said that, Teddy absentmindedly picked up Victoire's wineglass and tried to heal the crack. He accomplished his goal, but then he was immediately shocked for it.

"Bloody Hell that does hurt," Teddy exclaimed, shaking his wrist out.

Louis raised an eyebrow, "Why would you do that then?"

"Because her glass was broken," Teddy explained, setting said wineglass back down and frowning at the purple band on his wrist, "Where did you even get these anyway Lucy?"

Lucy shrugged, "I bought the bracelets and then added the shock charm whenever magic was used."

"Clever," Victoire finally admitted with a nod of support to Lucy, "Painful. But clever."

Lucy looked like she was almost beaming with her cousin's approval, but Austin quickly quashed it.

"Where did you get the bracelets?" Austin asked with an unreadable expression on his face.

"I don't remember exactly. I thought of the idea so suddenly that I just popped into a muggle dollar store that was close and grabbed the bracelets. Why?" Lucy questioned.

Austin frowned and, realizing that he had the attention of most of 'the kids', puffed his chest out a bit as he replied in an authoritative voice, "Because, putting magical charms on muggle objects is a violation of Wizarding law."

Lucy blinked uncomprehendingly for a moment while Molly defended her, "It's a band of purple rubber. She could have easily transfigured it herself, but it was just more convenient to buy them."

"It was still technically illegal," Austin pointed out unfailingly.

Baxter frowned at his sister's boyfriend and then glanced at Louis, "Are you going to arrest Lucy for that?"

Louis snorted, "No. Besides, I don't exactly have the authority to do that just yet." He glanced at Teddy, "How about you?"

"Since there's no dark magic here it's not Auror Department territory, so there's nothing I can do," Teddy replied with a casual shrug as he went back to eating his carrots.

Dom sent Austin a smirk, "Well it looks like there's nothing to be done here."

Austin rolled his eyes and muttered, "I was just telling the truth. Obviously I don't want Lucy to get arrested."

"Obviously," Victoire scoffed under her breath as she rolled her eyes at Austin.

Teddy heard her and grabbed her hand so he could give it a tight squeeze, "Just ignore him."

"That would be easier to do if I could put a silencing charm on him."

* * *

Victoire was rubbing her sore wrist carefully and muttering under her breath when Ally found her standing by herself on the back porch of the Burrow. She had gotten shocked about a dozen more times by the time dinner finished. Half of them were because she had accidentally tried to use wandless magic for things she didn't realize she always used wandless magic for, and roughly the other half was because her hands tried to catch flame with veela fire when Austin would say something stupid and anger her.

One time she got shocked because she actually went through with putting a silencing charm on Austin, and she was standing outside by herself because she knew she needed to cool off before going back in. It was a slight bonus because she was missing out on cleaning up after dinner, although said cleaning up was much easier when Grandmum Molly announced that Lucy should give everyone their wands back to make the clean-up easier.

"Is this a bad time?" Ally asked her favourite cousin softly as she came to stand beside her.

Victoire let out a sigh, "Only if you're Austin or Lucy."

"I don't know," Ally replied with a slight smirk, "Lucy might have pretended to be angry, but I think she was a little relieved that he went silent even for a few minutes."

Oddly enough, her words perked Victoire up and she uncrossed her arms and reached for Ally to pull her into a hug.

"Congratulations on the engagement again, I'm so happy for you." Victoire knew that she didn't need to ask Ally if this was what she wanted, and she knew that she _definitely_ didn't need to track Xavier down and ask him the same question.

"Thanks," Ally replied quietly before slipping into silence. There was a comfortable and quiet pause between the two for a moment before Ally began, "So . . . are you sure that you're okay with Xavier and me _maybe_ getting married around the same time as you and Teddy?"

Victoire leaned her head on Ally's shoulder, "You mean am I okay with sharing all of that scrutinizing bridal attention with someone else?"

"Stupid question, I know," Ally replied with a roll of her eyes. She should have known that Victoire would gladly share the attention with someone else.

"I just don't want you to be worried that people will be comparing our weddings," Ally explained.

Victoire smiled, "I won't be. We'll just make sure that we don't invite the same people to our weddings then."

Ally chuckled, "Alright then, we'll make a list of family members and split it down the middle."

"I'll give you James right now, he and Freddie do everything together, and you have Freddie because he's your brother, so you can have James as well," Victoire told her bubbly.

Ally gasped in faux shock, "And deprive you of your _favourite_ cousin on your wedding day? I would never."

"I think I'll be fine. You can have Dom as well if you'd like. And Great-great Auntie Muriel. And my mom," Victoire listed the names off on her fingers.

Ally narrowed her eyes at her blonde cousin seriously, "Are you sure that you don't want to elope?"

"I'm sure. I want to get married in front of all of our family and friends. In my bitchier moments I even contemplate sending Tasha Bennet an invitation."

Ally shrugged at hearing this, "Well you _are_ a Slytherin after all . . ."

Victoire frowned and lightly hip-checked her cousin, "I am _not_ a Slytherin."

"I know you're not," Ally allowed pulling Victoire into another hug, "But I'd still love you even if you were."

Victoire kissed her cousin's cheek, "I know."

They drifted away from each other slightly, "So, why were you so weird when you were talking about the kids at Hogwarts earlier?"

"Ugh," Victoire moaned, moving her hand up to pinch the bridge of her nose, "I want to tell you _so_ badly. But I promised not to."

Ally pursed her lips, "Why would you need to promise Rose that?"

Victoire tapped her nose –telling Ally that she had guessed at the right cousin– and said, "I can't tell you something that _Rose hasn't told you about yet_."

Ally took that as a hint that she would need to get the info out of Rose first, and nodded her head understandingly.

"Just one more question, does it have to do with a boy?"

Victoire put her hands on her hips but slowly began nodding her head. Her actions not meeting her words, "What would make you think that Rose, our _very_ private sixteen-year-old cousin, would have a secret to do with a boy that she wouldn't want the rest of our nosy family to know about?"

"You're awful at keeping secrets," Ally replied with a roll of her eyes but also a smile, "It makes me wonder if I should tell you _my_ secret."

Her blonde cousin's eyes immediately lit up, "You have a secret? Please, please, please, please, _please_!"

Ally laughed and answered, "Alright, I'll tell you, but you have to promise that you won't tell Malcolm or Clark and Mark."

"Oh, just from that I _know_ that this is going to be good."

"You have no idea," Ally replied with a smile.

* * *

A/N: OH MY GODRIC ALLY AND XAVIER ARE ENGAGED! So, I felt bad for Xavier since he always seemed to be the person putting himself out there in his relationship with Ally, so I had her propose. I know that a lot of you probably wanted a really romantic proposal with an incredibly sweet by awkward Xavier in charge, but this idea popped into my head and it just seemed perfect. I think it just really fits them and where they are right now.

So, since I've given you a lovely little engagement here, I would love a review in return all about how much you LOVE that Ally and Xavier ar enow engaged.

Next Update: I am so sorry guys, but this is the last chapter that I have written. I'm expecting January to be very stressful and busy for me, so I honestly don't think I'll be able to write let alone update, this situation might even bleed into February, but we'll just have to wait and see what happens.

Thanks again to everyone who has followed, favourited, read and especially those who reviewed last week to help me get passed my goal of 700, so thank you so much everyone!

Especially big thank-yous to:

 **blah345, rosesnlilies, AmberAshflower, Guest (1), carbo21, cjaben1, TeeChamblissful, a243, no cure for crazy, Guest (2), mazzmataz, Paddfoot12, Guest (3), Padfoot9901, Venz, Guest (4), zvc56, xDx, kawaiiotaku0405, Unicorn, Jennifer Jules, NicoleTheSmith, frozen-in-change, Guest (5), AngelTwins527, CharmingsDaughtr,** and **silverlover02**.

 **rosesnlilies** : I actually haven't read Cursed Child yet. Usually I'd be all over it, but because it's 'the future' and it's now officially cannon I kinda don't want to read it and have it change stuff that I've already written, if that makes sense.

 **AmberAshflower** : Wow, thank you :)

 **carbo21** : James is allowed to have other friends, and I think he'd get along well with female friends because he has so many female cousins ;)

 **cjaben1** : It was Victoire that came across James, Selene, and Freddie, but I purposely left it where I did because I wanted it to be a surprise for her to interrupt Rose and Scorpius. Vic didn't say much to James & co, just explained why she was there and then went to find some books (and accidentally stumbled across Rose). I left the Rose and Scorpius part at the end purposely ambiguous. We will come back to what's going on between them at some point in the story, but it won't be until the next time we go back to Hogwarts. As for what Selene Spiros looks like, her family is originally Greek so I would imagine she has dark hair and more of an olive complexion.

 **TeeChamblissful** : I wish you the best in the new year as well.

 **a243** : Glad to see that you're back, even if it is under a new pseudonym :)

 **no cure for crazy** : You're right, James is definitely maturing while Freddie still has a while to go. As for Al, well he can be a sneaky one, so his intentions are hard to discern.

 **Paddfoot12** : I actually haven't read the Cursed Child yet because I don't want it to influence how I write this story, so Al's intentions are all his own. As for contacting me you can always send me a PM (personal message), it would be easiest, if there are parts about the story that you would like to write longer comments about. One of the reasons I love people's reviews and when they PM me is because I love to hear everyone's thoughts on what I've written, and where they think the story is going. I'm always open to discussion about it, good or bad, because if there's something that seems like it needs to be fixed or built on, then the person who is mentioning it to me is probably not the only one thinking it. So yeah, if there's anything you want to discuss or give me an opinion on (longer than a normal review) feel free to PM me.

 **Padfoot9901** : I don't see why your version of Teddy and Vic's child can't be kind and naive. In fact, if your Ted and Vic are anything like my Ted and Vic, they'd probably be rather over-protective of their child, so it is very likely that she could be a little nave if they try to keep everything bad away from her. If you have any other questions about writing your story or if you'd like any advice about writing, plot, etc., feel free to send me a PM.

 **Venz** : Wow, thanks for recommending me to people, that's awesome :) I like that everyone seems to be noticing that there's something up with Al.

 **zvc56** : Gosh, I assume most of the books from the restricted section include things with Dark Magic, or at least that's what Vic's interested in, for research purposes of course.

 **Jennifer Jules** : Did this Weasley family dinner meet your expectations?

 **NicoleTheSmith** : I definitely reached my target, so thank you for helping. :)

 **frozen-in-change** : Well thank you very much! I'm glad that you like the wider world that encompasses my story. I work hard to try to weave bits of it in to make it canon, but to grow it as well, so I appreciate the kind words.

 **CharmingsDaughtr** : For Try and Tri Again I created the cover. I had photoshop on my laptop at that time and I found some pictures online and merged them into what I wanted. For Life After Hogwarts a fantastic reader created the cover for me, and she used a similar theme to what I used for Try and Tri Again.

 **silverlover02** : Thank you for reviewing both chapter :)

 **So I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter, especially the engagement,**

 **Please leave me a review about how you liked it,**

 **If you have any questions, comments, or concerns you can mention them in a review or a PM,**

 **I hope everyone had a great holiday, and I wish every the best in this new year,**

 **Until next time, DFTBA!**


	30. Career Day

**A/N:** Hello everyone, long time no see. I've finally got a chapter finished for you, and I literally just finished it an hour ago, so there may be a few spelling or punctuation mistakes. I weighed my options though and I figured that you'd rather have this chapter sooner rather than later, so here it is, potential mistakes and all.

 **Disclaimer** **:** I do not own _Harry Potter . . ._ or _Grey's Anatomy_.

* * *

 **Recap:** In the last chapter Xavier and Ally got engaged. In previous chapters we've met two people that Cecilia works with, Charley Larson and Dylan Lawniczack, as well as a very obnoxious and hands-on part owner of the magazine Cecilia works on named Mrs. Dare. Victoire had a patient at St. Mungo's a few chapters ago who was a muggle girl, who got hit by a spell cast by her step-brothers who were wizards who are homeschooled, the family, especially the father, was really strict, and Victoire was suspicious of the whole incident.

* * *

 **Career Day**

 **Tuesday, October 4** **th** **2022**

 **10:30 AM**

Cecilia yawned widely, but hastily moved her hand up to cover her mouth. She looked around her quickly to make sure that no one saw her, but from the identical smirks Charley Larson and Dylan Lawniczak gave her, she knew that said she was totally busted.

"Only you would be bored in a room filled with all of the professional quidditch players in the league," Dylan told her with a roll of his eyes.

Cecilia punched him in the arm, "One, I'm not yawning because I'm bored, I'm yawning because I didn't get much sleep last night. Two, not all of the league's quidditch players are here. Half of the teams are here today, and half will be here tomorrow."

Cecilia and her fellow Jr writers for _Up in the Air_ were presently standing off to the side in a large room at _Witch Weekly_ 's Headquarters.

Every year for the past two decades, _Witch Weekly_ held a large photoshoot for every first string team in the league in October. The photoshoot was always Hallowe'en themed, and each quidditch team had a different theme that they had to dress up as. _Witch Weekly_ always provided the costumes, make-up, and photographers and make-up artists, and once all of the photos and spreads were done up, the collections were printed separately and then sold with most of the proceeds going to charity. It was officially just a photoshoot, _Witch Weekly_ didn't do separate interviews with the teams, but unofficially _Witch Weekly_ 's writers, along with writers from almost all of the other magazines always came to the photoshoot. It was up to the individual writers to try to convince the different players and teams to give unscheduled interviews about pretty much anything.

As such, the large room where the photo shoot would be done was filled with people –mostly press– as were the smaller rooms skirting the area that were each separate team's private rooms.

"Why are you three just standing around? You should be trying to get interviews with all of these players!" Mrs. Dare, the most hands-on owner of _Up in the Air_ magazine, announced as she suddenly swooped in behind the three writers.

Understandably, they all jumped in surprise at being accosted by one of their magazine's owners, and Charley and Dylan began nodding their heads hurriedly in agreement at her words. Mrs. Dare added that she expected them to be determined and dogged as they tried to sniff out a story from the players, and her lecture probably would have been longer than that if she hadn't spotted the writers' actual editor Ms. Beck and decided to go over and remind her that she didn't want to leave the photoshoot without at least one good scoop from at least one of the quidditch teams.

Cecilia frowned at Mrs. Dare's fast retreating figure, "She does know that she's not actually our editor, or in charge of what we write, right?"

"Well, considering that she has her ex-husband's stock share of the magazine, she sort of _can_ tell us what to write . . ." Dylan mused as he pursed his lips.

"Ugh," Charley grimaced looking just as displeased with the situation as Cecilia, "As much as I _dislike_ Mrs. Dare, we should probably at least look as though we're listening to her instructions and split up. See if we can politely convince a player to speak with us for a few moments."

Dylan nodded his head in agreement with Charley's words while Cecilia looked around the room. Everyone, minus all of the reporters and writers, were busy arranging things for the photoshoot and the room was a flurry of activity. She knew how busy the people in the room were, even the players, so she figured that the players in the team's rooms were more relaxed than the ones being herded around out in the photoshoot area.

"You guys go ahead and do that, I'm going to go find my brother and annoy him," Cecilia told them airily as she waved goodbye to them and then walked towards the line of team rooms.

It didn't take her long to figure out which one was Puddlemere's –there was a small sign on the front of the door– and it took her even less time to get _into_ that room. Luckily, the only two people in the room were the lounging forms of Xavier Wood and Mark Doyle.

Mark noticed her entrance first and grinned at her, "Did you sneak in here to try to overhear some gossip so that you can write a scoop?"

Xavier turned his head and nodded at his sister, while Cecilia rolled her eyes at Mark and sat down on a couch next to her brother, "No, if I wanted to write gossip I wouldn't be sitting so calmly on the story about Xavier's new _understanding_ with Ally."

Mark, Clark, and Nadia were Xavier's only teammates that knew about his and Ally's engagement, and even though there was no one else in the room, Cecilia still didn't want to use the word 'engagement' when she knew that there were so many people from the press in the building.

"So what are you doing here then?" Xavier asked his sister casually although he did look like he appreciated that Cecilia hadn't told anyone else about the engagement.

"I just needed a break from Mrs. Dare. On two separate occasions someone from the Harpies, both women I know because of Mum and Dad, acknowledged me as they walked by me. Well Mrs. Dare was somehow able to spot it from across the room, and she came over on both situations and pretty much tried to force me to accost each player. They were both very busy at the moment, so I was able to get out of it. But I'd really appreciate it if Mrs. Dare would allow me to decide which player to approach and how to approach them," Cecilia ranted.

Her tone of voice made Mark smirk because it reminded him of how Xavier sounded when he ranted about whatever bothered him.

"Did you think that if your magazine's owner catches you leaving this room, she's going to expect you to have a scoop about Puddlemere for your next article?" Xavier asked Cecilia a little disdainfully.

"I'm not worried about that. If I need a gossip-dependant story I have lots to choose from. Right now I'm trying to decide between starting the rumour that Nadia and Malcolm eloped on your by-week and got married in secret, and creating a big conspiracy theory on why your Seeker switched to a Swedish team and that Chris Mullin is going to be your new permanent replacement," Cecilia replied in a tone that sounded purely sarcastic.

Mark and Xavier shared a worried look and Cecilia snorted, "Calm down. I'm not going to do either of those. Although, I have been giving Charley hints about how odd it is that your reserve Seeker has been playing the past several games without the team's management making a clear statement one way or another about Mullin's permanency, or announcing looking into a trade deal for a new starting seeker."

In all honesty Cecilia hadn't been given extra information from her parents or her brother concerning the team's situation, nor had she found out yet that Giavanna Tracey was pregnant. All she knew were the most public of facts. One, that Puddlemere's starting seeker has officially been traded to Sweden. Two, Chris Mullin had been playing seeker ever since, and that the team's management had not made a comment about it yet. Three, invitations to a wedding between Chris Mullin and Giavanna Tracey had been sent out, and it seemed as though all of the players and coaches for Puddlemere United had received one.

"Personally, I think you should go with that one about Nadia and your cousin. I would love to see the look on her face when she read that in a paper," Mark announced, a devious looking gracing his handsome face.

While the two siblings laughed in response, Clark and Nadia both ambled into the room, questioning looks on their faces at hearing the laughter.

"How'd you get in here Cecilia?" Clark asked inquisitively as he and Nadia took seats in the chairs in the room.

Cecilia rolled her eyes, "Oh, I just told the security bloke standing outside that I was Mark's fiancée. What do you think I did? I just walked in. Although I do think the security bloke might have thought that I was Mum for a minute . . ."

Clark nodded, "Fine, but no more joking about Mark. He's been single for so long that it's no longer funny."

"Oh get over it, you're single as well," Mark replied with a sigh.

Clark eyed his fellow beater and then pointed at his own chest, "But _I'm_ not single by choice."

"No, you're single by _Dom's_ choice," Xavier pointed out, "Which is kind of worse."

Clark glared at his keeper, and Cecilia interrupted and changed the topic, "So what theme did you guys get this year?"

Nadia scowled and folded her arms over her chest, "Which theme? The first or the second one we were given?"

Cecilia titled her head in curiosity while Mark explained.

"First they gave us the theme of vampires, but then they brought all of the costumes in and Nadia vetoed it."

Nadia glared at Mark, "You would have vetoed it too if they wanted _you_ to wear a corset."

"Fair point," Clark agreed with a nod.

"So what theme did you get when they realized that Nadia didn't want to be overly-sexualized?" Cecilia asked.

Mark rolled his eyes, "Apparently, we are now dragons. Therefore, we're all going to wear different coloured tights, wings, horns, and lots of face-paint."

"Even better, we were all assigned a different type of dragon that we're all going to be," Xavier added sardonically.

Cecilia smirked, "What breed of dragon did you get?"

"A Norwegian Ridgeback," Her brother replied with a smirk of his own.

Cecilia laughed and sarcastically said, "Vic's gonna love that."

Victoire had an odd, but understandable, aversion to Norwegian Ridgebacks ever since her encounter with the dragon back in her seventh-year during the first task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament.

Cecilia left the room a few moments later when it looked like the players were going to have to take their turn at getting dressed and made-up for the photoshoot. As she walked back out into the wider room that held the half a score of people running around for the photoshoot. After having the discussion with the Puddlemere players about their theme for the photoshoot, Cecilia started to look more critically at the players from the other teams so that she could try to figure out what the other themes were.

She was just smiling widely after seeing the group of three Harpies chasers decked out in their costumes, when another chaser that she recognized walked up to her with a smile on his face.

"I've spent at least five minutes trying to figure out what that devious expression on your face means, before deciding to give up and just walk over and ask you what you're thinking."

Cecilia looked up and smirked at Eli Martell, "I was just wondering how many themes the Harpies had to go through before they agreed on one."

Eli followed the direction of Cecilia's gaze and glanced at the Holyhead team, it seemed that all of the witches were dressed up like banshees, "Wait, we have the option to say _no_ to the themes they suggest?"

"Well according to Nadia Cassano you can," Cecilia replied with a laugh.

Eli looked down at the costume he was wearing, some sort of white cloth and gold jewelry ensemble, "I really should have tried that when they pitched this ancient Egyptian god theme to us Appleby players. Although I don't know if I'd be as convincing to the _Witch Weekly_ staff as Nadia Cassano would be."

Cecilia glanced at the Eli's costume and pursed her lips, "With all the themes I've seen, I think you might have ended up with a worse theme if you had vetoed the first."

"I don't know what could be worse than this," Eli replied as he yanked at the heavy fake gold medallion and chain that was resting around his neck.

"It is pretty bad," Cecilia agreed as she took in the rather cheesy-looking costume that actually showed a lot of skin, mostly because his chest was rather bare.

Eli smirked and then addressed her in a whisper, "Can I admit something to you?"

"If you think it's smart to admit your secret to someone who writes for a quidditch magazine," Was Cecilia's rather flippant response.

"I kind of like this event."

Cecilia fake gasped very obnoxiously and placed her hand against her chest, "Are you feeling alright Mr. Martell? You sound like you're delirious."

Eli chuckled warmly, "I've told you many times Cecilia, it's Eli. And I might have said that wrong. I used to enjoy this event, but not so much anymore."

"What's changed?" She questioned curiously.

Eli sighed regretfully, "This used to be a very fun event when it started out. It was different and it allowed the players from the different teams to come together and to interact. It's grown larger over the years though, and we don't mix together and chat like we used to. Everyone acts so insular now, they barely leave their teams rooms unless they just need to go from one place to another."

Cecilia nodded understandingly, "I don't blame them though. With all of these writers and reporters waiting to pounce on them and scrounging for every bit of gossip. It must be difficult to have a chat with a player from another team when you're worried that there's someone listening in on your entire conversation."

"You're being rather hard on your colleagues," Eli pointed out in a tone that was a mix of teasing and seriousness that reminded her of her dad whenever he tried to _gently_ chastise her.

She nodded her head, "A little too hard on some of them, but not hard enough on the others."

Eli chuckled, "I will admit that it is a little irritating to see people hovering around me and trying to catch every word I say, but on the other hand, the only thing they'll hear is me boasting about how my six year old son actually scored a goal in his mini-league quidditch game on Sunday."

"That's quite the feat. From what I've seen from Brogan's mini-league games it's near impossible to get the kids organized enough to get a goal," Cecilia responded with an indulgent smile.

"My little Braidy does have the added advantage of having a professional quidditch player for a father. Some of the other children barely have the opportunity to get to practices during the week because their parents are so busy. There's a lot of single-parent families and underprivileged children on his team so their parents are usually very busy because several of them have more than one job."

Eli's admission caught Cecilia's interest and she made an offhand comment about how unfair it was that most mini-league quidditch teams were rather expensive just to enroll the child, not to mention the added cost of all of the equipment. He agreed with her and admitted that even though he and his wife usually donate enough money to the league to allow three or four underprivileged children the chance to play, he wished he could do more.

Cecilia nodded her head, "Mum and Dad have done the same thing every year since Xavier started mini-league when he was four. They mention every once in a while that they wish that they could do more for families who may not be able to pay for mini-league enrollment too."

"I've thought about bringing it up with Appleby's charitable board, but they have enough organizations and events dipping into that pot so I haven't. I'd still like to do something big though in concerns to this issue, something substantial," Eli remarked.

"If you really want to do something significant that will allow more underprivileged kids the opportunity to play mini-league quidditch, then you probably need to organize something that reaches farther than just Appleby. If you asked around I'm sure that there are lots of other players from different teams who might be interested in helping you start some sort of fund for that," Cecilia observed.

Eli smiled, "That's probably true, but I'm not sure I'd know where to start with asking people."

"I'd suggest you start with players who have children who have played mini-league quidditch, they'd be more apt to get involved and would probably even have connections that might help you," She suggested in a musing tone, "Oh, and players who have nieces or nephews who play as well. I know that Clark Westin does a lot for his nephew's team."

Eli folded his arms across his chest and his smile grew wider, "Any other suggestions? Do you perchance have a list on your person of every player in the league who has young children that play mini-league quidditch?"

Cecilia blushed, "I don't have a list on me . . . but one of the writer's at my magazine may have a list such as that from back when they pitched an idea to write a story about professional quidditch players who volunteer their time with different mini-league teams. The story got scrapped but the list still exists in our research files."

"Are you offering to get me a copy of this list?"

"If you'd like it."

Somewhere behind Cecilia a person shouted that all of the Appleby players were needed at the photo area, and Eli's eyes quickly flitted in that direction before he glanced back at Cecilia. He put his hand on her shoulder and gave it a casual squeeze, "If you do that Cecilia I will promise to give you the exclusive on this, if it ever comes up to anything."

"I'm sure it will, you seem very passionate about it," She replied with a smile.

He gave her shoulder a final, parting squeeze, "Well I guess I'd better use this photoshoot opportunity to talk to other people about this and to get the ball rolling. I'd hate to disappoint you."

* * *

 **2:24 PM**

"Hey Lupin, I was wondering if-"

Teddy held up one finger to gesture to whoever was standing in front of his desk to be quiet. The person did as he asked, and Teddy finished writing the last few words of his note. Once he had signed it with his name, put it into an envelope, and addressed it to the agents from the N. A. M. C. O. C. I. D., he glanced up and saw Auror Donne standing patiently in front of him.

"Yes Donne?" Teddy asked the other auror politely. They knew each other rather well as Donne had only been a few years ahead of him and in the same house at Hogwarts.

"My partner and I went out this morning to look into a claim about dark magic, and well . . . we need your . . . expertise," Donne explained haltingly.

A dark blue eyebrow rose up on Teddy's forehead, " _My_ expertise? With what?"

"With our witness," Donne attempted to explain even though his description didn't exactly clarify it for Teddy.

Teddy stood up and followed Donne out of the room, but he was still rather confused, "What expertise do I have that you think will be useful with this witness?"

"It'll be easier to show you than to explain it to you," Donne admitted as they hurriedly walked through the halls, coming to a stop in front of a viewing/interrogation room combination.

The metamorphmagus just shrugged at this point and walked into the viewing room behind Donne. Inside the room already was both Kurt Williamson and Jilly Donaldson, and when they turned to look at him they had large expressions of relief on their faces.

"Thank Merlin that you're here Ted, we've hit a dead end," Kurt exclaimed with a tired rub of his eyes.

Teddy nodded at him but then glanced at a stressed looking Jilly, "I could be more useful if someone actually explained the situation."

Jilly let out a long sigh but then began to explain about the tip Donne and his partner had received that morning about suspicious magic use that could have been labelled dark. The two aurors went out to investigate, and found that there were five people involved in the situation, four men and one woman. They had just began questioning those involved and taking statements when they reached a 'hiccup' as Jilly described it. They brought the suspects in for questioning, and happened upon Jilly and Kurt as they came in. The other two aurors were asked to give Donne and his partner some help with taking statements, and the four aurors had spent roughly the last two hours trying to extract statements from the five suspects. They were having such a difficult time obtaining a statement from one particular suspect that they decided to ask Teddy for help.

"That was more context, but why do you think I could do better at getting a statement than any of you?" Teddy questioned them.

Jilly and Kurt shared a tired look, "Well, we think you've got experience that can help you get answers out of her that we can't."

Kurt had gestured towards the two-way mirror charmed wall that gave a view into the interrogation room. Teddy followed his direction and saw that there was only one person in the interrogation room: a woman who looked surprisingly calm for the situation she was in.

Teddy narrowed his eyes as he inspected the suspect. She was slight, barely five-feet tall, with long dark hair and big brown eyes. What was most remarkable about the woman was how stunningly beautiful she looked.

"She's part veela isn't she?" Teddy asked the other aurors. Their insistence on him having expertise that could help them get a statement out of the suspect made _a lot_ more sense now.

Kurt nodded his head, "She told Jilly that she was a veela, but we don't know if that's full or partial."

"All four of us have tried to get a statement out of her but we've all failed," Donne explained, "She turned on the veela charm when she was talking to Kurt, my partner, and myself and it turned all three of us into babbling idiots who tried to get her released. If it weren't for Jilly all of us men probably would have let her loose because her magical charisma was so strong."

"I went in once we realized that she was pretty much just playing the guys, but I couldn't get much out of her either. She wasn't exactly using her veela charm, but there was something about her that just made me irrationally angry when I was in her presence. I couldn't get anywhere with her either," Jilly admitted in a tone that made it seem as though she was both embarrassed and angry with herself for the admission.

Teddy nodded his head sympathetically at their explanations, "I know what you mean. Vic and Dom have said something like that before, about just automatically making people furious with them without them even doing or saying anything."

"So obviously we've asked you here now because we hope that you'll be able to get something out of her without succumbing to her charms," Donne explained.

Teddy told them that he would do what he could to try to get a statement out of the woman, but privately he wasn't as convinced in his success as his fellow aurors were. He honestly couldn't remember the last time Victoire, or even Dom for the matter, had purposely tried to use their veela charm on him, so he was sure that he was rather rusty when it came to withstanding it.

He gave it a chance anyway, and after he got a bit more information from Jilly about the case, he went straight into the interrogation room with a bright smile on his face and greeted the suspect.

"Hello, I'm Auror Lupin," Teddy told her in a jovial tone as he stuck his hand out to the woman for a handshake.

There was a slight pause before the woman returned his smile and stuck out her hand to shake his, "Valeriya Kozel."

"I understand that you've had to see several aurors over the course of the day, so I apologize that it has taken so long. Hopefully I'll be able to get a statement from you shortly, and we can proceed to the next step," Teddy told her courteously.

The raven-haired woman pursed her lips and leaned towards him slightly, "I've told four other aurors this, but I will repeat myself once more: I have done nothing wrong. In fact, I believe that the men I was with earlier have all confessed to the crime, and have claimed that I am innocent."

Her voice turned cajoling at the end and Teddy could tell that she hadn't started with her veela charm yet, but that she was probably going to start in on it once he responded to her.

"According to the aurors who spoke to the other suspects, now that they have been away from you for a while they are starting to remember this morning's incident a little differently."

Instead of looking intimidated by his words, Valeriya leaned closer to him, even though there was a small table between them, and started to flutter her long black lashes, "And you're telling me that you believe those Neanderthals over sweet little ol' me?"

"When their stories corroborate each other and the physical evidence found yes, yes I do believe them over you. If you'd like to say something otherwise though, you can always give me your statement," Teddy told her in a tone that was still polite but also a bit sterner.

Her brown eyes narrowed even though her face stayed serene. The look on her face told Teddy that she was ready to start amp-ing up the veela charm. He felt it start up slowly, but only after a few seconds he felt the need to clench his teeth and take a deep breath. Her veela magic was getting stronger and Teddy locked his eyes on hers as he heard her reply to his previous comment.

"Do I even need to produce a statement if you're just going to find me innocent in a few moments?" Valeriya asked with a bright smile that came very close to dazzling him.

Teddy bit the corner of his lip and moved his gaze so that he was looking at her eyebrows instead of her eyes, "And what makes you think that I'm going to find you innocent?"

She pursed her lips in response and Teddy felt her gaze on him harden, "Because I say that I am."

"And I should take your word on it even though I only met you two minutes ago?" He asked her, his tone sounding harsher than he would have liked because he was trying so hard not to let the pull of her veela charm get to him.

Valeriya flipped her dark locks over her shoulder and pursed her lips, most likely because she knew that it made them look tantalizingly plumper, "Most men would."

She paused and then eyed him speculatively, "But you've held out longer than I expected."

Teddy bit the inside of his cheek and nodded almost absentmindedly. He was attempting to look casual but inside his emotions were hard to tap down. The sound of her voice was musical, mesmerizing, and hypnotic. It stuck in his head and started messing with thoughts, turning his proper thought process in a mixed up jumble.

When he didn't reply she smiled brightly at him in response. He swallowed thickly and closed his eyes for a moment so that he could take a deep breath, as he did so he tried to picture Victoire in his mind, but it didn't actually make it much better.

"And you've held out on giving a statement for long enough. Why not tell me your side of the story?" Teddy repeated in an attempt to bring them back on topic.

The woman seemed to ignore his statement and she put her elbows up on the table between them and leaned even closer to him.

"This isn't your first time meeting a veela is it?"

Teddy allowed a small smile to slip out, and as he stood up from his chair he told her, "I'm engaged to one. Or a part one."

He didn't wait for a response, deciding instead to leave the room and walk back into the viewing room. Kurt was on his case the minute he came back.

"What was that for? She was warming up to you!"

Teddy rubbed his temples and sighed heavily, "She may have been warming up to me but her veela magic was giving me a serious headache. I was trying so hard to resist it that I think I might have given myself a stress migraine."

"Do you think you'll be able to get a statement out of her if you go back in?" Donne asked Teddy curiously.

The metamorphmagus shook his head, "I'm not going back in there. I could barely handle her veela charm as it was and she definitely wasn't using the full force of it yet. I'm not going to be of any use talking to her again."

"You're going to marry a veela and you can't handle this woman's magic?" Kurt questioned incredulously.

Teddy was still massaging his temples, so he was a little short in his reply to his friend, "Victoire's not a full veela so her powers aren't anywhere near that strong. The only full veela I've ever met is her great-grandmother, and she wasn't exactly laying on the magical charm whenever I was around her."

"What are we going to do then?" Jilly asked the room in general, "We need a statement from her. Even if she just denies that she did anything we could at least move onto the next step in the process."

"We will be able to get a statement out of her, we just need the right person to do it," Teddy mused.

Donne folded his arms over his chest, "Well I thought the right person was you, so who do you have in mind?"

"Someone who's part-veela."

The three other aurors looked both confused and surprised by his words, and Teddy just smiled as he quickly explained to them his idea. They were nodding their heads in agreement with his plan a few moments later, and then Teddy left the viewing room so that he could write a note. Once the note was dispatched he left to stand in front of the bank of lifts at the Auror Department entrance.

In a shorter amount of time than he expected, one of the elevators in front of him dinged and the doors opened to reveal a familiar tall blonde.

"Did you have to send your note directly to my supervisor? All of the other trainees were looking at me peculiarly when I left," Louis Weasley informed his soon-to-be-brother-in-law with a slightly amused tone and a raised eyebrow.

Teddy grinned at Louis and patted hime on the shoulder, "Well I'm sorry about that, but I'm glad that MLE could spare you from your training for a little bit. We really need your help here."

Louis nodded his head and followed Teddy as they walked towards the viewing and interrogation rooms, "So what does the Auror Department need from an MLE trainee?"

"We need some help getting a statement from a witness, and you have a specific characteristic that will make it easier for you to get a statement out of her," Teddy explained just as he opened the door to the viewing room.

Louis quickly nodded his head in greeting at Jilly, Kurt, and Donne before asking Teddy, "What characteristic?"

Instead of verbally replying, the four aurors just pointed towards the two-way-mirror charmed wall. Louis looked through it and then glanced back at Teddy, "I never thought being part veela would give me any particular advantage when talking to witnesses, but I guess you've proved me wrong."

"Her magic's been too distracting for anyone else to get a statement out of her. I figured you'd be less likely to be affected by it and that you should be able to make some headway," Teddy told his fiancée's brother, "So will you do it?"

Louis folded his arms across his chest, "I'll give it a shot, even if it means that my fellow MLE trainees are going to rag on me for the rest of the week because of it."

"They're probably just jealous that you're working with us, everyone in MLE secretly wants to work for the Auror Department but just can't hack it," Kurt announced dismissively.

Louis rolled his eyes, "Not everyone wants to work for the Auror Department. Especially if they've got a lot of family members who work there. Which reminds me . . ."

He turned to Teddy and very seriously said, "If Uncle Harry and Uncle Ron go back to badgering me about applying to the Auror Department next year because of this, you are going to owe me."

Teddy nodded his head flippantly, but took Louis's threat seriously. Harry and Ron had meant well, but ever since Louis's fifth year when he announced that he was thinking about applying to be an MLE agent when he graduated from Hogwarts, the two had been trying to convince Louis to join the Auror Department instead. They never tried to pressure him too much, but their very vocal insistence did get irritating after several months, and years.

Auror Donne explained to Louis more details about the case, and then the MLE trainee was sent in to try to get a statement from the suspect.

* * *

 **11:46 PM**

"So this is what a midnight shift in the Emergency Medical ward is like," Spencer Green mused as he walked up behind Victoire with two Styrofoam cups in his hands.

She was just finishing signing off on a patient chart while she replied, "I can't believe you went a whole month without having to do one of these."

"Well I drew the short straw yesterday, so here I am!" Spencer explained brightly as he handed Victoire one of the cups once her hands were free.

Victoire eyed the beverage oddly for a minute, smiled slightly when she saw that it was tea and not some ghastly cup of cafeteria coffee, "The shift's not as exciting as you think it will be. You're just lucky that I'm also working tonight."

"And how does that make me lucky _Dr. Grey_?" Spencer questioned before taking a sip of his own cup of coffee.

She didn't recognize the new nickname he gave her, but she soldiered on, "You're lucky because you have me to talk to, and not just Fabius over there."

The words 'over there' were punctuated with a gesture towards the other side of the Emergency Medical ward where Victoire's fellow D. A. R. resident healer was tending to a pair of rowdy middle-aged women who had been admitted to St. Mungo's after getting into a catfight at a club. Instead of quickly healing them and then sending them on their way, the pompous prat was giving them a lecture on the dangers of heavy drinking while wearing high-heel shoes and trying to twerk.

"Sarah was grumbling about him the other day when we were having a quick lunchbreak together. When she paused in her grievances I suggested that the reason why she was complaining about him so much was because she secretly fancied him," Spencer admitted with a wicked smirk.

Victoire almost inhaled her coffee, "You did _not_."

"I did, and she didn't take it very well let me tell ya."

"That's not surprising since you suggested that she had a crush on _Fabius_ of all people," Victoire stated tartly, definitely taking Sarah's side of the argument.

Spencer waved away her words, "Well I wasn't serious about it. I was just taking the piss. It worked out very well actually, because while she was ranting about how she unequivocally detests Fabius, she let slip a little info on who she does have the hots for."

"And who would that be?"

Her friend smirked puckishly again, "I think she fancies that other D. A. R. resident, Wesley Hall."

Victoire's eyebrows shot up on her forehead, "Really? _Wesley_?"

She didn't actually have anything against Wesley Hall. He was nice, smart, good at his job, and certainly cute in a nerdy bookish kind of way; but he was just so . . . quiet. Victoire did have to admit that she wasn't exactly sure what Sarah's type was though, so maybe Wesley checked all of the boxes for her.

"I am liberally using the word 'fancies' here though. She may just be in lust with him," Spencer ruminated.

Victoire took another sip of her tea before carefully suggesting, "Maybe if you spent this much time pondering your own liaisons you'd be in a relationship right now instead of gossiping about Sarah's love life."

"It's hard to spend the proper time pondering a potential relationship when you're in the middle of a club grinding on a hot piece of man-meat."

Victoire did choke on a mouthful of tea that time.

" _Ack_! Don't say stuff like that when I'm drinking. Also, when did you start channeling my sister?"

Spencer sniffed pretentiously, "If she's saying stuff like that then she's def stealing it from me."

"You need to stop spending time with her, you both sound like you revert back to being teenagers when you're around each other," Victoire told him.

He gasped and plastered a faux insulted expression onto his face, "How dare you! And to think, Dom and I were going to invite you to go out with us the next time we hit the clubs together."

Victoire made a face, "I appreciate the invite, but I'm going to have to pass."

Before Spencer could say something along the lines of 'you-can't-pass-on-an-invitation-that's-already-been-revoked', an assistant healer came up to them and said that Victoire was needed to look at an injury in section thirteen. Victoire downed the rest of her tea, threw away her cup, and then walked towards section thirteen.

Upon pulling the curtain back, she found a patient sitting on the bed in front of her that looked oddly familiar even though she couldn't come up with a name.

"Oh hello! It's Healer Weasley, isn't it?"

Victoire's head turned towards the direction that the voice came from. When she saw the middle-aged woman who had spoken, and the teenaged girl who was sitting calmly on a seat behind the woman, Victoire's memories of treating the teenaged girl from a few weeks ago started to come back.

"Mrs. Milligan?" Victoire asked, the surname of the family coming back to her.

She also remembered that the teenaged girl sitting near her step-mother was named Lygia, and that Mrs. Milligan's husband, who didn't seem to be in the room, was named Clyde. The only other two people in the room were the two Milligan boys who seemed to be around the ages of twelve and thirteen. The older of the two was sitting in a chair just beside his step-sister, while the younger boy was sitting on the examination table. Based on the swollen red skin that seemed to cover the youngest Milligan, he was definitely her patient for the night.

"Yes, it seems that we need your help again, only with Davey," Mrs. Milligan told her, gesturing worriedly towards her younger son who looked sore although not necessarily in pain. She looked down for the first time at the patient chart she had grabbed before entering the area. It said that he had already been given a pain killing potion when he was first admitted to the hospital.

Victoire nodded her head and then re-introduced herself to her patient, Davey, "So, Davey what exactly happened?"

Before Davey could answer for himself, his mother jumped right in and began the narrative, "I was already asleep, but Sammy woke me up about an hour ago in a panic because Davey had swelled up and was red and in a lot of pain. They boys admitted that they were playing around with their wand before the incident, so I think it may just be a stinging hex."

Victoire opened her mouth to say something, but Mrs. Milligan continued her description, her voice having become much more agitated as she spoke, "Clyde is away on a business trip, so we couldn't take them to the nearby muggle hospital, I had to bring them here instead."

"Well the good news is if it is just a stinging hex, it should be easy to fix with the counter-spell," Victoire told Mrs. Milligan.

She took out her wand and began to wordlessly cast the spell at different swollen parts of Davey's body. When there was no response either way to the magic she put her wand down for a minute and studied the swelling on the boy's arm a little more closely.

"Why didn't the spell work?"

"Wasn't the spell supposed to work?"

"Is there something really wrong with him?"

Mrs. Milligan had rushed out the questions without giving Victoire a chance to answer, so she quietly inspected the boy's swollen limbs and face while she waited for the mother's queries to subside.

"The counter-spell didn't work, but that may just indicate that the original stinging hex was preformed incorrectly. I can give him a potion to take down the swelling, redness, and pain; but I'd still like to get a better look at Davey's injuries," Victoire announced cautiously.

Mrs. Milligan's face pinched in confusion and worry, "Why do you need to keep looking at Davey's injury if you have a potion that will fix all of the symptoms? I told you that it was probably just an accidental stinging hex."

Victoire knew from her previous interaction with the family that this might be the mother's reaction, so she tried to sound diplomatic as she tried to create a chance to speak to Davey by himself.

She addressed Mrs. Milligan, "There are some forms that you'll need to sign before I can prescribe him the potion, the assistant healers at the healing station can help you fill those out. While you do that, I'd like to take a closer look at Davey so that I can ascertain the exact amount of swelling, and therefore prescribe the right dosage."

Mrs. Milligan didn't seem exactly excited about the prospect, but she seemed to decide that it would be a good idea to listen to Victoire. She took her other to children with her as she went to the healing station because Victoire had tactfully explained that she may need to examine a few places that Davey's clothing covered, and that she doubted that he would want his siblings in the room for that.

Once Victoire was finally alone with her patient, she cast a few diagnostic spells to get a better idea of the extent of Davey's swelling, and as she did so she asked Davey some questions.

"So whose idea was it to use the wand once your mother went to sleep? Yours or your brother's?"

Davey looked down at his swollen hands and muttered, "Both of ours."

Victoire tilted her head a little as she tried to catch the young boy's gaze, "No one's going to get in trouble here, this is just a hospital. But if I'm going to make sure that you get healed correctly, I need to know everything about your injury . . . including who was responsible for it."

"I did it," Davey told her, still not meeting her eyes.

His voice was flat and it sounded forced, so Victoire didn't exactly believe him. She continued to inspect his swelling, and when she was casting diagnostic spells on his back she found that his left shoulder seemed to have more swelling than any other part of him.

"And you, your brother, your sister, and your mother were the only people in your home tonight? Your father is away on business?"

Davey nodded his head and mumbled, "Clyde wasn't home."

Victoire bit the inside of her cheek and decided to go further, "You came in a few weeks ago because your sister-"

"Step-sister," Davey interrupted in a surprisingly forceful tone.

"Because your step-sister was hit by a wayward spell. Do you and your brother do a lot of unsupervised magic?"

Davey shook his head emphatically but didn't verbally reply. He still wouldn't meet Victoire's gaze.

She made sure to make her tone softer this time, "It's okay if you do, I'd be more surprised if you didn't. Everyone does it when they're younger. I've got about twenty letters from the ministry from when I was a child because I did under-aged magic, and that's just the times that they caught me."

He moved his head up slightly and finally looked at her, "Did you ever do magic that you weren't supposed to do?"

"During my first summer home from Hogwarts when I was twelve I cast a sticking charm on my younger sister and made her stick to the wall so that she's stop bothering me," Victoire told him with a conspiring smile.

She continued, "My parents weren't very happy with me, and I did get grounded for a few days, but it would have been a lot worse if I didn't admit to what I did."

Davey opened his mouth as if to say something, but before he could the curtain of the room opened up and his mother and his siblings walked back into the room. Davey seemed to shrink back into himself once he saw his family, and Victoire was certain that she wasn't going to get anything else out of him.

Mrs. Milligan started talking the minute she came back, and Victoire just nodded when Mrs. Milligan told her that she signed all of the forms that she needed to. Victoire left the room then, summoned the proper potion from the Emergency Medical ward's potions' storage, and then wrote a prescription for a different potion to give to Mrs. Milligan in case Davey was still a little swollen the next morning. She gave the first potion to Davey herself, and then gave Mrs. Milligan instructions for the prescription. The swelling started to go down instantly, and a few minutes later Victoire was signing the release forms for her patient.

Once the Milligans were gone, Victoire decided to go down to St. Mungo's potions' lab to restock the Emergency Medical ward's potion storage. There were still a handful of people working there through the night, so it was easy for Victoire to find the bottles she needed.

Normally she would have taken the bottles with her and then gone directly back upstairs, but as she went to leave she caught sight of Ally out of the corner of her eye. Victoire walked over to her cousin, who was at her potion's station and staring blurrily at a simmering cauldron.

"What are you still doing here?"

Ally didn't even turn her head in her cousin's direction, "I had to start on this potion later in the day and decided to stay to see it until it was finished. Xav's playing an away game tonight anyway, so there's no one waiting for me at home."

"You mean besides Dom, who you technically still live with?" Victoire reminded her in a sarcastic tone.

Ally's head did move this time, and she faced Victoire long enough to send her cousin an eye roll, "Dom's definitely not waiting up for me, besides, it's been at least two weeks since I spent a night there."

"You should probably just officially move out of yours and Dom's apartment then and move in with Xavier. People will be expecting it anyway, once news of your engagement leaks," Victoire reminded Ally.

The brunette rubbed her eyes wearily, "That'll probably be happening sooner rather than later with the way things are going. I went out to get groceries two days ago with the ring on and I didn't realize it until I saw it when I reached for a box of cereal. I had to stash it in my pocket before anyone else saw it."

While Ally and Xavier's family and friends knew about their engagement, they had yet to release a statement on it for the public. They had an upcoming meeting with Puddlemere's publicist about it, so until they decided how they wanted to announce it Ally was trying to only wear her engagement ring when she was within the confines of Xavier's apartment, or if she was at the home of one of their friends or family members.

Victoire nodded her head sympathetically and then pursed her lips contemplatively, "Since you're here, do you mind if I ask you some questions about using Ekallantidius Subcutaneous?"

"What about it? You of course know that it's a potion used to treat swelling in cases where the direct cause of the swelling is impossible to identify."

"I do and I just used it on a patient and it worked . . . however, the patient's mother was adamant that the swelling was caused by a stinging hex," Victoire explained.

Ally's eyes narrowed in confusion, "Stinging hexes have a counter-spell that work in ninety-nine point eight percent of cases, why didn't you just use that?"

"I tried it but it didn't work, the mother the suggested that the spell might have been cast accidentally or incorrectly, and that's why it didn't work."

Ally frowned, "Even an incorrectly cast stinging hex would reverse with the counter-spell, there's no reason for you to have had to need to use a potion to decrease the swelling of a stinging hex."

Victoire nodded in agreement, "Which is why I'm thinking that the patient wasn't actually hit with a stinging hex, but with another spell that mimics the symptoms of a stinging hex."

"What other spell would do that?"

"I can think of a few curses that when cast improperly could cause similar symptoms, but all of the spells are a little too dark for a twelve-year-old to know," Victoire explained as she pinched the bridge of her nose.

Ally sighed, "So what do you think it is?"

" _I_ think that it definitely is one of those darker spells, but that brings a whole other group of problems to the table."

"Like who would have cast that spell on your patient?" Ally suggested.

Victoire stuck her hands in the pockets of her robes, "The patient claimed that he accidentally cast the spell himself, but the physical proof showed that the area with the most swelling, and therefore the area that was initially hit with the spell, was the back of his shoulder."

Ally's lips set into a grim line, "Meaning that he couldn't have accidentally cast the spell on himself."

"Exactly. I have some evidence to believe that there may be some sort of abuse going on in the home, but I don't have anything near enough to file a report. The children won't tell me the truth, and even though I'm ninety-nine point eight percent certain that that child was hit with something darker than a miss-cast stinging hex, the parents will argue for the other two percent."

"You should have enough to ask the ministry to at least look into the family though," Ally proposed in a helpful tone.

Victoire balled her fists angrily, "There may be enough to convince _our_ ministry to look into their family life, but the step-father and step-sister are muggles so their ministry would have to be contacted as well . . ."

"And we both know how difficult it is to get the Ministry of Magic to agree to work with and to contact the muggle ministry," Ally finished for her.

The blonde nodded her head sadly, "So I'll just keep this information in a file and wait until I have enough to go to the ministry."

"If I know you, you're not just going to let this go," The brunette replied.

Victoire smiled, "I may place a call or two to muggle hospitals surrounding their home address to see if they have any info about the family."

Ally silently counted something out on her fingers and then she smirked, "I'm rather impressed, it's been nine months since you decided to start to snoop into something new. I mean, the Auror Department just closed Teddy's case a few weeks ago, but I'm surprised that you didn't decide to start in on something new sooner."

"What can I say? It seems that working fifty-hour weeks and having a research project with Healer McDavid just doesn't take up enough of my time."

* * *

 **A/N:** Well, how did we like this chapter? I know it wasn't big in terms of drama, but as always it's setting up the scene for later chapters :) Also, Cecilia's just adorable and Spencer's a good laugh as always.

Please don't forget to leave me a review, it'll help me get the inspiration to keep writing, and to get going on the next few chapters so that you won't have to wait too long for it.

 **Next Update:** Not sure yet, but hopefully you won't have to wait longer than two weeks for it.

 **Next Chapter:** Baxter and Eliza have an overdue chat, and Vic and Teddy have dinner with Andromeda and bring up a slightly awkward topic.

Thanks again to everyone who has followed, favourited, read, and especially reviewed!

Biggest thank-yous to:

 **Beckster384, KrystynaK, Guest (1), Guest (2), frozen-in-change, cmorehart, zvc56, no cure for crazy, rosesnlilies, kawaiiotaku0405, MuggleCreator, Guest (3), KekuleSalvador, liverpoolss, Guest (4), Izzy, emeraldeyes0731, silverlover02, jeremiah123, TNMLover, Ann, Seher Syed, Jennifer Jules, Rumbadumba, a243, AngelTwins527, HPsea, Sarah T, addictedheartache, Paddfoot12,** and **orchids. and. magnolias**.

 **cmorehart** : I'm sorry, but you're just going to have to wait (quite awhile, I'm sorry) for the Christmas chapter that will finally introduce Charlie's girlfriend, to see if someone will blow the secret about magic. What I will tell you though, is since it will happen on Christmas not only will the adults and older kids have to keep the secret, but the kids at Hogwarts will be there too (including Freddie and Lily) and they'll have to keep the secret as well ;)

 **Izzy** : I love that you've thought so much about how Cecilia and Louis's parts for the rest of the story should go, but I've got ideas of my own so we'll just have to see if they match up later on.

 **Rumbadumba** : Well congratulations on the baby! I hope everything is going well.

 **a243** : We will see Charlie's girlfriend at Christmas, but that's a few months away in the universe of the story.

 **addictedheartache** : I try to add the adults into the conversations as much as possible, but honestly it's hard to have them as always having a say when there's so many people in the room. I have a much smaller family than the Weasleys, and even when we're together for holiday dinners and all eating in the same room it's impossible to talk to every adult during dinner. Everybody is sitting down, so it's only really possible to speak to the people who are closest to where you are sitting, and there are so many conversations going on that it's difficult to listen in on some that are goign on a few people down from you.

 **So, I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter,**

 **Please leave me a review letting me know what you thought, and to help me get to work on the other chapters,**

 **I hope everyone it well,**

 **And until next time, DFTBA!**


	31. Awkward Conversations

**A/N:** Hello everyone! Happy Family Day to my fellow Canadians who live in a province that celebrates it, and Happy President's Day to my American readers. Here's the next chapter, I hope that everyone enjoys it :)

This **does not** pick up directly after last chap, so make note of the dates.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own _Harry Potter_.

* * *

 **Awkward Conversations**

 **Tuesday, October 11th 2022**

 **5:47 PM**

The cozy bakery cushioned between two trendy fashion stores in Diagon Alley both looked and smelled overwhelmingly amazing. There were countless deserts and sweets of so many varieties and different colours that Baxter didn't even really know where to look.

"Why are we doing this again?" Baxter asked aloud as his head swivelled around to get a good look at the intimidatingly large selection of cupcakes he was standing in front of.

Louis, who was standing beside him and very intently studying a display of brightly iced and intricately decorated cookies, rolled his eyes at his cousin, "Because we promised Cecilia and Eliza that we'd pick up desert for our dinner tonight."

Baxter closed his eyes and rubbed them, the bright colours from the icing still oddly visible behind his closed lids, "I meant why we agreed to meet for dinner tonight in the first place."

" _Well_ ," Louis began as he bent forward to closer inspect a rather large sugar cookie shaped like a Gryffindor lion, "I agreed to go to Eliza's for dinner tonight because _I_ like spending time with Cecilia and Eliza."

The redheaded half of the pair opened his eyes and sighed, "Well then _you_ should go to dinner, and I should go back to the flat. You three would probably have a better time without me."

Louis held off on performing another eye roll, and instead he turned to finally face his cousin, "Someone sounds like they're falling back into their self-loathing patterns. When's the last time you saw Eliza?"

Baxter frowned at hearing Louis's uncharacteristically punitive words, but instead of getting angry he just felt more despondent, "Not since I dropped off a book for her a few weeks ago . . . it's just hard to be near her now, I think it's better if I stay away from her for a little while."

"Then why are you choosing to back out now, instead of coming up with an excuse when Cecilia first set this up?" Louis questioned him.

"I agreed the first time because I thought that even if it was awkward, it would be better to finally have a chat with her and get over this underlying angst that makes me go crazy when I think about her," Baxter explained quietly.

Louis's face softened and he clapped a hand on Baxter's shoulder, "That _is_ a good idea."

"But I'm gonna chicken out now."

"No you're not, because I won't let you," Louis announced with a small smile on his face.

Louis's words caused a small smile to twist around Baxter's lips as well, "I guess better you forcing me to go than Cecilia. She would have been swearing at me in Gaelic by now."

"Very true."

Once the two cousin's had settled the issue of whether or not they were going to Eliza's for dinner that night, they started to peruse the deserts in earnest. They were weighing the pros and cons of different confections –pro: Cecilia really likes chocolate, con: Eliza couldn't have too much sugar or caffeine because she was still breastfeeding– but the combination of the two's people-pleasing dispositions made it difficult to narrow down on what they were going to bring to dinner.

Thankfully, they weren't left on their own for long before one of the store's employee's came up to them.

"Need any help over here boys?" A young woman asked them, she looked to be about their age and had a short blonde pixie hair-cut.

Louis smiled charmingly at the woman, "I think we're going to go with the large sugar cookies, do I just pick out the four that I want to buy?"

The woman nodded her head almost dismissively at Louis while she pointed him towards the pastry bags and serving tongs. When that was done she looked directly at Baxter with a pair of surprisingly piercing grey eyes, "And is there _anything_ I can do for you Red?"

Baxter was going to automatically say 'no', but the tone of her voice caught him off guard. It was almost flirtatious, "Um . . . no thank you."

The employee took a step closer to him, giving Baxter a better view of both the low-cut neckline of her black shirt, and what looked like part of a vine-like tattoo around her neck and collarbone that disappeared underneath the collar of her shirt.

"Are you _sure_ you don't want something sweet?"

If the blonde's tone hadn't been overtly forward and shameless, her intent would have still come across just as strongly as she had ended her question with a teasing bite of her bottom lip and a salacious wink in Baxter's direction.

Luckily for a shocked into silence and inaction Baxter, Louis had finished bagging the cookies he wanted and he swiftly and smoothly grabbed Baxter by the elbow and led him to the cashier, where he paid for the cookies, and then out the front door of the bakery.

"I'm sorry about that, if we weren't due at Eliza's in five minutes I would have been a better wingman," Louis told his cousin apologetically as they wandered towards Diagon Alley's apparation point.

Baxter shook his head gingerly, as if coming out of a fog, "Huh? Oh, don't worry about that. It was nothing."

"Nothing?" Louis repeated incredulously, "That fit woman –don't give me that look, just because I'm in a committed relationship doesn't mean that I don't know a good looking woman when I see one– that _seriously_ fit woman was just boldly and brazenly flirting with you and you barely even reacted."

Baxter shrugged, "She was probably just trying to sell more cookies."

Louis shook his head, "If she was trying to sell more cookies she would have been talking to _me_ instead of ignoring me and flirting with you."

"I don't know . . ." Baxter mumbled as they came to the apparation point and pulled out his wand, ready to disapparate.

Louis groaned exasperatedly, pulled out his own wand, and muttered more to himself, "I wonder if this is what it's like for Cecilia when I don't realize that other girls are flirting with me."

* * *

 **7:10 PM**

Dinner at Eliza's was going better than any of the four had expected. Cecilia had gone to Eliza's earlier in the day and between the two girls most of dinner was ready by the time the two boys finally arrived on the doorstep of Eliza's flat, bags of delicately frosted sugar cookies in hand. Everyone was getting along well and as of yet there were no awkward pauses, most likely because Cecilia couldn't stop talking long enough to allow Louis or Baxter the chance to say anything let alone to freeze up on the spot.

One of the main reasons why Cecilia suggested they all have dinner that night was because Rowan was officially two months old. Baxter and Louis weren't entirely sure how such an event should be celebrated, but thankfully Cecilia had her own ideas about it.

"What's this Cecilia?" Eliza asked as she curiously looked at the envelope that her friend had just forced into her hand.

They had just finished dinner and Baxter and Louis were in charge of clearing the table and putting a kettle on to boil, so the two girls were still sitting at the table relaxing. Rowan was already in her room sleeping.

"Open it up and see!" Cecilia replied cheerily, she watched Eliza's hesitant face and then added, "Don't worry, there's no money or anything in it. It's just a card."

Eliza was encouraged by this news –Cecilia was already too generous as it was, buying Rowan clothes and toys whenever she saw something she thought was cute –and smoothly opened the rose colored envelope in her hands. In the envelope was a card that read 'Congratulations! Your Little Monster is Two-Months-Old!', and inside it was a series of phrases such as 'You're crushing it girl!' all the way to developmental milestones such as 'At this age babies start to turn towards familiar voices' and 'They will smile at their parent's faces and familiar faces'.

Eliza laughed more enthusiastically than she could remember doing in a long time, and once she was finally able to calm herself down she asked Cecilia where in the world she had found the card.

"Believe it or not, Cecilia found a bulk pack of those in some eclectic store in Ottery St. Catchpole. There's one for each month up to eighteen months, and then one for each year up to that, until age eighteen," Louis explained as he walked in, levitating a tea pot and four mugs with him.

Baxter was close behind him levitating a bowl of sugar, a carton of milk, and a plate with the decorated sugar cookies on it.

"I love it," Eliza told Cecilia while the tea things gently floated down onto the table.

With everything in place, Eliza started pouring the tea.

She asked Cecilia, "What was it you were saying earlier that you weren't able to finish? Something about creating a fund for underprivileged children to play mini-league quidditch?"

Cecilia smiled brightly, "I was talking to Eli Martell at the _Witch Weekly_ photoshoot a week ago, and he started talking about how he wished he could do more to help give underprivileged kids the chance to play quidditch. I gave him some advice on how to go about starting such a fund, what other players he should contact, and I figured it would end with that. However, a few days later he contacted me through my office and asked me for some more help, like if there were some businesses or stores that I thought might contribute to this. Apparently he thinks that I'd be more knowledgeable about setting this groundwork than he'd be. So, long story short, I'm doing a bit of the research and legwork to get this thing off the ground. He's already asked a lot of players past and present to contribute, like Mum and Dad, so the next step is to look into businesses and corporations to help sponsor it."

"You seem really excited about this," Eliza noted shrewdly.

Louis chuckled in agreement and wrapped his arm around Cecilia's shoulders, "It's all she's been talking about lately. I'd be jealous if it wasn't such a good cause."

Cecilia turned her head slightly and nuzzled herself against her boyfriend's neck, "I'm surprised that you caught onto that considering that you've been working so much overtime lately."

"Overtime?" Eliza questioned curiously, "You're a trainee. How do you get stuck with overtime?"

Before Louis could respond, his mobile phone rang and he fished it out of his pocket. He glanced at the caller ID and then told Eliza, "Like this."

He pressed the 'talk' button and then listened to the short message before saying that he'd be there in five minutes.

"MLE needs a trainee to help them with something tonight, and as always lately they've chosen me," Louis explained before leaning over and giving Cecilia a quick kiss on the lips.

"Why do they keep choosing you?" Eliza asked curiously as her guest got up to take his leave.

Louis clapped Baxter on the shoulder and gave Eliza a quick goodbye hug, "Because they feel that they need to test my loyalty to their department ever since I helped Teddy out with that Auror Department suspect last week."

"Ahhh, so this is testosterone fuelled," Eliza mused with a small smirk.

Louis rolled his eyes in response, but there was a small smile on his face as he told her that he appreciated her having him over. Cecilia got out of her seat to give Louis another goodbye kiss, and as she walked him to the door she asked him if this meant that she could have _his_ cookie for dessert as well as her own.

With Louis gone Baxter felt a little awkward sitting at the table with just Cecilia and Eliza, but he knew that the girls would be polite enough to invite him into the conversation instead of just talking over him.

Cecilia handed out the large sugar cookies to everyone, and smiled when she saw the individual ones Louis had picked for all of them. The eagle shaped one was obviously for Eliza, the badger shaped-one for Baxter, and even though there was a lion shaped one, Cecilia knew that that one was originally meant for Louis, and that the quaffle shaped one was meant for her.

"These almost look too pretty to eat," Eliza said with a smile as she eyed the very artistic lines of icing on her blue and bronze eagle cookie.

"I'm very impressed with how life-like they seem," Baxter agreed as he stared at the black and white frosted badger he held.

Cecilia barely spared a glance at her quaffle cookie before taking a huge bite out of it, "Mmmmm. These taste even better than they look."

Eliza and Baxter both took sips from their mugs of tea first, and just when they were going to try their very prettily decorated sugar cookies, the ringing sound of a mobile phone pierced the air. All three of them pulled out their phones to see whose was ringing, and it ended up being Cecilia's.

"Hello?"

The other two were quiet as Cecilia listened to the person on the other end of the line, and as they waited they saw Cecilia's face slowly turn into a shocked expression.

"Are you serious right now!?"

Baxter flinched at hearing Cecilia's angry tone of voice, and before the person speaking to her could say much more, Cecilia started to swear profusely in Gaelic.

Eliza wide eyes met Baxter's and she quietly whispered, "Can you understand what she's saying?"

"No. All I know is that once Cecilia starts swearing in Gaelic, it's not long until someone ends up physically injured," Baxter whispered back.

"Ugh!" Cecilia exclaimed, hanging up her phone call without giving the other person even a semblance of a proper goodbye.

She shoved her phone back into her pocket, took a rather savage bite of her quaffle cookie, and then stood up from the table, "I'm sorry Eliza, but it seems that I have to go to work. My colleague was on the phone, apparently the cat somehow got out of the bag in concerns to Xavier and Ally's engagement, and if I don't get to the office quickly I'm not going to be able to do much damage control in concerns to the press fallout."

Eliza assured Cecilia that she didn't mind her leaving to go handle something at work, and soon Cecilia was out the door with both her cookie and Louis's lion shaped cookie in her hands.

Cecilia's exodus had happened rather hastily, and once she was gone, Eliza and Baxter quickly realized that they were left alone. They stared at each other a little awkwardly for a few minutes, their sugar cookie desserts and mugs of tea left forgotten on the table in front of them, and both of them were trying to figure out how to breech the suddenly maladroit silence.

Fate intervened in the form of Rowan's cries before the situation between them could get any worse, and Eliza quietly excused herself from the room.

Baxter sat back down at his chair at the table, but after almost fifteen minutes went by he started to worry that something had gone wrong. While he was deciding whether he should go and check in on Eliza or not, he heard a rather loud and frustrated-sounding groan issue from the direction of Rowan's room. He got up right away and sprinted the small distance between the kitchen and Rowan's room, and when he stepped through the open doorway he saw Eliza sitting on the rocking chair in the corner of the room with Rowan in her arms.

Eliza's button-up shirt was unbuttoned across the chest, and it was rather obvious to Baxter that she had been breastfeeding Rowan. Rowan was crying softly, almost like a whine, and Eliza also looked like she was close to tears. She had one arm cradling Rowan, while the other was tiredly covering the top part of her face as if to hide herself. She hadn't noticed that Baxter was standing in the doorway yet, and when she made a gasping noise that sounded like it was a partial sob, he decided to gently knock on the door to announce his presence.

He hadn't meant to startle her, but she did seem to jump a little when she noticed him standing in the doorway. He took a few tentative steps closer to her, and she moved her hand down to wipe away some of the tears running down her cheeks. He didn't ask her anything, but she felt the need to explain herself anyway.

"She's just–Rowan's crying because she's hungry . . . but for some reason she just won't eat. I've been trying for the last fifteen minutes and she just keeps crying!"

The tone of Eliza's voice had started out anxious, and by the end it sounded like she wanted to cry from frustration. She sounded so heartbreaking that Baxter felt the need to do anything to help. Even if it meant overstepping his boundaries a little and stepping slightly out of his comfort zone.

"Do you have any bottles already made up?" He asked her gently, his head nodding in the direction of the kitchen.

Rowan decided to cry louder at that point, and Eliza just nodded her head at Baxter's inquiry while more tears began to run down her face. One of her hands drifted up to the top of her head and started to pull in frustration at her dark hair, an action that Baxter knew meant that she felt very stressed and anxious.

He made a decision there, and softly informed Eliza that he would go warm one of the bottles. Eliza nodded her head in response and started to cry harder. He offered to take Rowan for a little walk, and Eliza's arms went limp once he had scooped Rowan up. Rowan's cries abated slightly once Baxter started to rock her a little in his arms, and once he was out of the room and in the kitchen it was almost impossible to hear them.

It only took Eliza about five minutes to compose herself enough to leave Rowan's nursery, but by the time she made it to the kitchen Baxter was sitting down with a quiet Rowan, feeding her from a bottle.

"Is she eating?" Eliza asked quietly a she came closer.

Baxter replied in the affirmative, and then offered to hand Rowan over to her. Eliza shook her head in response and sat down in a chair next to him. They were both silent until Rowan finished the entire bottle, and by the end of it she had drifted to sleep in Baxter's arms. He got up a few minutes later and her put back in her room. When he came back out to the kitchen Eliza was sitting with her face in her hands.

"Are you alright?" Baxter asked her gently as he sat back down next to her.

She shook her head, "No. I'm an awful mother."

"No you're not."

"Yes I am," She insisted, "How else do you explain the fact that I couldn't get my daughter to breastfeed? It's literally supposed to be as easy as human instinct, and I can't even do that right."

Baxter reached out, grabbed her hand, and gave it a comforting squeeze, "You've fed Rowan before. When did she start getting difficult?"

"Just today, but what if it continues?" Eliza asked stressfully.

"It's just one day Eliza, and if it does continue then you can still bottle-feed her," Baxter suggested as if it was an easy answer.

Eliza pinched the bridge of his nose, "No I can't bottle-feed her. Apparently women who don't breast-feed their babies are monsters."

"Where did you hear that?"

She sighed and swallowed thickly, she felt tears starting to build up in her eyes again, "It turns out that every single person, especially strangers, that a new mom interacts with in a day are all experts on how to properly take care of a baby. There are so many rules about what to do and what not to do, and that's just from muggle culture! The wizarding world has their own rather extensive list as well. And if you don't do absolutely everything that people tell you to do, then you're going to end up completely ruining your child."

Her rant started to sound very panicky near the end, and Baxter squeezed her hand again, this time to stop her from hyperventilating.

"Eliza you are doing a great job with Rowan and you shouldn't let anyone else tell you otherwise. There are so many different ways to take care of and raise children. Rowan's healthy and happy and with a mother like you I'm convinced that she will turn out perfectly," Baxter told her sincerely.

His words caused a smile to slip onto her lips and she squeezed his hand in appreciation, "Thank you. Both for your words and for helping me."

"You don't have to do everything on your own Eliza, you have a lot of people supporting you."

She nodded, "It's hard to remember that when I'm here by myself sometimes. I guess I just need to get better at asking for help."

"You know that we'll be here anytime that you call. Cecilia, Louis, Victoire . . . me," Baxter listed off, his voice getting softer when he said the word 'me'.

There was a slight pause in the conversation before Eliza slowly began, "Are you sure about that . . . about you? Because tonight was the first time in several weeks that I've seen you and I kind of thought . . . not that I'd blame you or anything . . ."

"Eliza?" Baxter asked her awkwardly, he wasn't really sure where she was going with her statement.

So took a deep breath and then tried again, "It's just that . . . it's been a while since we've seen each other and I thought that maybe it was because you decided that . . . that maybe it was too weird being around each other, or . . . I don't know. All I know is that _I_ really appreciate your friendship and that I don't know what I'd do if you weren't in my life."

"Eliza . . ."

"And," She continued once she saw the uncertainty in Baxter's expression, "I just realized how completely unfair it is of me to do this to you, _again_. And it's awful of me to ask you this, but I'd really like some sort of response or I'm probably just going to keep rambling-"

"Eliza," Baxter interrupted her, his voice less uncertain this time, "I _have_ been purposely avoiding you for the past few weeks, but it's not necessarily because of you or because of anything you've done. I just needed some time away to deal with some personal issues."

She bit her lip, "And you're sure that it has nothing to do with me?"

He couldn't meet her gaze, "I couldn't be around you while I was going through these things because I didn't feel like I should be around you or Rowan. I – I guess I didn't feel particularly worthy of being around you."

Eliza reached forward and placed her hand on his arm, "Baxter, I'm not going to pry because I can tell that this is hard for you. But I bet that whatever you think you did wasn't actually that bad. I mean, I spent half of last year sneaking around the castle and having sex with an _engaged_ man that I hated, and then ended up getting pregnant by. So really, I think you'll have to try rather hard to top that."

Baxter had never really thought of it that way before. He swallowed thickly and took a deep breath to center himself, "Some days are still hard for me, but I really think that I'm doing better. And I do want to be here for you and Rowan when you need me to. Things are probably still going to be weird between us because . . . I mean I don't want to push you . . ."

He trailed off softly, and even though he didn't finish the statement he knew from one look on her face that _she_ knew where he was going with it.

Her face was soft, gentle, and if his inspection of her expression had stopped there he would have thought that he had reason to hope for an outcome in line with his own wishes. However, he looked closer at her, deeply into her green eyes, and from them he saw everything he needed to see. They looked scared, overwhelmed, and most importantly exhausted. It brought Baxter back to the present, back to the small apartment where the woman he fancied had been crying not ten minutes ago because she was worried that her two-month-old wasn't eating. He knew that she needed him that night, and he knew exactly what role she needed him to play.

"I still want to be your friend," He continued softly, noting that her expression had minutely changed from resignation to slight surprise, "I want to be in your life."

She locked eyes with him, and in his eyes she saw that he was completely sincere and honest. Two qualities that she felt that she hadn't seen in a man's eyes in a long time. It gave her a boost of strength.

"I want you to be in my life too Baxter. And I want to be in yours. I know that I've probably been taking more than giving lately, but I'm here for you too. If you need me. I'm usually a very good listener, and I'm rather easy to find on a daily basis," Eliza reminded him with a bit of a self-deprecating smile near the end.

Baxter wasn't sure if this new understanding between the two of them would help or harm him in the long run, but at that moment it felt right. He also felt as emotionally drained as she looked, and he figured whatever else they needed to say to each other could wait a little while longer.

"Well we still have cookies to eat and I still have a bit of pent-up aggression about my father hidden somewhere, if you're down for listening to me complain for the next half hour," He suggested as his version of an olive branch.

She arched one black brow, "You mean we can discuss something that doesn't have to do with my teen pregnancy? I'll go reheat the tea."

He smiled slightly at her, and in response she grinned even more brightly back.

* * *

 **11:02 PM**

Even though it was late in the evening, the lights shining from the kitchen of her parents' house were still on. Cecilia already knew before apparating home that they'd still be up, they were waiting for her to come home and tell them whether or not Ally and Xavier's engagement was going to be front page news the next morning.

She didn't even need to pull out her wand and undue the security wards to open up the back door because they were already off and the door was unlocked. She twisted the door knob and had barely stepped into the kitchen before becoming overwhelmed with questions from the group of people who were in the kitchen –all standing oddly enough– and waiting for answers.

As always, her mother was the voice of calm in the middle of the storm, and Katie quickly convinced Oliver and Xavier to 'shut up allow poor Cee-Cee the chance to speak'.

Once the kitchen was quiet again, Cecilia turned to Ally –the only person in the room who had stayed quiet during her entrance– and softly told her, "I'm so sorry about this whole mess."

Ally closed the short distance between herself and her sister-in-law-to-be and pulled Cecilia into a tight hug, "Oh Cecilia, none of this is your fault. I'm sure you tried your hardest to fix everything."

Cecilia nodded her head and pulled a little away from Ally so that she could look at her parents and her older brother, "So, do you want to hear exactly how this whole mess got started?"

The other four nodded their heads, and Cecilia launched into a relatively short story –interspersed with some choice swear words– about what had happened that night, starting with the phone call she got when she was at Eliza's.

First, Charley Larson had called Cecilia to give her a heads up on the whole incident. Apparently word around the office late that night was that a free-lance photographer who was nothing better than a paparazzo had contacted one of the writers of _Up in the Air_ about some photos he had that proved that Puddlemere United's starting keeper Xavier Wood got engaged to his long-time girlfriend Alexandra Weasley. Charley had told Cecilia that the writer who was approached about the photos contacted their editor Ms. Beck, as well as Mrs. Dare, one of the owners, and that Mrs. Dare was very excited to finally have a big gossip scoop.

Cecilia travelled to the office as quickly as she could, and once she got there she spent several hours trying to do damage control. It was easy for her to convince Mrs. Dare _to_ buy the photos from the paparazzo so that he couldn't sell them to another magazine to run, even if it was a rather steep price that the paparazzo had set. The difficult part was convincing Mrs. Dare _not_ to run the photos or an article about Xavier and Ally after she had purchased them. To say that Mrs. Dare was not pleased that one of her magazine's Jr. writers was trying to tell her what to do would be an understatement. Luckily for Cecilia, Ms. Beck was on her side because she was against their magazine's reputation taking a dip and being equated with the likes of other crass gossip sheets and magazines that print more articles of blather than they do ones of substance.

"So, after several hours of runaround –and making sure that our magazine was the only one that had copies of the photos that the paparazzo took– I finally made a deal with the devil and got Mrs. Dare to agree not to push for the photos to be published right away," Cecilia told her captivated audience in a very tried tone.

Katie placed her hand on her daughter's shoulder and started to rub it, "What deal did you end up having to make?"

"I told Mrs. Dare that while publishing an article about Ally and Xavier's alleged engagement might sell a few more magazines than normal, it would be nothing compared to the number of magazines that will sell for the magazine brand that will eventually get the exclusive statement from Puddlemere's publicists," Cecilia explained, "I didn't exactly promise her that our magazine would get the press release, but I did say that printing unapproved pictures and articles about their engagement would guarantee that we _won't_ get the official statement from Puddlemere's publicists when they decide to hand it out."

Cecilia glanced at Ally and Xavier specifically, "I know that during your recent meeting with Puddlemere's publicist that you both decided that you wanted to wait as long as you could to announce the engagement, especially because Giavanna Tracey and Chris Mullin are getting married in a few weeks. So I am going to try to keep Mrs. Dare off of this for as long as possible. I also don't want you to feel like you have to go with my magazine when you do release the statement."

Xavier reached for his sister and ran his hand along the top of her head to mess up her hair, "Thank-you Cee-Cee."

It seemed that everyone was able to finally exhale and take a moment to relax now that they knew that pictures of Ally and Xavier weren't going to be spread across half a dozen magazines and tabloids the next day.

Ally gave Cecilia another hug, and Oliver curiously asked his daughter, "Was selling your soul worth it?"

Cecilia gave Ally and Xavier a bright smile, "Definitely."

With their evening of stress finally ended, Ally and Xavier said goodbye to the residents of the house and left the Wood Home, leaving Katie, Oliver, and a weary Cecilia to meander up the stairs and to their bedrooms.

Once Cecilia was in her room with her door closed behind her she dialed Louis's number on her mobile phone, and as she waited for him to pick up she mentally debated over whether or not her parents would fall asleep fast enough to give her the chance to sneak out of the house and to Louis's within the next ten-to-fifteen minutes. She was still really stressed about the evening, and she knew that being with Louis would help her unwind enough to get at least a few hours of sleep. She was slowly starting to notice that she had a harder time falling asleep when he wasn't next to her in the bed.

* * *

 **Wednesday, October 12** **th** **2022**

 **5:39 PM**

Victoire's sock covered feet skidded a little on the hardwood floors of the flat's hallway in her haste to get to her bedroom. She practically slid through the open doorway of the bedroom, and came to a surprisingly gentle stop at the foot of the bed which Teddy's large form currently occupied.

"I'm just going to quickly clean up and then we're good to go to Andromeda's," Victoire informed her fiancé as she hurriedly pulled her navy dress pants off and just as swiftly jumped into a pair of more casual dark wash jeans.

Teddy sighed heavily and sat up on the bed, "I've been thinking . . . do we really need to go to my Gran's for dinner tonight?"

Victoire, who had made it to the en suite bathroom already, rolled her eyes at her reflection in the mirror, "In a word, yes. You already tried to get us out of this dinner with her, a few days ago, when you gave her the excuse that I had to meet with Healer McDavid tonight for our research project. And do you remember what Andromeda did when you told her that?"

"She invited Healer McDavid to join us for dinner tonight," Teddy replied dully.

This wasn't the first time they had discussed trying to weasel their way out of that night's scheduled dinner at Andromeda's.

Victoire finished freshening herself up and walked back into the bedroom, "Do you want to talk about this before we leave?"

Her fiancé ran a hand distractedly through his turquoise hair, "Not really."

"You don't have to ask her if it will make you feel uncomfortable, I can do it instead . . ." She told him gently, repeating part of the conversation they had had at least once a day since they decided to agree to go to Andromeda's for dinner and have the discussion with her.

Teddy shook his head at her offer, "No. I'll do it, I'm just afraid that I'll bungle it up and make it worse than it already will be."

She patted his arm and told him 'there's no time like the present'. He nodded a little despondently in agreement, and within a few moments they were exiting their flat, casting their security wards, and apparating away to Andromeda's.

Andromeda ushered them into the house almost as soon as they materialized on her doorstep, and Victoire and Teddy barely had time to greet her and Healer McDavid –who it seemed had arrived before them– before they were being shepherded into the dining room for dinner.

There was only a minimal amount of small talk at the beginning of dinner as everyone was filling their plates and glasses with food and drink, and conversation stopped almost completely once they'd started to eat.

Victoire's eyes moved back and forth between Teddy and Andromeda as she delicately chewed a mouthful of carrots, and in doing so she noticed that Andromeda was looking firmly at Teddy, and that Teddy was keeping his gaze on the mashed potatoes on his plate. Victoire scooped up another piece of carrot with her fork and placed it in her mouth, and as she did she caught Healer McDavid's eye from across the table. The look on his face told her that he could also feel the odd tension that was in the room.

"So Victoire, how is your research project with Shawn going?" Andromeda asked a few minutes later before the tense silence could get worse.

Victoire's foot started tapping out a rhythm on the floor as she considered how to respond, she didn't want to say that things were going brilliantly if Healer McDavid thought the opposite.

"Well it's definitely keeping me busy that's for sure. I also really like the challenge that it presents," was the statement that Victoire had decided sounded both accurate and least fan-girl-like.

Andromeda smiled at her and then sent a sly smirk in Healer McDavid's direction, "I hope that you're not running her too ragged."

Healer McDavid rolled his eyes at his old classmate, "Always eager to paint me as the villain, aren't you? I'll have you know Andromeda that it's usually Victoire who decides how much work gets put into our project each week. I try to be lenient, but it seems like she's got a very strict timeline and outline for this project."

His gaze was soft and his tone was indulgent, so Victoire easily picked up his teasing vibe.

"We should have warned you, once she gets hooked on something it's hard to get her to stop until she completes it," Teddy told Healer McDavid with a small chuckle.

"I don't mind it," McDavid replied, "Victoire keeps me on my toes and she continually amazes me with her brilliance. I know a lot about creating spells to heal injuries caused by dark magic, but she's helping me consider a whole new angle to it that could make the process so much easier."

Teddy had already heard everything about Victoire's research at least fifteen times over by that point, but Andromeda didn't, so when she asked for more specifics about their project it was in a tone of genuine interest.

McDavid insisted that Victoire explain because it was her idea in the first place.

"Our research led me to wonder whether or not the magical intent behind the person casting the healing spell could impact the success of said healing spell. Normally when a hypothesis like this is generated a controlled experiment would be put in place to test the theory. However, it would be unethical to ask healers to 'try harder' or 'intend harder' with their magic to heal one patient over another. So instead, we thought that we'd look at a large collection of data and see if we could tease out proof of the success of healing being effected by magical intent, in natural cases that have already been completed-"

"Just to clarify," McDavid added, interrupting Victoire's description, "There wasn't much of a 'we' in this. Victoire thought of this hypothesis and how to properly test it almost solely by herself. I just suggested a few places that she could look for this information."

Victoire blushed a little at his praise and continued, "Anyway, so now we're looking at past cases involving healing of dark magic to see if we can find a pattern where the intent of the person doing the healing affected the success of the healing. I thought it would be easier to see a pattern if we looked into cases where the healing personnel was healing someone very young, to see if the aspect of the patient being a child would positively affect the success of the healing magic. To see if they unknowingly 'tried harder' because of the relative innocence of the child. On the opposite side we're looking into cases where the healing personnel had to heal dark wizards or people who had harmed other people with dark magic, to see if the patient being a 'bad guy' would negatively affect the success of the healing magic. To see if the healing personnel unknowingly 'tried a little less' to heal people that they considered did wrong."

Andromeda pursed her lips as she reflected on the explanation, "That's very clever Victoire. Most people, including healers, like to think that they give everyone they treat the same amount of consideration, but it's almost impossible for that to be the case when our magic is so affected by our emotions. It's extreme cases like the ones you've identified that will show whether the person's intent really does positively or negatively affect the magic's success."

"I'm just curious as to where you'll go from this point after you finish this research. How do you think that knowing the answer to your hypothesis will affect your ability to create a spell to cure magical scars and burns?" Teddy enquired, finally asking a question that he had been wondering about.

Healer McDavid decided to answer that questions, "We're working under the assumption right now that to heal the burns and scars we need to first heal the dark magic that is left in those injuries. Dark magic of course is very hard to heal in general, especially when there are so many different spells that cause the different injuries. Therefore we're hoping that this research will help us when developing a spell to erase the dark magic left in the scars, which should make it possible to heal the scars themselves."

"If you do develop a spell like this, could it be used during the initial healing of a dark injury and not just after the scar has developed?" Andromeda asked.

Victoire nodded, "It could be used for that, but we're talking way into the future. We need to develop a prototype of this spell first, and that could still take years."

Healer McDavid and Victoire then discussed how they where they were going to get their next batch of patient case files to look through. McDavid told her that he was due to receive some from colleagues at different European hospitals within the next week or so, and Victoire told him that she was going to get copies of some from the American libraries while she and Teddy are on their weekend trip to New York which was exactly ten days away.

Once the talk of the healing project died down there was a bit of an awkward silence again. Teddy pushed what was left of his mashed potatoes around on his plate, and after the fifth rotation Victoire kicked him in the shin under the cover of the dinner table.

Teddy jumped from the assault, and he shot Victoire a not-so-covert look that said 'why-in-the-world-did-you-do-that-?'. She shot him a look back that said 'you-know-exactly-why-I-did-that', and they frowned at each other.

"It would be easier to just say what you need to say Theodore. It would stop Victoire from yelling at you through the looks she's sending you," Andromeda remarked casually as she fixed a stern glance at her grandson.

Teddy nodded his head and ran a hand through his presently turquoise blue fringe, "Well . . . as you know Vic and I are slowly starting to get things in order for our impending marriage. We have a meeting at Gringotts this Friday to go through our financial holdings and accounts."

He paused here and tried to gauge his grandmother's expression. It was difficult to do because Andromeda had a killer pokerface, he couldn't tell what her reaction was, one way or another.

"And because it's been years since my vaults–since the vaults in my name have been sorted through, Colton Knott suggested that we go through everything in the vault so we can know exactly how much is in there," Teddy stopped again and took a deep breath.

His face looked very hesitant, so Victoire took pity on him and continued his explanation, "My Mum's already got all of our investment portfolio stuff organized and we're going to meet with her before going to the vaults. Colton and Anastasia both volunteered to help us go through the . . . other vaults and to catalogue the items. And we were wondering – Teddy and I were wondering whether you would want to come with us Andromeda."

Another pause and Victoire, Teddy, and even McDavid's eyes were fixated on Andromeda. Her expression was still unreadable, but there was some sort of emotion in her grey eyes that hadn't been there when they started their explanation.

The engaged pair decided to wait for Andromeda to break the silence first. When she did her voice was very firm and almost detached.

"Are you going to catalogue the items in _every_ vault?"

Teddy nodded his head hurriedly while Victoire verbalized, "We do intend to go through every vault, but we understand if you would prefer not to help with one or even all of them. It was originally an idea that I came up with because I thought that there might be some family heirlooms in the Black vault that you would know much more about than us . . . but if you don't want to come we won't hold it against you or anything-"

Even though she was less nervous than Teddy about proposing the outing, she had started to ramble near the end. She knew that she was close to drifting towards the incoherent end of the rambling spectrum, so she just cut herself off.

The slight edge of amusement in Andromeda's facial expression told Victoire that she found the younger woman's words more humorous than offensive.

"I'd like to do what I can to help. If you think my being there when you go through the Black vault will be helpful then I will be there," Andromeda told them, her unreadable pokerface back in place.

Victoire and Teddy nodded at the same time and then Andromeda quickly changed the subject and pulled her wand out to start tidying up the table as dinner was finished. Teddy got up from his chair to help his grandmother clear the table and clean the kitchen, leaving Victoire and Healer McDavid alone at the table.

"Does she seem okay to you?" Victoire whispered to McDavid when she was sure that Andromeda and Teddy wouldn't be able to hear her.

"I've seen Andromeda wear the exact same facial expression after getting an O in her potions N. E. W. T. _and_ after getting two weeks' worth of detentions, so I really can't say if she's okay with the trip to Gringott's or not," McDavid whispered back.

Victoire pursed her lips, "I'm sure that Teddy will know by the end of the night if Andromeda was lying or not."

* * *

 **9:18 PM**

The minute Victoire and Teddy entered their apartment later that night Teddy pushed Victoire up against the wall and immediately started snogging her. Victoire reacted instinctually, and she automatically reached around Teddy's neck to force their faces closer. He had somehow managed to tease her lips open and slip his tongue into her mouth without her even noticing, and she gripped tighter at his hair to help her keep her footing during his rather intense embrace. She was lightheaded from the ferocity of his kiss, so she didn't trust her balance even with Teddy's hard body pressing her firmly against the wall next to their front door.

His mouth slipped away from hers just when she thought she was going to pass out from a lack of air, and he pressed a series of hard and frantic kisses down the column of her neck, stopping at the juncture where her neck and shoulder met. She couldn't do much more than pant heavily and cling to his neck as his mouth slowly began to suck at the skin that was there.

He allowed his teeth to scrape dully across her skin, causing a jolt through Victoire's body that hit her stomach heavily and made her blood boil. The feelings he was building in her drove her into a frenzy and she could barely remember where she was because she was so caught up in the heady feelings he was creating in her.

She was almost limp in his arms, which made it easier for him to run his hands down her back, to her thighs, and to pull her up closer to him. Her legs automatically wrapped around his waist, and she leaned her head back to give him more room to keep doing delicious things to her neck.

When she tried to lean her head back even farther she ended up smacking it against the wall with an audible bang.

Teddy was so caught up with his own passions that he didn't notice her minor accident.

However, she did notice the incident and it was enough to jar her.

With the newfound clarity it produced in her foggy brain, it reminded her that she had meant to have a talk with Teddy when they arrived home.

One of her hands moved to his shoulder and she firmly pushed him away from her, "Teddy . . . can we put a pin in this for a moment?"

He sighed heavily, "Why?"

She eyed him specifically and pushed him a little farther away so that he was no longer touching her, "Because we need to talk, and you know this."

A wary smile twisted around his lips and leaned closer to her, bringing his lips right next to her ear, "Are you sure that you wouldn't _rather_ . . ."

His words purposely trailed off as his lips wrapped around her ear lobe and he began to suck on it.

Victoire had to work rather hard to stop her eyes from rolling back in her head, and she used both of her hands to push her fiancé away from her this time.

"Of course I would _rather_. But we can't do that right now because we _need_ to talk. Now, stop trying to seduce me and let's go sit in the living room," She told him sternly. She didn't wait for him to respond, instead choosing to move away from him and to walk into the living room where she sat on the sofa.

He slowly followed her into the room, sensing that he'd lost their battle of wills, and he sat down on the sofa next to her, making sure that there was a foot of space between them.

"So what do you think we need to talk about?"

Victoire gave him a _look_ , "I'd say that Andromeda handled our invitation to join us at Gringott's very well. If anything I'd say that _you're_ the one who's uncomfortable with the idea."

"Well there _is_ a reason why I haven't physically gone through all of my vaults before now," Teddy told her in a despairing tone.

She knew that this conversation was going to be difficult, so she reached forward and gave his hand a reassuring squeeze, "I know that Friday is going to be hard on you, but I'll be there for you every step of the way."

He squeezed her hand back, "I know you will . . . I just don't want anything in those vaults, or any of those properties, or any of those heirlooms. It was easier to detach myself from it all when I've never actually seen any of it. It will be harder to do that after Friday."

Victoire closed the foot of space between them and reached up to cup Teddy's cheek, she stroked his skin softly and locked her ocean blue eyes on his sapphire ones.

"This will sound contrary, but I'm sure you'll feel much better when you finally put this behind you. It's been hanging over your head since you inherited the other two vaults, and now you have a chance to finally do something about it. Heck, you can even get rid of all of the heirlooms and give away all of the money if you want. It'll just feel better to finally do something about it."

Teddy smiled softly at her, "And you'll still love me even if this whole excursion makes me go a little crazy?"

His tone was teasing, but she could pick out the self-consciousness in his eyes.

She leaned forward and gave him a kiss on the forehead, "Of course I will. It's probably your turn to go a little crazy anyway, I'm due for a break."

* * *

 **A/N:** Okay, how did we like this chapter? I know we covered a couple different big topics in this chapter, but as always they're important or they set up something else further in the story line. Also I know that many of you were hoping to pick up directly after leaving off the last chap. Obviously I didn't, but trust that I have my reasons for it.

As always, please leave me any questions or comments you have in a review and I'd be happy to respond :)

 **Next Update:** Probably in two weeks, I'm trying to get some writing done ahead so that I can keep updating regularly.

 **Next Chapter:** Victoire and Teddy go to Gringott's to sort through their financial holdings, including the Black and Lestrange family vaults.

Thanks again to everyone who has followed, favourited, read, and especially reviewed!

Big thanks as always to:

Jilly98, Ellie1429, kiltcladdedreader, rosesnlilies, Guest (1), The doctor, Mari, Jennifer Jules, zvc56, no cure for crazy, AngelTwins527, LittleFreak2101, kawaiiotaku0405, TIGERSAGE, MuggleCreator, jeremiah123, and Guest (2).

Ellie1429: Aww, thanks so much, I'm glad that you're enjoying it.

kiltcladdedreader: Thanks for catching the coffee thing. :)

rosesnlilies: Don't worry, I appreciate reviews of all lengths :)

Mari: We'll see Vic with her friends in a couple of chapters, even if they're not playing never have I ever.

Thanks again for reading everyone, I hope that you enjoyed this chap, please don't forget to leave a comment or review. Until next time, DFTBA!


	32. Gringotts and Tea Shops

**A/N:** Hello everyone, here's the next chapter. For those of you who have been wondering how Teddy ended up with the Black and Lestrange family vaults, well there's an explanation in this chapter.

 **Warning:** There's a bit of swearing in here, but nothing that goes over the 'T' rating.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own _Harry Potter._

* * *

 **Previously:** Colton and Anastasia offered to help Teddy and Victoire go through the vaults Teddy inherited from the Blacks and the Lestranges, and Colton specifically offered to help them get all of their financial information in order for their impending marriage. Andromeda agreed to go with Vic and Teddy to help them sort through the vaults, and Teddy is not eagerly awaiting this trip.

* * *

 **Gringotts and Tea Shops**

 **Friday, October 14** **th** **2022**

 **1:20 PM**

"So . . ." Colton began in an attempt to fill the awkward silence that they were stuck in, "I thought that you and Ted were coming here together."

"We were going to but he got called into work for a few hours this morning, he said he'd meet us here," Victoire explained, ". . . so where's Stasia?"

Colton pressed his lips together, "She had a luncheon with my mother and some of her friends today. I'm sure that she'll get here as soon as she's able."

Victoire nodded her head, "And you _didn't_ decide to join your wife and your mother for lunch?"

"No, I had a working lunch at the office," He told her.

They fell into another silence after the end of their conversation, and Victoire filled her time with looking around the bustling streets of Diagon Alley. She and Colton were standing at the top of the stairs that led to Gringott's large double-door entrance. They were waiting outside the bank for their respective partners to arrive.

After several minutes of awkwardly trying to avoid eye-contact with each other, they both suggested that they might as well go inside and wait for Teddy and Anastasia to get there. Once inside they went from absentmindedly looking around Diagon Alley to distractedly glancing around the bank's front room. The goblins and other Gringott's employees were pacing around the room and working diligently, but the bank wasn't necessarily booming with business as it was one o'clock in the afternoon on a Friday.

As such, Victoire and Colton were two of the few customers in the bank, making them easily perceptible to those around them. Or they normally would have been, if the employee who suddenly accidentally knocked into Victoire on her way past her hadn't had her arms filled with parchment scrolls, which were piled up so high that she could barely see a two feet radius around her.

"Oh, dear I'm sorry about that Mi–Weasley."

The woman's voice turned brusque when she realized that it was Victoire that she had run into and not a stranger.

Victoire swallowed thickly at seeing the employee's familiar face, "Tasha."

Tasha Bennet slightly rearranged her hold on the parchment rolls and scowled at the blonde, "What are you doing here?"

"Banking," Victoire answered as if it was an obvious answer.

Which it was.

Tasha frowned –whether because she was embarrassed at having asked a stupid question, or because just the sight of her made her angry, Victoire didn't know– and then glanced not-so-subtly at Colton, who was wearing a pristine set of suit robes and by all accounts looked rather dashing and handsome.

"Colton's my lawyer," Victoire explained even though after doing so she immediately asked herself why she had even bothered to give Tasha a justification for Colton's presence.

Tasha pursed her lips, "Why do you need a lawyer?"

"Just going through mine and Teddy's financial holdings. Getting things in order for when we get married," Victoire told her, trying her best _not_ to stress the phrase 'when _we_ get married'.

"So where is Teddy then?" Tasha questioned as she raised an eyebrow.

Victoire put on her pokerface, "He's at work right now." She decided not to let Tasha know that she was expecting him to show up any minute.

"No active jobs right now?" Victoire asked, trying to turn the interrogation around.

As a cursebreaker Tasha Bennet _was_ an employee of Gringott's. Victoire hadn't considered that they'd run into her during their visit to the bank though, because she had just assumed that she would be somewhere else working as a cursebreaker at a new site. It was an oversight that the blonde was really starting to regret.

Tasha shook her head, "I was told to stay in England until after the Auror Department cases about Peru cleared in case I needed to be brought in for questioning. Since it closed at the end of September a new assignment hasn't come up yet."

"Too bad," Victoire replied in a falsely apologetic voice.

It was at that exact moment that Colton reckoned that the tension between the two women had risen enough, and he smoothly extracted Victoire from the situation by suggesting that they go ahead and wait in their financial adviser's office.

As he maneuvered her to the side of the room with the financial advisers' offices he asked Victoire, "What exactly was that?"

" _That_ was Tasha Bennet, an _old_ friend of Teddy's from Hogwarts," Victoire answered a little hostilely.

He arched a blonde brow, "Are you sure that she was _just_ a friend of Ted's?"

"Positive, not that that classification ever stopped her from _trying_ to make it something more," Victoire told him disdainfully,

"Ahh, so that's how it is," Colton replied with a smirk.

Victoire scoffed at him, "Don't give me that look. You'd be pissed too if an old friend of Stasia's kept trying to convince her to leave you and be with him instead."

Her words wiped the smile right off of Colton's face and she could see the anger starting to bloom across his face with just the thought of someone else trying to come between him and his wife.

"Exactly," She asserted just as they came to a stop outside of her mother's office.

She knocked on the closed door, and then opened it up where she heard a muffled voice call 'come in'.

Fleur stood up from behind her desk and walked around it to give Victoire a hug. She smiled brightly at Colton directly after, and shook his hand. Before she could ask Victoire where Teddy was, the door to her office opened again and both Teddy and Anastasia walked into the room.

After the rest of the greetings and introductions were through, all five of them sat down and Fleur got straight to business. She had two thick file folders ready, one for Victoire and one for Teddy, and they started with Victoire's accounts first. Her regular vault for everyday use was basic and straightforward, but it was her second vault that held her Tri-Wizard Tournament winnings that interested Colton.

"I'm sorry but how much does she have in that vault?" Colton asked incredulously after first hearing the number.

Victoire handed the folder for him to see the number in solid black print, but Colton still looked like he couldn't believe his eyes.

"And it's been almost five years since this account was created? How did you grow the sum that much in so little time?" Colton asked captivatedly.

Fleur smiled slyly and pointed out the exact interest of the high-interest account, as well as the very impressive and well diversified investment portfolio in Victoire's name.

"All of ze addeetional profeets zat are made zat do not go back eento ze eenvestment portfolio are deposeeted eento zis bank vault, eenstead of Victoire's every day one," Fleur explained.

Colton nodded his head, and since he didn't have any other questions, they moved onto looking at Teddy's financials. His accounts were also rather straightforward –or as straightforward as centuries old accounts originally held by ancient pure-blooded families could be– and Fleur also had a series of investment statements ready for him as well.

His investments were very similar to Victoire's, which made sense considering that Fleur had been in charge of both of their holdings, but he had several more years of investments since Fleur had started investing parts of the Black family fortune back when Teddy was very young. Harry had told her about his intention to sign over his holdings of the Black fortune over to Teddy as soon as he was able, so Fleur had started the initial investments, drawing funds from that vault, once the transfer paperwork was processed.

"I don't recognize the names of several of these companies," Colton commented as he looked through the extensive list in Teddy's portfolio.

Fleur nodded understandingly, "Some of ze eenvestments are een muggle corporations. Eet's an eemportant part of diversifyeeng seence ze muggle economy ees not as closely leenked weeth ze wizardeeng economy as we sometimes claim."

The expression on Colton's face read that he was still very impressed with the status of their accounts and investments, and Fleur went on to discuss the property holdings that were under Teddy's name. There were five, split between both the Black and Lestrange accounts, and Fleur had a folder on each one.

"Ze eencome comeeng een on ze properties are more ze enough to cover ze upkeep, so you are dooeeng more zen breakeeng even on zem," Fleur told Teddy.

"How many properties again?" Colton asked, he even raised his hand like he was back in school.

"One in London, one in Sheffield, one in Devon, and one in Italy and one in France," Victoire listed off, "All of them are rented out pretty regularly, expect for the London house that is."

Anastasia's eyes lit up with curiosity, "Who do they get rented to?"

"Mostly muggles," Teddy explained softly.

Colton almost smirked and mumbled something about poetic justice.

Once they had gone through all of the work that Fleur had prepared, so she got up from her desk and said that she would get them a goblin to take them to the vaults. Teddy left the room with her, saying that he was going to wait in the front foyer for Andromeda, and the minute that they were gone Colton rounded on Victoire.

"Okay, I think I've been rather sensitive and patient lately, but now I _really_ need to know. How did Ted end up inheriting the Lestrange family fortune?"

Victoire waved her hand to magically close the door of her mother's office, and then faced Colton and Anastasia, "With the deaths of Bellatrix, Rodolphus, and Rabastan Lestrange twenty-four years ago there was no immediate heir or family to lay claim to the fortune. For whatever reason, the closest living relative to the Lestranges that Gringott's could find after all of the dust settled ended up being Narcissa Malfoy, since she was Bellatrix's sister."

Colton frowned confusedly, "Then how come the Malfoys' aren't in control of it?"

"I'm not entirely sure to be honest. The official story is that one day soon after inheriting the Lestrange fortune, Narcissa decided that she wanted it to go to Andromeda instead. She made so sort of argument about Andromeda being the sibling closest in age to Bellatrix and therefore legally the next to inherent before herself, and had all of the paperwork done to transfer the ownership of the vault. Andromeda reacted to the news as you could expect, and she vehemently refused the inheritance," Victoire explained, piecing together the parts of the story that she knew.

"Apparently Narcissa was not going to take no for an answer, and there was a good amount of back and forth between the two –not face to face though– about the issue. In the end Uncle Harry, Kingsley, and my mum and dad convinced Andromeda that it might be a good idea for her to take the inheritance –or at least the gold– and that way she would have it in case she needed it for Teddy as he grew up. Andromeda still wasn't too happy about taking the Lestrange inheritance, but she finally agreed that she would do it if it was in Baby Teddy's best interest. She made the condition though that the inheritance not be in her name, but specifically in Teddy's. Narcissa agreed and before Baby Teddy could sit up properly, he had inherited both the Black and Lestrange family fortunes. Harry had transferred the Black fortune to him, and Narcissa the Lestrange one."

Colton's eyes were wide and still rather incredulous at the end of her recitation, "And you're saying that Narcissa Malfoy just gave away the entire Lestrange family fortune because she believed that legally it belonged to Andromeda?"

"That's what the claim was . . . although all of us who are aware of the situation privately think that she transferred the fortune in an attempt to assuage her guilt," Victoire explained in a tone that was a little unkind.

"I can understand why Ted doesn't like to talk about or to think about these things," Anastasia commented in a sympathetic voice.

Victoire and Colton both nodded, and then story time was cut short by the return of Victoire's mother. Fleur told the three of them that everything was in order for them to go down to the vaults, and that Teddy and Andromeda were waiting with a goblin by the carts.

Their itinerary for their underground excursion through Gringott's caverns was very short. Basically they were just going to stop by the Black and Lestrange family vaults so that Colton and Anastasia could get a look at the heirlooms that were inside each vault. Apparently Anastasia was very good at appraising the value of such items, so she would be very helpful in estimating the worth of all of them, and in modernizing the value of the heirlooms. The last time the heirlooms were inspected in detail was about twenty-four years ago when Kingsley had everything in the vaults examined for dark magic. There was no way that they were going to transfer the vaults over to Baby Teddy's possession without making sure that there were no dangerous heirlooms or items in it, so Kingsley had the Auror Department go through everything and take out all of the dark or cursed objects. There weren't that many to remove, one or two from the Black vault, and no more than five from the Lestrange one.

The group went to the Black family vault initially, and once the goblin helped them open the door Victoire and Teddy went in first, Andromeda, Colton and Anastasia following closely behind them.

"Good Godric Gryffindor," Victoire exclaimed loudly as she took in the enormous vault that was almost filled to the brim with coins and object big and small.

"I can pretty much guarantee you that that's the first time those words have ever been uttered in this place," Colton commented with absolutely zero sarcasm. He was also a little surprised by the mass of gold and items in the room.

It was Victoire's first time in the vault, and only Teddy's second. The first and only other time he had been in the vault was on his seventeenth birthday when he inherited it. He had only spent about twenty seconds in the bank vault, just long enough to send a cursory glance around the room, before he left and never came back.

Until now.

"Well," Anastasia announced as she took in the numerous items in the room, "I guess we better get sorting through these. I'm sure there's a lot more here than in other vaults. Most people have a lot of their family jewels and heirlooms in their homes."

Anastasia and Andromeda took charge of the endeavour, and they had Victoire, Colton, and Teddy searching through the stacks of gold for the antiques and heirlooms. Once they found something, they put it in a similar pile on the open expanse of floor near the vault's door, while Andromeda and Anastasia inspected and catalogued the items on notepads.

Originally they had Victoire in charge of finding jewelry and putting them in piles based on whether they were goblin-made or not, while Teddy and Colton handled other categories of items. However, they soon learned –to Anastasia's horror– that Victoire couldn't tell the difference between goblin-made jewelry and everything else. An astonished Anastasia moved Colton to jewelry duty instead because he could at least recognize better craftsmanship, and Victoire was relegated to finding and piling up odd items that were made out of gold.

She had thought that Andromeda's description was a peculiar one, but as time went by Victoire had an ever increasing pile of strange items crafted from gold that normally would not be made of such a material. Items included in her pile were: a suit of armour made entirely out of gold (which she had claimed was entirely impractical, only to have Anastasia inform her that practicality was most likely not the point of the item's commission), along with a gold Egyptian-esque statuette in the shape of a scarab beetle, a solid gold cheese knife, and a gold and bejewelled Victorian candle-holder, along with an assortment of other odd and impractical objects.

Over near the jewelry pile Teddy had paused to look at Colton's progress as he was pretty much finished sorting through the piles on his side of the room. He saw something that looked oddly familiar, and he pulled it out of the jewelry pile and held it up for Victoire to see.

"Doesn't this look oddly familiar?"

Victoire stared at the gold necklace with the large emerald affixed to the middle like some sort of sparkling ping-pong ball, "Sandra has one very similar in style to that, which she got from Kyle. He gave it to her during our seventh-year; said it was one of his family heirlooms."

"It does look a lot like Sandra's necklace," Anastasia agreed, "Only the emerald on that necklace right there is impossibly bigger than the one on Sandra's."

Teddy smirked in Victoire's direction, it was the first smile she had seen him wear since they entered the vault, "What do you think Vic? We can take this with us and you and Sandra can have matching jewelry."

Victoire automatically made a disgusted face, "Merlin no."

"I think Victoire's afraid of fancy jewelry," Anastasia commented with a laugh.

"Nah, she's afraid of getting extra attention," Colton corrected with a wicked smirk.

Victoire didn't verbally respond to them, but privately she was a little surprised that Colton had hit the nail on the head.

Everyone went back to sorting through the heirlooms; trying to pick out the last few treasures hidden in the piles of gold.

Victoire ended up kneeling down next to a gilded seventeenth century set of drawers, and she pulled open each one to make sure that there was nothing left hidden inside of it.

The only item she was able to find in one of the drawers was a relatively more modern looking black velvet jewelry case. Victoire opened it up and found a stunningly elegant yellow-gold bangle-style bracelet. There was an intricately carved capital letter 'A' directly in the middle of the one-inch wide gold bracelet, with four small but sparkling jewels inlaid on either side of the letter. The bracelet was both gorgeous and simple at the same time, and it said a lot that Victoire actually liked the piece.

"This one's actually rather pretty," Victoire announced as she brought the bracelet and the case over to the pile of jewelry that Anastasia and Andromeda were cataloguing.

Anastasia smiled at the bracelet while Andromeda's eyebrows pinched, and her mouth popped open in surprise.

"That's Arthur's bracelet," Andromeda said quietly as she moved forward to get a closer look at the jewelry in the case.

"Arthur's bracelet?" Teddy asked curiously as he came closer to look in the case as well.

Andromeda's gaze was fixated on the bracelet, "That's what we used to call it. Family history says that it first belonged to the real King Arthur of Camelot; that his father had the gold cuff made for him when he was born and had the letter 'A' engraved onto it. I never fully believed it, but the bracelet has been passed on through our family for hundreds of years along with the story. During the intervening years the jewels and precious stones were added to celebrate birthdays or marriages."

Andromeda paused and took a breath, her eyes took on a quality that made it seem like she was thinking of a distant past.

"My father told me that he was going to give me the bracelet when I got married."

Victoire glanced at Teddy, and it seemed like neither of them really knew how to respond.

Thankfully for them, it didn't seem as though Andromeda was looking for a response as she continued her musing.

"Obviously I never received it. It must have been a not-so-unspoken rule that I had to marry someone that my parents approved of to obtain it."

Andromeda hesitantly reached for the bracelet, and frowned once she had a better look at it, "The last time I saw this in person was when I was about sixteen. I remember the diamonds, the lapis lazuli, and the opals, but these pearls weren't there before."

"So someone must have added them to the bracelet then," Anastasia piped up as she continued to admire the uncommon but beautifully arranged assortment of jewels imbedded in the gold.

On either side of the 'A' was a stone of lapis lazuli, diamond, opal, and then a luminous white pearl.

Andromeda's eyebrows pinched and then her forehead relaxed as a new thought occurred to her, "My father must have had these added before I ran away from home and eloped."

"How can you be sure?" Teddy asked quietly.

His grandmother finally pulled her eyes away from the bracelet, and rested her gaze on him, "Like Victoire I was never a fan of wearing flashy jewelry. The one thing I didn't mind wearing though, was pearls. My father knew that."

"And he had them added to the bracelet he was going to give you when you got married," Victoire said softly, putting the pieces together.

Andromeda nodded her head, "He must have. But I am surprised that he didn't have them removed from the bracelet once I ran away from home, or that he didn't end up giving the bracelet to one of my sisters."

Anastasia coughed delicately at that point and then instructed Colton and Victoire to help her sort through the final pile of heirlooms that had been yet to be catalogued and appraised. Her intention, though well-meaning, was a little too obvious. She was trying to give Andromeda some time alone with her memories without everyone standing around her and staring.

It didn't take much longer to go through what was left in the room, and very quickly they were leaving the Black vault –and everything in it– and asking the goblin to take them to the Lestrange vault. Andromeda left before they went to the second vault, and Victoire had to take a moment to check with Teddy to make sure that he was still feeling up to going through the other vault.

He didn't exactly looked pleased with the prospect of their next stop, but he agreed to soldier on while Victoire privately thought that they were going to have a lot to discuss that night once they were alone in their flat.

The Lestrange family vault had slightly less inside of it than the Black family vault, but the task of going through all of the items and heirlooms was no less arduous. Having already sorted through one bank vault, it was slightly easier to sort through the second, and the four that were left spent their time examining and cataloguing items in relative silence. It wasn't until they were almost finished inspecting all of the heirlooms that Anastasia finally gave Teddy and Victoire her estimate of how much the items in each bank vault could be appraised for.

"All right Mr. Lawyer," Victoire said turning to Colton once they had the –rather large– number, "Now that you're intimately familiar with all of our financial holdings, is there anything particular we should do about them before the wedding, or is there anything we should know?"

Colton nodded his head, "Yeah, as your lawyer I'd suggest you get a pre-nup."

"We're not getting a pre-nup," Victoire replied automatically. She went so far as to put her hands on her hips and send him a glare.

Colton rolled his eyes and then glanced at Teddy, as if he knew that he was the person he should aim his common sense at, "I'm not suggesting a pre-nup because I think that you two are going to end up getting a divorce, I'm suggesting a pre-nup because I think it would make it easier to protect your assets."

"What about my assets?" Teddy asked as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"You are legally the holder of the these two fortunes Ted, but don't be surprised if in several years someone comes out of the woodwork and tries to take at least part of the fortune from you by claiming that they are supposed to inherit from the Blacks or the Lestranges. This way you can be sure that your assets will be protected for your future and for your children," Colton explained.

Teddy glanced at Victoire, who really didn't look happy with the fact that Colton was making sense, and then back at Colton, "If you think that something like that is for the best, then we'll look into it."

"Good, now we should talk about wills."

"Wills?" Victoire asked Colton, "Like last will and testament wills?"

Colton nodded, "Exactly. Normally you'd get it written just in time for it to be notarized for the wedding, but your circumstances are different."

"Because we're not getting married for two years?"

"And because Teddy's an auror and the chances of him dying before you get married are much higher than for normal people, I suggest that Teddy should update his will to reflect everything we found out today sooner rather than later," Colton clarified.

Almost as an afterthought he glanced at Teddy, "You do have a will, don't you?"

Teddy looked contemplative, and he actually stroked his chin as he thought over Colton's words, "I actually don't think I do."

Colton's mouth opened in shock, but he quickly got over it and instead rolled his eyes, "Okay, first things first then. We're going to get a will written up for Ted ASAP."

"I can't believe that you don't have one," Victoire told Teddy in a surprised tone.

"I'm not letting you off easy either Weasley," Colton announced as he rounded on her with a pointed finger, "You may be twenty-two but you've probably had more near-death experiences than half of the people in the Auror Department. I'm seriously considering writing you up a will too."

Victoire shrugged off the morbid implications of his words, "Alright, just make sure that you leave all of my shoes to Molly."

"Why Molly?" Teddy enquired.

"Because doing that will definitely piss Dom off."

When they had finally finished what they came to Gringott's to do, they went topside and were officially finished with their excursion. Colton had to get back to work, Anastasia had plans to meet with her grandparents, and Teddy needed to go back to the Ministry to finish up some paperwork. He promised Victoire that he would meet her at home later so they could talk, and then Victoire was left on her own in Diagon Alley.

Victoire had the day off so normally she would have apparated straight back to their flat to work on her research project, however, that day she had a sudden craving for Oolong tea and decided to stop by the closest café to buy a cup to go.

Once she was in said café and had finished ordering, she heard a voice from behind her call out here name.

"Hey Victoire!"

She grabbed the travel cup of tea that the café employee had just handed her, and turned around to see who had recognized her. To her surprise she found Clark Westin, professional beater for Puddlemere United, sitting at a table in the corner of the café with a cup of tea of his own and a wave in her direction.

"Hey there Clark, shouldn't you be at practice right now?" Victoire asked him congenially as she sat in the empty seat across from him at his corner table.

"And shouldn't _you_ be at work?" Clark retorted.

Victoire inclined her head at him, "Touché. I'm not scheduled to work today, but I do have a twelve hour shift at St. Mungo's tomorrow. Your turn."

"Puddlemere gave us the day off because the owners and the coaches are getting together to decide who they're going to get to replace our starting seeker," Clark expounded.

"Mmmhmm," Victoire hummed while taking a sip of her tea, "So are you here by yourself?"

Clark was a little taken aback by her question, "Yes, why do you ask?"

"Just curious, every time I see you Mark isn't far behind, so it's a little weird to see you by yourself. And in such an open environment, does that hat actually do enough to disguise you from the rest of the world?" Victoire inquired as she pointed to the darkly coloured plain baseball cap he was wearing on his head.

Clark chuckled, "Believe it or not it's almost as good as an invisibility cloak."

"So what _are_ you doing here by your lonesome?"

He looked down at his cup of tea and frowned, "I thought it'd be a better environment for wallowing than at my flat in the complex. Less chance of a teammate coming around and trying to get me to talk."

"This _is_ a good place to hide from your teammates, but apparently an awful place to hide from me," Victoire teased him with a small smile, "What are you wallowing about? I'm sure that your coaches will make the best choice in concerns to choosing your new seeker."

Clark shrugged, "I think we've all come to terms with the idea that they're going to give the positon to Mullin. Well, unless you're Nadia that is, but her main complaint about that is because she hates Giavanna so much."

Victoire nodded her head and replied diplomatically, "Chris has played rather well in your last few games."

"Yeah, I was more thinking that he's a shoe-in for the position because he knocked up the owner's daughter and is going to marry her in a week, but I guess he hasn't played _too_ dismally," Clark agreed.

"So," Victoire began as she took another sip of her tea, "If you're not wallowing about your new seeker, may I ask you what you _are_ wallowing about?"

He looked ashamedly down at his hands and Victoire took a minute to contemplate whether or not she should push the issue. If it had been Xavier, Kyle, or one of her male cousins sitting in front of her, she wouldn't have hesitated to force them to open up to her. However, because it was Clark and she wasn't entirely sure if the relative depth of their friendship would allow for that kind of interaction between them.

As she considered what her next action should be, she took another sip of her tea.

"You are kinda the last person on earth that I would want to discuss this with," Clark told her after a few minutes of silence.

Victoire raised an eyebrow in surprise but didn't verbally respond, instead she decided to take another swallow of her tea.

"I mean if I tell you, you're definitely going to think that I'm pathetic," Clark continued with a despondent frown.

A second blonde brow rose up on her forehead to join the second. She tipped her cup up to her lips and had a drink.

"Honestly I'm probably pathetic for even considering telling you about this," Clark complained. He agitatedly took his hat off of his head, swept his hair back from his face, and pulled his hat back down onto his head.

She gulped some more tea, so fast that she didn't even taste it that time.

"Oh just put down that damn cup and ask me what's got my knickers in a twist already," Clark commanded in a frantic tone of voice.

Victoire hurriedly set the cup down and then clasped her hands together, "Before we start, I'd like to remind you that I'm a healer and _not_ a psychiatrist."

"What's a psychiatrist?"

She shook her head, "Never mind. So, to use your own elegant phrasing, 'what's got your knickers in a twist'?"

"Your sister."

She let out a sigh and pinched the bridge of her nose, "Are you sure that you want to keep talking about this? Because just from those two words I'm certain that I don't."

Clark's face turned into an expression of dejection and misery, and his eyes were wide and pleading with her. Whether she was his first choice of confidant or not didn't seem to matter anymore. He needed to talk to someone and there she was.

"Fine, just spare me any gory details, okay?"

He exhaled, "There are no gory details, that's part of the problem."

"Ah, now I see where this is going. Please continue."

Clark started to pick at the logo sticker attached to his paper cup with his finger nail, "I really like your sister. I really, really like her. She just won't give me the time of day."

"How has all of this come to a boiling point today of all days?" Victoire asked him concernedly.

He shrugged, "I saw Dom this morning at the apartment complex. Ally and Xavier planned to spend the day looking at houses now that they're going to get married, and she offered to get off work early and help them. Dom said something about her boss cutting out early so she decided that she was going to start the weekend early as well."

Victoire nodded, Colton had 'cut out early' because he was meeting with her and Teddy at Gringott's.

"Anyway, so she was at Xavier's flat this morning and when I saw her in the hallway I thought I'd lay on a bit of the ol' charm. Dom laughed it off, said no when I asked her out, and then strutted down the hall in a way that she knew would make me go crazy."

Her foot started tapping on the floor, Clark's anxiety must have transferred partially to her, "Yeah, she does that sometimes."

"But a part of me just doesn't want to give up. No matter how many times she turns me down I still come crawling back for more punishment."

Both of Victoire's feet were tapping against the linoleum floor at this point, "Why do you keep asking her out if she keeps rejecting you then? I know you Clark, and I don't think your interest in my sister is just because she keeps turning you down and because it'll hurt your reputation to take no for an answer. There must be a reason why you keep trying to get her to say yes."

Clark swallowed thickly, "Of course, there are hundreds of reasons. She's funny and clever, energetic, brilliant, determined, strong-willed, she lights up a room, and she's just so damn smart-"

"I haven't heard you say one thing about her physical attractiveness yet," Victoire remarked with a soft smile.

"She's more than just her looks Victoire," He argued.

She picked up her tea and took another sip, " _I_ know that. It's the one night stands that she keeps going after that don't."

Victoire decided to avoid mentioning the topic of Konstantin Krum altogether. It had been several weeks since Dom had last seen him and she was back to her regular patterns with no visible signs of being broken-hearted by the Bulgarian's absence in her life.

"What do all of those other men have that I don't have?" Clark asked Victoire glumly.

She replied with a shrug of her shoulders, "If I knew why Dom picks the men she does I could figure out how to get her to stop bringing home the ones that look like they've done a stint in Azkaban."

"I just wish she would give me a chance."

Victoire eyed Clark speculatively for a minute before advising, "If I may make one suggestion, perhaps if you didn't go after her so intensely she'd be more likely to respond favourably. She likes her relationships to be easy and no pressure, so maybe if you stop asking her out, but keep up the flirting, she may eventually agree to go out with you."

"How can she agree to go out with me if I don't ask her out?" Clark pouted.

"She could be the one asking you out instead," Victoire suggested.

Clark went back to picking at his cup's label, "I wish."

"Just keep showing her how awesome you are and I'm sure that eventually she'll cave," Victoire told him with a slight smirk.

He snorted, "You make it sound so romantic."

"Clark!"

Victoire and Clark both jumped a little at hearing someone call Clark's name so close to their table, and when Victoire twisted around in her seat she found a tall woman who looked like she was in her early fifties standing directly behind her and smiling brightly at her companion.

"Mum?" Clark addressed the woman in surprise.

In all honesty Victoire thought at that moment that he looked like he had been hit over the head with a beater's bat.

Clark's mother moved towards him and reached out to clasp his face in her hands, "It's so nice to see you Sweetheart."

He roughly moved his head away from his mother's hands; he did _not_ look happy to see her. He stood up from his seat and put the chair in between his mother and himself, "I'm sure that you're busy Mum, so we'll just go-"

His slip up with the word 'we' caught his mother's attention. Her head whipped around and her eyes narrowed on Victoire.

"And who's this gorgeous young woman?" Clark's mother asked.

The question was directed at Clark, but her sweet and charming smile was aimed at Victoire.

Victoire glanced at Clark, who had slipped to her side and was silently urging her to get to her feet. He shook his head minutely at her and then faced his mother, "This is Victoire and she's a friend."

Clark's mother glanced at Victoire again. Victoire stood up from her chair and picked up her paper cup of tea –with her left hand. As she did so, the movement caused Clark's mother's eyes to lock in on her engagement ring.

" _Just_ a friend is she?" Clark's mother said to him with a raised eyebrow, "It's hard to believe that you'd be _just_ friends with someone as pretty as her."

Clark's mother looked away from him and she addressed Victoire for the first time, the sweetness that had previously been in her voice suddenly changed and her tone turned hard.

"Listen honey, I try not to get too involved in my son's life, but I _will_ warn you. If you cause some sort of scandal that will get him on the front page of the tabloids just because you've decided that you're an attention hog who fancied a romp with a professional quidditch player-"

"Goodbye Mother," Clark spat, angrily interrupting her threat. He put his hand on Victoire's back and directed her away from the table and his mother, and then out of the café.

"Um," Victoire mumbled, stunned into complete shock by what had just occurred, "What the Hades was all of that?"

Clark crossed his arms over his chest and grumbled, " _That_ was my mother being her normal horrid self." He paused for a moment and then continued in a voice that sounded much angrier, "I can't believe that she thought that I was having an affair with an engaged woman!"

"Well it's obvious that she doesn't have a high opinion of me, or of the previous women you've dated apparently. Although she doesn't seem to hold it against you if that's any consolation," Victoire offered.

She wasn't very happy with the fact that Clark's mother took one look at her and decided that she was some sort of cheating slag, but she could tell that Clark was upset so she thought she'd bring that point up at a later date.

"Merlin she's such a hypocritical bitch," He complained.

Victoire's eyes widened, "Okay, sounds like someone's got mummy issues."

Clark sighed and then launched into an explanation, "I haven't gotten along well with my parents, especially my mother, for about seven years. I keep trying to mend fences, but then she says something like this that makes me hate her again."

"Hate is a strong word," Victoire told him gently.

"Yet accurate considering what she's done," Clark muttered, "I'm angry with her because she's got such a double-standard. Apparently it's fine for me to knowing sleep with an engaged woman, but when Tab was dating a married man she decided to cut all communication with her-"

Victoire couldn't hold in the surprised expression that slipped onto her face when Clark spoke about his sister, and he noticed.

"Damn, now I've given you the wrong impression about Tab. Listen, Tabitha's my little sister and I love her. Before she turned twenty she found out that she was pregnant with Zach. She was still really young and it was an accident, but she was excited to start a family with her boyfriend, the man she loved. She told her boyfriend that she was pregnant and _he_ told her that she needed to get 'rid of _it_ right away' and that the only reason why he had started dating her in the first place was because his _wife_ was trying to badger him into having children, and that she wasn't going to put out anymore until he agreed to start procreating with her. Tab was heartbroken of course, not only was she under twenty and accidentally pregnant, but she found out that the love of her life was married and that she was unknowingly a homewrecker."

Clark paused there in his recital to take a breath, and Victoire was still too surprised to reply, so he continued.

"As any young woman would do, she went to her mother for comfort. Unfortunately for her, our mother decided that she was only going to forgive Tabitha for unknowing sleeping with a married man if Tabitha agreed _not_ to have the baby. Tab had already decided for herself that she was going to keep the baby, so my mother decided that she had no choice but to cut-off all contact with her daughter completely. When I learned that my parents were essentially casting her out of the family I made the decision that if they weren't going to acknowledge Tabitha, then I was no longer going to acknowledge them," Clark explained.

Victoire felt like her heart was breaking, "Oh poor Tabitha. Are your parents still estranged from her even after seven years?"

Clark nodded, "They've never met Zach. Not because Tab isn't willing to introduce them, but because Mum still wants nothing to do with them."

"But you've stood by your sister and by Zach the whole time."

"Of course I did," Clark replied as if the answer was obvious, "They're my family. They need me just as much as I need them."

Victoire wrapped an arm around him and gave him a one-armed hug, "You should let Dom see this devoted family man angle of yours. I bet that she'd find it just as attractive as I do."

Clark gave her a quick squeeze back, but he did raise his eyebrow at her, "Are you trying to come on to me right now? Because I'd really hate for my mother to have been right about that."

She rolled her eyes at him and pulled away, "You don't need to worry, I _do_ have a fiancé you know."

* * *

 **5:10 PM**

Victoire felt like she was going through déjà vu.

Teddy had her under him, and was pressing her into the couch as he snogged her senseless. One of his hands clutched the hem of her shirt, while the other was already under said shirt and presently sliding up her ribcage. He pulled his mouth away from hers and started to kiss down her neck, and that's when she realized why if felt like she had been in the same situation before.

"Dammit Teddy," She panted as she tried to push him off of her enough so that his close presence would stop making her head go fuzzy, "You can't do this every time we need to talk."

He grinned into her neck, "I can try."

She groaned, half in irritation and half because his hands were still sliding across her skin and making her feel like her body was on fire.

Almost without her permission, her hands skimmed down to the front of Teddy's jeans and her fingers slid into his belt loops.

"We _really_ need to talk."

He nodded at her words, but then he helped her out of her shirt and started to pay special attention to all of the newly uncovered skin.

"I mean we have some things to discuss at some point this evening," Victoire reaffirmed, her voice sounding less and less resolute with each word.

"Mmhmm," He hummed as he kissed down her sternum and towards her bellybutton.

Her resolve –which hadn't been that strong to begin with– wavered with each kiss until he got to the waistband of her jeans. She pulled his face back up to hers, and she kissed him hard, using his slight distraction as an opportunity to roll them over so that she was on top. She pulled her mouth away from his and looked him directly in the eyes.

"We _are_ going to talk about your emotional health. This evening. Once we're done here," Victoire told him firmly.

She waited until he nodded his head in understanding before she planted a searing kiss on his lips.

Later, when Victoire remembered that they _did_ need to talk about their trip to Gringotts, she quickly sat up, threw her shirt back on, and put at least two feet of space between her and Teddy.

"Okay, time to talk."

Teddy sighed heavily. He sat up himself, much more languidly than she had, the muscles on his stomach, chest, and shoulders rippling a little as he moved. Victoire caught herself staring at him and reflexively bit her lip. When her mind started to wander, she hastily waved her hand, summoned his shirt to her, and then threw it at him.

"I am warning you, you do not want me to be the one carrying the majority of this conversation. We've already spoken about parts of this, so that leaves me to awkwardly babbling and running on until you decide that you're going to stop me and-"

"I didn't want this stuff. Any of it. Not the gold, or the heirlooms, or the properties," Teddy declared suddenly. His teeth clenched and his hair drifted from a bright turquoise blue to a dark almost black-ish blue.

Victoire nodded her head, "I know that."

He sucked in a deep breath and his hair continued to change.

From the black-ish blue to a dark muddy brown, "I thought seeing everything would make me feel mad . . . angry . . . livid."

She narrowed his eyes and noted his use of past tense words, "And did it? Make you feel those things?"

Teddy's hair, which has been slowly shifting between shades of brown, ended on a shade of orange that made Victoire feel slightly nauseous when she stared directly at it. He stood up hastily and started pacing a small section of the room.

"No. It didn't make me feel angry."

Victoire pursed her lips and tilted her head to the side as she studied him, "Then what did it make you feel?"

"Nothing," He told her as he suddenly stopped his pacing, "Seeing those vaults made me feel empty. I expected to feel furious and irate . . . but I didn't."

She patted her hand on the space next to her, and sent him an imploring look, "So it didn't live up to your expectations?"

He sat down next to her, and when she opened her arms out to him he cuddled up to her and admitted, "I wanted to be angry, but I couldn't. They were just things in those vaults, and it feels ridiculous to be angry at inanimate objects."

"Then it's probably not the actual vaults of gold that you're angry at anyway," Victoire reminded him a little unnecessarily.

Teddy pulled a little away from her so that he could look her in the eyes, "Then what _can_ I get angry at?"

He had a whole lot of emotions that he needed to let out, but he had absolutely no idea what the source of them was.

Victoire grabbed his hand and gave it a squeeze, "Have you spoken to Andromeda about this?"

"About what?"

"About how you feel about owning the Black and Lestrange family vaults."

He shook his head, "I don't want her to think that I'm ungrateful for what she's done for me . . . I know that she was just trying to do what she thought was best for me."

"Just because she was trying to help you doesn't mean that your negative feelings about the situation aren't valid. Maybe finally having a conversation with her about this will make you feel better about it. Less resentful," Victoire suggested.

Teddy didn't look convinced, "I don't know . . . it's not like it was her idea to give me the fortunes in the first place. She was just trying to do what was best after Narcissa Malfoy decided to pawn if off on her."

His words brought a new idea into Victoire's mind, but she knew that that moment probably wasn't the best time to introduce it to him. Instead, she pulled him back to her and embraced him tightly. Silently letting him know that she was there for him. He squeezed her very tightly back, and the two were quiet for a moment.

Teddy was left feeling unsatisfied with how the confrontation of his inheritances went; while Victoire was left musing on how she could voluntarily get Teddy into the same room with both Andromeda _and_ Narcissa, so that he could finally face the underlying cause of his unsettled emotions.

* * *

 **A/N:** So that was the newest chapter, and I hoped that all of you enjoyed it! We've learnt more about some of the characters' backgrounds, so I'd like to know your thoughts on the matter.

Also, what do you think now about how Teddy got his inheritances ? And, I know that a lot of you have mentioned that you like the idea of Dom being with Konstantin, so what do you think about a potential Dom and Clark?"

 **Next Update:** Sorry, but it'll have to be another two-week wait until my new schedule firms up and I can figure out how much writing time I have.

 **Next Chapter:** We skip a week in time and Victoire and Teddy go on their trip to New York state, while Ally and Xavier  & Puddlemere players co. attend Giavanna Tracey and Chris Mullin's wedding. So, we get to see a bit of a wedding with a few surprising guests, as well as Teddy back in his 'auror mode'.

Teaser for Next Chap:

 **"Malcolm surreptitiously inched Nadia's latest half-filled martini glass towards him and away from her as he said, "I think we should give this reception a bit more time. We've already had our awkward run-in with the newlyweds, so I doubt we'll see them again tonight. Why don't we try to have some fun?""**

Big thank yous as always to everyone who has followed, favourited, read, and especially reviewed this story and my other ones.

Especially big THANk-YOUs to:

 **NicoleTheSmith, Guest (1), Guest (2), rosesnlilies, TheProphetBVB, HPsea, jeremiah123, Padfoot1999, beniboy, no cure for crazy, AngelTwins527, Jennifer Jules, zvc56, ntlpurpolia, cpnjky, Help meh, kawaiiotaku0405, kImAyA, Guest (3),** and **Seher Syed**.

 **Guest (1)** : I hope I explained well enough for now how Teddy ended up with the Lestrange family vault. You are correct in saying that Scorpius just as easily could have ended up with that particular inheritance, but when you think about it, as far as levels of relations go, Teddy is exactly as related to the Lestranges as Scorpius is.

 **HPsea** : We'll see the Hogwarts kids in two chapter's time, and a smidge of Cecilia and Louis in the next chapter.

 **Padfoot1999** : Yes Victoire does still have her coin-shaped scar. I can imagine where your train of thought is going, and it's a good one.

 **Help meh** : We will get to a bigger Cecilia and Louis argument, but a little more exposition has to happen before we get there. Trust me, I don't plan to forgot the issue entirely.

 **cpnjky** : We will see the kids at Hogwarts again in two chapters time, and once we get there you will see that time has gone on for them.

 **I hope everyone enjoyed this chap,**

 **Please let me know your thoughts on this chap or any questions you have,**

 **Also, let me know what you think about the possible Konstantin/Dom/Clark triangle,**

 **Until next time, in two weeks, DFTBA!**


	33. A Wedding and a Mission

**A/N:** Hi everyone, here's the next chapter!

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own _Harry Potter_.

* * *

 **Previously:** Giavanna Tracey and Chris Mullin are getting married and she's pregnant. Victoire and Teddy were invited, but they are not able to attend the wedding because they have to go to New York state. Teddy is going to go on a mission to a magical conservatory with the agents from the N. A. M. C. O. C. I. D. because Victoire's cousin Alexandrie gave them a tip that the Holmwoods might be involved there. So, Teddy's got some work stuff to do in New York state and Victoire has some research to do in the libraries around there.

 **What we know about the Holmwoods recap:**

Linden and Eldon Holmwood are brothers. Eldon was the youngest brother and was the person Andromeda's father tried to arrange a marriage to, and he is the father of Lassoder, and the man formerly known as Unnamed Patient Zero. Linden Holmwood is the elder brother who eventually moved to America. Linden had four children: Graeme, Kent, Isaac, and Braxton, and all four of them went to different wizarding schools.

* * *

 **A Wedding and a Mission**

 **Saturday, October 22nd 2022**

 **2:42 PM**

Ally apathetically scrutinised the banquet room, which was expensively decorated up to the nines for Chris Mullin and Giavanna Tracey's wedding, and when she was done taking in the bizarre colour scheme of pale pink and fluorescent pink, her gaze ended on Malcolm who was standing to her left.

"Did you just take a swig from a flask and then hide it in your jacket?" She asked her fiancé's elder cousin with a raised eyebrow.

Malcolm smirked at her disapproving look, "Why yes I did Alexandra. The bar's not going to open until the ceremony is over, and that's not even going to start for a few more hours. So I need a little something to get me through until then."

Ally glanced down at her silver watch, "The wedding's going to start in like fifteen minutes."

"It's _supposed_ to start in fifteen," Malcolm corrected her, "But knowing the bridezilla, I highly doubt that it's going to start on time."

" _Someone_ sounds really cranky today," Ally sarcastically said while giving Malcolm a specific look.

He sighed in response, "Nadia's been keyed up ever since Monday when their coaches told them that Mullin would be staying on as the team's official starting seeker. Her annoyance is starting to rub off on me."

As if to prove his statement valid, Nadia strolled over to them not two minutes later, properly dressed for the extravagant wedding, with an out of place scowl on her face. She sent Ally a short wave as a non-vocal greeting, and then tersely asked Malcolm for the flask that he didn't think she had noticed him slip into the inside pocket of his dress robes earlier in the day when they left his house.

Malcolm handed it over to her without even bothering to ask her how she knew that he had it, and Nadia took not one, but two long swigs from the flask before handing it back over to her boyfriend.

"This is going to be one long-arse ceremony and it hasn't even started yet," Nadia complained with a groan as she leaned into Malcolm side.

He easily wrapped an arm around her, and started nodding his head every once in awhile when Nadia started to rant to Ally on her least favourite topic: Giavanna Tracey. While Ally wasn't as vocal about her dislike of Giavanna and Chris as Nadia was, she didn't mind listening to the other woman vent. It was kind of nice for Ally to hear that someone also disliked the two, and that she wasn't just biased because of her own experiences with Chris and Giavanna.

Before Nadia could really get into the swing of things –meaning that she hadn't started to switch between English and Italian in her tirade yet– Kyle and Sandra Collins and Colton and Anastasia Knott popped over to greet Ally.

The tall brunette shared a hug with all four of them, and then their greetings quickly turned into a conversation about how none of them wanted to be there for the wedding. Kyle and Sandra complained that the only reason why they agreed to come was because Kyle's dad had convinced him that it might be good for their company later on, since Chris and Giavanna's wedding guests were a who's who of the elite upper class of the wizarding world.

Colton and Anastasia had to agree to attend the wedding because Colton was the couple's lawyer, and because Stasia and Giavanna knew each other socially. Apparently Colton wasn't the type who enjoyed weddings in general –no matter who was getting married– and he disliked being around his society's social climbers, especially when someone came up to him what seemed like every fifteen minutes to try to weasel their way into his good graces.

Ally smiled gently at her friends and reasoned, "All we need to do is sit quietly through the ceremony, eat the food during the dinner, and then stay for like a half hour at the reception and _then_ we can all leave."

"Not all at the same time though," Colton warned, "If we all left at the same time it would look a little too suspicious."

Sandra nodded her head, "True, we should probably space it out in like fifteen-minute increments."

"Then who's going to leave last?" Anastasia asked as she glanced around at the group.

"Well we're definitely leaving first," Nadia announced with a sour pout.

Malcolm rolled his eyes at her words and then squeezed her hip, "Whatever you say Nadia."

Fortunately for everyone, especially Malcolm, Nadia didn't have the chance to start complaining again about their day's itinerary because the wizard in charge of the ceremony went up to the make-shift alter at the front of the room and asked everyone to take a seat, because the ceremony was about to start shortly. The roughly four hundred guests started to find seats, and somehow in the organized panic of the room, Ally found herself sitting down next to Malcolm with an empty chair beside her.

She looked hesitantly around the room for Xavier, and let out a bright smile when she spotted her fiancé standing near the back of the seating area with Cecilia and Louis. The three snuck over to her just in time for the wizard in charge of the ceremony to repeat more firmly that everyone needed to take a seat because the wedding was about to start _very_ soon. Cecilia and Louis slipped into a pair of seats behind Ally and next to Sandra and Kyle, while Xavier slid into the empty seat next to his fiancée.

A low tune of music started, and Chris and the rest of the wedding party started getting into position. As the music started to get louder –signalling that the bride would soon be walking down the isle– Xavier leant his head towards Ally and whispered to her that she looked beautiful.

It wasn't the first time that Xavier had complimented her that day, but she still blushed and smiled happily at his words. He noticed her reaction and leaned even closer so that he could press a kiss to her cheek.

Ally's face went redder, and beside her she could hear Malcolm mumbled something about how gross she and Xavier were.

They both ignored him, and shifted their attention to the aisle that the bride had started to walk down on her father's arm.

Despite the fact that Ally detested the groom for assaulting her favourite cousin, and disliked the bride because of the crush she had on Xavier up until two months ago; she could objectively agree that the wedding ceremony was pleasant enough. The groom may have looked a little too stoic for his wedding day, but he said all of the right words, recited some pretty vows that sounded like he wrote them himself, and even gave his bride a reassuring smile when it was her turn to say her vows. The bride was glowing in her stylish white wedding dress, and Ally secretly wondered if it was because of the excitement of her wedding day, because of a liberally used glamour spell, or because she was pregnant. Ally reckoned that it was probably a bit of all three.

Giavanna's obviously couture wedding gown did a good job of hiding her slight baby bump, and she must have had some pretty good magical cosmetics on because even though she started crying halfway through the ceremony, her make-up was still on point.

The wedding ceremony was relatively quick, although a bit boring in Ally's eyes when she compared it to Sandra and Kyle's muggle-magical mix themed wedding in June, and thankfully –for Nadia's sake– the dinner started soon after the end of the ceremony.

Ally and Xavier were at the same table with the Lines, the Knotts, Malcolm and Nadia, and Cecilia and Louis; and both Sandra and Nadia were already three drinks in and commiserating in their dislike of the bride by the time the fancy dinner was served.

Near the end of the dinner, but before the official start to the reception, the bride and groom had started to make their way around to the tables to greet their guests. Malcolm had just been trying to convince Nadia to go slower on the martinis when the new Mr. and Mrs. Christopher Mullin made their way to their table.

Kyle got up awkwardly to greet Chris while everyone else at the table stayed seated.

"Uh, so congratulations!" Kyle said in an attempted cheery tone as he stuck his hand out for Chris to shake.

The two men shook hands awkwardly, while everyone else at the table took turns mumbling words of greetings and congratulations. Cecilia and Anastasia were the only two who sounded close to sincere when they complimented the ceremony, and the latter took it one step further to compliment the bride's wedding dress.

Apparently what little encouragement she got was enough for Giavanna, and she started to go off and give the group details about her designer wedding gown. According to the bride, she had tons of friends who were in the wizarding fashion industry –some as designers and some as models– and the ones who _had_ made it to the wedding –because it was a little too spontaneous (i.e. short notice) for some of them to make the ceremony– couldn't stop raving about how fantastic and gorgeous she looked.

"I do really like the shape of the dress," Ally offered, not because she thought the dress was particularly pretty, but because she was starting to feel guilty for not putting in more of an effort to make it sound as though she was enjoying herself.

Giavanna lit right up at the compliment and smiled a little too sweetly at Ally, "Yes, I picked it because it is the newest and hottest trend of the season for wedding dresses. Not many people could pull it off, but my being petite is an advantage."

She paused for a moment and then glanced not-so-subtly at Ally's engagement ring, "You're going to want to start looking for wedding dresses right away. You're on the taller side so it might be harder for you to find a gown that will compliment your figure, within your time frame."

Ally didn't remember telling Giavanna exactly when she and Xavier were planning on getting married, so she explained, "We're not going to be getting married very soon, so I'm sure that I will have lots of time to find the right dress."

"That's good, hopefully the popular styles will change to something that will compliment your figure better by the time you finally do get married," Giavanna said in a tone that she thought was friendly.

Ally, and all of the other women at the table heard the subtle insult in Giavanna's words, and she quickly thanked Giavanna for her advice before Nadia could get up from the table and threaten the bride.

Chris and Giavanna looked as though they were finally about to leave their table to go see some of their other guests, when one particular blonde guest came out of nowhere, hugged the bride, and then did the double-cheek kiss thing that a lot of French people do. Giavanna hugged the guest back tightly in response, and soon the two women were jumping up and down and squealing with delight. They pulled away after a few moments and Giavanna excitedly began to introduce her friend to her new husband.

"Chris, this is one of my new Siren's Secrets model friends. This is-"

"Gisèle?"

Giavanna's blonde friend turned her head towards the people at the table when she heard her name called in an incredulous tone, "Louis!"

Louis stared almost blankly at his blonde step-cousin, while said step-cousin smiled back at him in a way that could really only be described as wickedly.

Giavanna noted the odd interaction between her two guests, and decided that she needed to get the details A. S. A. P.

"Do you two know each other?"

Gisèle nodded and answered her friend's question in barely accented English, "Louis and I are step-cousins."

Chris's eyebrows narrowed in confusion, "Step-cousins?"

"Gisèle's father is married to my mother's sister," Louis explained, knowing that everyone else at the table –besides Cecilia– seemed to be curious as to how he knew the blonde woman as well.

"So what are you doing here Louis?" Gisèle asked him curiously after glancing quickly at the table to see if she recognized anyone else. She noticed the absence of both of his sisters, but didn't directly comment on it.

"I'm Cecilia's plus one," Louis explained, nodding his head towards his girlfriend, "Her parents work for Puddlemere."

Gisèle glanced at Cecilia and pointed vaguely at her, "Have we met before?"

Cecilia wanted to roll her eyes, and she was amazed that she had the strength to resist, "Yes. Two months ago."

It was a little less than two months ago, but Cecilia thought saying exactly how not-so-long ago it was would make her sound bitchy.

"So," Chris began, capturing Gisèle's attention again, "You're cousins with Victoire?"

Gisèle didn't look too happy at the fact that Victoire had been brought into the conversation, but she replied, " _Oui_ . . . do you know Victoire?"

Chris cleared his throat awkwardly and shot a quick glance at Xavier, Ally, Sandra, and Kyle before replying, "We uh, we went to Hogwarts together. We were in the same house and year."

"Oh," Gisèle responded in surprise, "So is she around here somewhere then?"

She had started to look around the large ballroom to see if she could spot her step-cousin's blonde head, probably because that way it would be easier for her to avoid her, before Louis answered.

"No, she's not here. Vic and Teddy had a previous engagement this weekend that they couldn't get out of."

There was a moment of awkward silence because everyone at the table _and_ Chris and Giavanna knew that Victoire probably hadn't tried too hard to make it so that they could attend the wedding, and then the bride and groom and Gisèle uneasily excused themselves. There was another beat of silence once the three had left, before Ally innocently asked Louis why he hadn't introduced all of them to his cousin.

"Gisèle's my _step-cousin_ Ally, and you're lucky that I didn't introduce you," Louis told her before taking a sip of his wine.

Ally frowned, "She didn't seem _that_ bad."

"Well she _is_ that bad," Cecilia said, backing up her boyfriend and taking a sip from her own wineglass, "Which makes sense considering that she's friends with Giavanna."

Ally rolled her eyes at the couple, "That's not a nice thing to say. Anastasia's friends with Giavanna as well."

Anastasia, who had been taking a drink from her champagne flute, choked on the bubbly liquid when she heard Ally's words, "No I'm not. We're acquaintances. We go to some of the same luncheons and have other acquaintances in common, but I'm not going to go to her for advice when I have a problem or anything."

"Yeah Ally, don't insult Anastasia. She's got better taste than that," Sandra said in a teasing tone.

"I didn't use to," Anastasia remarked with a sigh, "But my other friends just got _so_ boring that I had to either live with their dullness, or get more interesting friends. Thank goodness Dom started working for Colton. I'd still be stuck with just my boring society friends if I hadn't met her."

Louis smirked, "That might be the first time I've ever heard someone verbalize how thankful they were to have met Dom."

Anastasia eyed Louis seriously, "Dom is fantastic, both of your sisters are brilliant actually, and I dearly hope that you know that."

"Let's not get ahead of us here," Colton said to his wife. He had a straight face but there was a teasing light in his eyes that some people might miss upon first glance, "Dominique _is_ great, but I don't know about Victoire . . ."

Anastasia rolled her eyes at her husband and gave him a look, "Oh come off of it Colton. You know that you like Victoire."

"You keep saying that, but I don't think the repetition is going to make it real," Colton told her as he raised his glass to his lips.

His wife just shook her head dismissively at him, "Someday you are going to realize exactly how important it is to have a friend like Victoire in your life, and then I'm going to lord it over you for the next fifty years."

"As long as you promise to stop after fifty," Colton replied dryly.

At that point both Xavier and Kyle told Colton that he needed to just accept that Victoire had somehow –grudgingly most likely– wormed her way into Colton's life like some sort of alien parasite, and that it was too late to cut her out because she was so deep inside that she'd probably take all of his internal organs out with her if he tried it.

Despite never having seen a muggle alien movie –or any muggle movie ever for that matter– Colton got a clear enough picture of what they were trying to tell him. Ally and Sandra tried to come to the absent Victoire's defense, but they were actually both rather impressed with the boys' metaphor.

"Do you think we've been here long enough to leave?" Nadia asked Malcolm once the bride and groom took to the dance floor to have their first dance as a married couple.

Once they finished their dance the reception would officially begin.

Malcolm surreptitiously inched Nadia's latest half-filled martini glass towards him and away from her as he said, "I think we should give this reception a bit more time. We've already had our awkward run-in with the newlyweds, so I doubt we'll see them again tonight. Why don't we try to have some fun?"

"It's hard to have fun when I know she's around. She ruins everything!"

It seemed that Nadia got more dramatic and more belligerent the more she drank, which might have explained how she and Malcolm had ended up together in the first place, and since Malcolm was at present the most sober of the couple, he tried to calm her down so that people passing by their table wouldn't hear her insulting the bride.

"How about we talk about something else huh?" Xavier suggested to both his teammate and the table at large, "Like Puddlemere's upcoming Hallowe'en charity event. Ally's been helping with the planning of it and she's put a lot of work into it."

What started as an attempt to change the topic turned into a deep and comprehensive conversation since Anastasia ended up being very interested in the event. Ally explained to everyone that it was a Hallowe'en themed charity event planned for the next weekend, and that it would take place during the day on Saturday. It was an event aimed at families with younger children, and there were going to be actives, games, a picnic style lunch, a meet and greet with the players, as well as a silent auction all on Puddlemere United's quidditch pitch. Anastasia and Sandra automatically volunteered themselves, and their husbands, to help out on the day of the event, and Ally gratefully accepted their help. She also explained that Dom, Victoire, and Teddy were all going to be there to help too, even though the other three didn't exactly know that yet.

"Brogan is _so_ excited for that event," Cecilia stated frankly, "You have no idea. He keeps asking Mum over and over again about what kinds of activities there are going to be. She tells him the same thing each time he asks, but somehow he keeps getting more and more eager for it."

Ally laughed, "Oh I know, when I saw him the other day he made me promise that I'd be his partner for one of the races."

Talk of Puddlemere's charity event was enough to perk Nadia up, and she happily informed Ally and Xavier that her friends Dante and Annalisa Azzarà were planning on coming to the event with their children. Ally was surprised that Nadia's friends from Italy were going to come because Annalisa had just given birth to the couple's fourth child a few weeks ago, but apparently the family _really_ liked Hallowe'en.

While Sandra and Anastasia asked more detailed questions about the charity event, Louis stood up and informed the table that he was going to the bar, and asked if there was anything he could get for someone else. Ally told him that she'd like another glass of wine, but before Louis could make it even two steps from the table he accidentally ended up running into one of the wedding guests who was trying to exit the dance floor.

"Oh excuse me-"

" _Dieu_! I am so sor–Louis?"

Louis stared open-mouthed at the green-eyed blonde woman standing in front of him in a pair of high-heeled shoes similar to ones he had seen Dom wear before, "Alexandrie?"

His cousin smiled brightly at him when he said her name, and she leaned forward to greet him with a kiss on either cheek. He passively pecked her on the cheek in return, and then turned slightly because he could feel everybody at the table staring at him oddly for the second time that night.

"Uh, everyone, this is my cousin Alexandrie," Louis introduced her in a tone that was more than a little bit awkward because he was still very surprised by his cousin's presence at Chris Mullin and Giavanna Tracey's wedding.

"An actual blood cousin this time or a step-cousin?" Kyle asked curiously, actually going so far as to raise his hand as he asked the question.

"Definitely a blood cousin. See how much she looks like Freckles?" Malcolm piped up.

Alexandrie's confused glance shifted from Malcolm to Louis, "Freckles?" She sounded as though she was sure that she had missed something when she translated it in her head.

Louis nodded his head, "Yeah, that's Malcolm's nickname for Victoire."

He belated realized that he should probably make better introductions and said, "Alexandrie this is Malcolm Wood, he's a good friend of Teddy's. And this is his girlfriend Nadia Cassano, she plays quidditch for Puddlemere United."

Alexandrie said hello to them, re-introduced herself as Louis's cousin, and then Louis recalled that he wanted to ask her what she was doing at the wedding.

"I'm not exactly sure 'ow I got 'ere myself," Alexandrie admitted, "My girlfriend Stephanie said zat she got an invitation to ze wedding of a friend and zat I was to be 'er plus one, and 'ere I am."

Louis nodded, he remembered during the summer that Alexandrie had said that her girlfriend worked with Gisèle, so if Gisèle was friends with Giavanna somehow, it made sense that Alexandrie's girlfriend might also be friends with Giavanna.

"So 'ow do _you_ know ze bride and groom?" Alexandrie questioned Louis.

"Cecilia's parents technically work for Giavanna's father," Louis said by way of an explanation.

At the mention of Cecilia, Alexandrie realized that her cousin's girlfriend was sitting at the table only a few feet away from her. She cheerfully greeted Cecilia and gave her a hug, and then Cecilia took it upon herself to introduce Alexandrie to everyone else at the table because Louis hadn't gotten to it yet. Cecilia introduced Sandra and Kyle, and Colton and Anastasia as friends of Victoire, and then she got to Ally and Xavier.

"And this is Louis and Victoire's other cousin Alexandra," Cecilia explained with a bit of a chuckle.

Alexandrie laughed as well and leaned forward to give Ally a kiss-on-either-cheek style of greeting, "Yes, Ally is it not? Victoire 'as told me a lot about you."

"Yes, Vic has told me a lot about you as well. It's nice to finally meet you," Ally responded sweetly and sincerely.

"And," Cecilia said, continuing her introductions by gesturing towards Xavier, "This is my brother, and Ally's fiancé, Xavier Wood. He plays for Puddlemere with Nadia."

Alexandrie smiled at Xavier and pressed a kiss to either of his cheeks as well, "It is nice to meet you as well. Vic's spoken about you too. I do remember zat she mentioned zat you play quidditch, but zat is about all I know. I'm not exactly a quidditch fan."

"How can you not be a fan of quidditch?" Kyle asked bewilderedly.

Alexandrie shrugged, "I prefer shoes."

Colton stared at the French blonde woman with an incredulous expression on his face, "She looks like Victoire on the outside, but she sounds like Dominique on the inside."

"I get zat sometimes," Alexandrie said with another casual shrug of her shoulders. She glanced at the table again and then looked at Louis, "So is Victoire around 'ere somew'ere, or did she leave earlier w'en she saw Gisèle strutting around?"

"Vic and Teddy weren't able to make it to the wedding, they're actually in New York right now," Louis explained.

Alexandrie looked pleasantly surprised and muttered to herself, "Oh, so zey did take me seriously zen."

"Huh?" Louis asked curiously.

"Not'ing."

Ally's mobile phone, which was sitting on the table, decided to buzz at that moment, and when she picked it up and looked at it, she smirked, "Speaking of Vic and Teddy in New York . . ."

She turned the phone around so that others could see the muggle photo that had been texted to her. It was of Victoire and Teddy adorably cuddled up together, and wearing matching white t-shirts that had 'I (heart) NY' on it with a big glittery red heart between the black 'I' and 'NY' lettering on both t-shirts.

After the appropriate 'awws' were sighed by the females at the table and Xavier, Ally suggested that she and Alexandrie take a picture together and then send it to Victoire. They were interested to see what her response would be.

Once the photo was sent Alexandrie glanced at the photo of Teddy and Victoire once more and idly said, "Not zat I don't love Vic and Teddy, but does zeir disgusting mushy-ness ever make anyone else want to vomit?"

"Merlin I know right!" Malcolm agreed right away, "They're nice people but secretly, sometimes I wonder if they haven't just majorly overdosed on some love potion."

Colton turned to Anastasia and frowned at his wife, "How come they're allowed to make fun of Victoire but I'm not?"

Anastasia rolled her eyes, didn't respond to him, and then turned to Alexandrie and asked her what her occupation was. The French woman was in the middle of explaining that she was a professional photographer when two of Xavier and Nadia's teammates wandered by their table.

"Hey Victoire," Clark Westin called casually as he walked by. He and Mark were on their way towards the side of the room that housed the bar, but they stopped abruptly once Clark took a second look at 'Victoire'.

"Holy Hippogriffs, you're not Victoire," Clark said stopping right beside Alexandrie and pointing at her while a baffled expression slipped onto his face.

Alexandrie folded her arms across her chest, "No I am not."

"But you look _a lot_ like her," Clark continued, squinting his eyes as if it would help clarify the situation for him.

"I get zat a lot," Alexandrie explained.

Cecilia then took it upon herself to complete the introduction, and she explained to Clark and Mark that Alexandrie was Louis, Dom, and Victoire's cousin; then she told Alexandrie that Clark and Mark played quidditch for Puddlemere United.

"It's nice to meet you," Alexandrie told the two beaters, "I wish I could stay and chat, but I feel like I need a drink."

She eyed Clark and Mark once more before she left, and she sidled up to Mark and put her arm through his, "You're cute, c'mon, let's get a drink." She then pulled Mark away with her without giving him a chance to reply.

Alexandrie had absconded quite the distance away with Mark before anyone was able to scrounge up the inclination to say something about it.

"Merlin she's a bit of a whirlwind isn't she?" Clark asked the group at large, breaking the peculiar silence.

Louis sadly nodded his head, "There _is_ a reason why we only allow Alexandrie and Dom see each other a few times a year."

"I believe it," Xavier muttered in agreement.

* * *

 **Nova's Magical Conservatory: New York State, United States of America**

 **2:30 PM**

Teddy had never actually been in any type of conservatory before, let alone a magical one in a country across the ocean from where he lived, and he found the experience a lot more overwhelming than he first expected it to be.

The inside of the building was much larger than the outside –thanks no doubt to some internal extension charms– and it was filled with numerous varieties of plants and fungi. The entire conservatory seemed to be divided into different sections, with the sectors holding the shorter and smaller plants closer to the front and the larger trees and plants farther back.

The metamorphmagus, who was currently almost a foot shorter than his normal height and a good forty pounds heavier, was presently standing in the slice of the conservatory that had the most people in it. He tried to seem nonchalant as he gazed around the area, but in reality he was trying to figure out the quickest route that would take him to the back of the conservatory where the trees were. It would have been more practical for him to have gone directly to the area that might house the maple trees, but it also would have been _much_ more suspicious.

"Orchids are nice flowers, aren't they?"

Teddy turned his head and saw that he had been joined by a brown haired woman in her early-forties. She was around the same age that Teddy was pretending to look at that moment, and her accent was distinctly American.

"They look nice but they're basically useless in terms of potion making," Teddy replied in what he hoped was a passable mid-western accent. He had done a lot of work on trying to make his accent sound believable, and he found that a mid-western accent was easier to put on, especially since it helped hide some of his long vowel sounds.

The woman smiled almost coyly at him and said, "Plants are allowed to be just pretty, they don't always need to be useful."

Even though Teddy knew that he _did_ have a healthy sized ego, he knew that he wasn't imagining that the woman was flirting with him. He needed to move away from her quickly if he was going to continue with his goal to be dull and barely noticeable in a crowd, so he muttered something about deciding to go find a plant that had more versatility.

The woman looked properly affronted, and she took a few steps away from him so that she could get a better look at a batch of giant daffodils. When she was thoroughly distracted, Teddy effortlessly strolled away from the flowering plants section and on to the next one which held different types of magical and muggle fungi. He pretended to look interested in the few fungi he recognized from N. E. W. T. level potions, and he casually sauntered through the entire section until he came to the next one. He cleared several more sections that way, and no one else tried to speak to him until he got to the second last area that housed the 'dangerous plants'.

This section was different from the other section. Instead of all of the plants being out in the open, many of them were growing behind large see-through glass walls. It was similar to looking at fish in large tanks at an aquarium, but instead of there being fauna behind the glass, there was flora instead.

"I never even considered that they might have access to dangerous plants like these," a quiet man who was tall and thin muttered from beside Teddy.

They made sure not to look directly at each other, and instead they focused on looking straight at the plants behind the glass.

"I doubt you'd be able to find evidence to physically connect them to this place, it seems like whatever understanding they have with this conservatory is an under-the-table sort of thing," Teddy whispered to Agent MacKenzie, they both knew that the 'they' in their conversation was the Holmwoods.

The N. A. M. C. O. I. C. D. agent was also in disguise, he was just under the magic of a polyjuice potion while Teddy had only had to morph his appearance.

Agent MacKenzie sighed, "I can't believe we couldn't come up with any solid link between the family and this place yet. We had several agents going through every angle they could come up with over the past few weeks."

"I feel like we should take a pamphlet on the way out and start to look into any unsolved serious incidents involving the dangerous plants that they have here," Teddy mused in a similar quite tone of voice.

"Just imagine what they could do with something like that," Agent MacKenzie muttered as he nodded his head in the direction of a particularly big carnivorous plant that looked like it was large enough to swallow a whole human limb.

Teddy covertly pointed to a section of plants low to the ground. The plant was a type of vine-like crawler that had white drooping flowers interspersed throughout, "I'd be more worried about what they could do with those. That's _Brugemannisia_ , the flowers hold a raw poison that produces an amnesiac effect on anyone who comes into contact with it."

Agent MacKenzie was _just_ able to hold in a surprised look that he had wanted to send Teddy's way, "How do you know that?"

Teddy double-checked that there was no one close enough to them to over-hear even one errant word, and then he quietly and succinctly explained that Victoire had come across the same plant during the third task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament when she was in the underground tunnels. Considering what they now knew about the Holmwoods' involvement in the tournament, they made a mental note to look into who had been in charge of getting the plant for the tournament, and how that person had got the plant.

Agent MacKenzie wandered away from the dangerous plant section and into the large tree section first, and Teddy had to wait several minutes before casually strolling towards the last section. He quickly by-passed the area holding the coniferous trees, which Agent MacKenzie was pretending to be interested in, and went straight to the deciduous ones.

Luckily for Teddy, there was a large informational plaque right in front of the sugar maple trees that he was there to look at. So, while he pretended to be interested in the history of maple trees and the process of making maple syrup, Teddy intently studied the grouping of trees.

There were four sugar maple trees in the cluster, and each one of them seemed to be at a different stage in their seasonal routine. One tree had bare limbs; representing the winter season when the tree species wouldn't have leaves. Another had buds and a few leaves that were just starting out; as if it was in the spring season. The third tree was full of bright green leaves; which was what the tree species would look like in summer. And the last tree had leaves in a range of colours from yellow, orange, and red; but the leaves hadn't started to fall off yet, assuming that it was somewhere near the beginning or middle of Autumn in the seasonal cycle of that tree.

Agent MacKenzie ambled over to Teddy after several minutes, with a pamphlet about the conservatory in his hand. Each separate section of the conservatory had a pamphlet based on it, and the tree section was no different.

"It says here that the conservatory sometimes uses climate spells on specific plants to keep them in certain environments and or atmospheres. They must do that here to keep each tree in a state that represents what they look like in each season. Fascinating isn't it?" Agent MacKenzie said in a loud and conversational tone. He was being purposely friendly so that he could pass the innocuous sounding information on to Teddy.

Teddy nodded his head, and said something banal about the intricate magic homeostasis spells that a task like that would need. However, before he could whisper something secret to Agent MacKenzie, the other man handed Teddy the pamphlet he was holding and told him that it held even more fascinating facts.

The metamorphmagus eyed the brochure warily as he glanced at the front cover, but when he slowly opened it up he saw that MacKenzie had written a message on it for him. He read the slight writing that was written sideways down the margin on the middle fold and frowned. Apparently Agent MacKenzie had spotted someone that he recognized as belonging to the Holmwood organization. The man in question was only visible for a few seconds before he disappeared through a door that was marked as an employees' only entrance.

Teddy looked at Agent MacKenzie and they had a silent conversation that really only involved the minutest of facial expression changes. Basically Teddy gave the N. A. M. C. O. I. C. D. agent a look that said he would try to get through the entrance, and MacKenzie nodded in understanding and agreement. Teddy swiftly left the tree section of the conservation and pretended to be on his way out of the building. He walked directly behind a group of people that obviously looked like tourists, but he took a detour towards the public washroom instead of exiting the building with the group.

While he was in the washroom he morphed into a different person, someone he had seen a in the conservatory that day but who had already left the premises, transfigured his clothes, and then disillusioned himself so that he was no longer plainly visible. The second morph had just been an extra precaution in case he got caught.

After leaving the washroom, he found a secluded corner near the employees' entrance that Agent MacKenzie had pointed out, double-checked that no one had noticed him (disillusionment charms were not as strong as an invisibility cloak after all) and then slipped through the door that said 'Employees Only'.

Behind the door Teddy found a long hallway that was filled with closed doors, but empty of any other human besides himself. All of the doors looked the same, but most of them had labels such as 'Employee Break Room', 'Control Room', 'Sample Room', and 'Research Lab'. Teddy was just considering which of the many rooms he should attempt to get into when the door to the room simply labelled 'Offices', opened up.

Automatically Teddy flattened himself against the wall of the hallway and tried to stay a still as possible while two people walked through the now open door and into the hallway. One was a young woman, perhaps in her late teens, who was wearing a green polo style shirt with the name of the conservatory written on it and a pair of khaki shorts. The second person was a muscular young man who also looked like he was in his late teens, but he was wearing a smart set of charcoal grey dress robes instead of an employee's uniform.

Teddy recognized the man from a dossier he had read during the months that they were combing for evidence against the Holmwoods for the trial. The teenaged boy was definitely the person that Agent MacKenzie had recognized earlier, and Teddy wasn't surprised that he had spotted him. The boy stood out because he was overdressed for the conservatory, but Teddy and MacKenzie had both recognized the boy because they had spent a combined several hours staring at the boy's picture. Like with all known members of the Holmwood family, the N. A. M. C. O. C. I. D. had a picture of him, and a dossier dedicated to him even though he was relatively young.

The teenaged-boy was one of the few people in the Holmwood organization that the N. A. M. C. O. C. I. D. was certain was a grandchild of Linden Holmwood (the brother of Eldon Holmwood) who had ended up immigrating to America shortly after Eldon was exiled to France. From their research the N. A. M. C. O. C. I. D. knew that Linden had four sons: Braxton, Isaac, Kent, and Graeme, but they did not exactly know how many children Linden's children had, or even which parent the suspected grandchildren belonged too.

What Teddy was sure of though, was that the teenaged boy in front of him who was talking to the female employee, was a grandson of Linden Holmwood. He also knew that this particular grandson of Linden Holmwood was definitely involved in the _family business_ someway. It took Teddy only a few seconds to put a name to the face, the only part of the name that was in his file besides his assumed last name, his first name: Greyson.

"So did your meeting with my boss go well?" The brunette employee asked Greyson in a conversational tone as they walked down the hallway.

Greyson smiled charmingly at her in response, "It went very well, and again thank you for personally directing me to his office. I hadn't met with him here at the conservatory before and I would have been completely lost without your gracious help."

"It was nothing. And I'm glad to hear that your meeting worked out, although I still don't know why you're ordering flowers for a party from a conservatory in the first place. A flower shop would be much easier," The girl replied with a teasingly raised eyebrow.

His smirk grew wider and he said, "They're for someone who is very particular about how the flowers are grown, no magical pesticides and such. It's just easier to get them from here than to interrogate twenty different flower shops."

The two had gradually slowed in their progression down the hall until they came to a stop directly, and inconveniently, in front of Teddy.

Greyson turned slightly and looked unabashedly into the eyes of the girl. In a soft tone he told her, "And maybe I decided to come here because it gave me the chance to see you again."

The girl's cheeks went red but she didn't break eye-contact with him. Instead she took a short step away from him and put her hands on her hips, "That was direct."

"I prefer to be direct, beating around the bush doesn't really suit my style. But you'll learn that about me as our acquaintance furthers," Greyson told her with a cheeky expression.

She raised an eyebrow at him, "You're Cocky too."

"It's one of my _many_ good qualities, I can assure you."

She started to walk again towards the exit and he kept pace with her, "Do you think that a few smiles and some pretty words are really all it's going to take?"

"I had hoped not," Greyson replied as they got to the end of the hallway. He held the door open and gestured for the girl to go first, "I quite prefer a challenge."

Once they were gone Teddy figured that he wasn't going to uncover much more without resorting to a level of illegal trespassing that he wouldn't be able to pretend was accidental if he got caught. He kept his disillusionment charm on as he exited the private hallway, and when he didn't spot Agent MacKenzie inside the conservatory, or Agent Brown outside, he knew that he was supposed to apparate back to the N. A. M. C. O. I. C. D. building.

The debriefing in agents MacKenzie and Brown's office after the trip to the Nova Conservatory was quick, but mostly it just brought up more questions than they had answers for. By the end they had established that there were more things that they needed to look into, such as the conservatory's possible connection to incidents involving dangerous plants; who was responsible for integrating the _Brugemannisia_ into the third task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament; and that they needed to do further research into Greyson, as well as the new deal Teddy heard him telling the female employee about (not that Teddy actually believed that he was there to make a deal about basic flowers). The final thing they needed to uncover was the identity of the female employee.

Both MacKenzie and Brown were interested in Teddy's description of Greyson's chatting up of the female Nova employee, and even though they all agreed that it sounded as though the employee barely knew him, it would still be good to get an ID on her in case Greyson kept sniffing around her in the future. She at least would be easy to find on a daily basis, which might make it easier for them to find Greyson, if he kept going to the conservatory in person to deal with Holmwood business.

It was dinner time by the time that Teddy finally got back to his and Victoire's hotel room, but instead of walking through the door and finding an impatient fiancée who wanted to know what took him so long, he found that one that wasn't all that aware of how much time had passed either.

It seemed that Victoire had made out very well at the different libraries that she had visited that afternoon while he was with the agents from the N. A. M. C. O. C. I. D., as their hotel suite was filled with stacks of several books, and even more rolls of parchment that were no doubt filled with passages magically copied out of texts that she couldn't check out of the libraries. And there, in the middle of all of the paper chaos –looking like she was deep in the middle of studying for her N. E. W. T.s– was his beautiful fiancée. Her blonde hair was thrown up in a messy knot on the top of her head, and she had thrown a baggy dark blue jumper over her 'I' heart 'NY' t-shirt, but Teddy still found the sight of her inexplicably attractive. Her facial expression was still adorably focused, so he was pretty sure that she hadn't noticed his entrance yet.

She was alternating between reading a few paragraphs out of a text and coping some notes down on a piece of parchment, so he waited until she was in the middle of reading a certain passage, and then he pulled out his wand and silently cast a spell on the quill that she was absentmindedly fiddling with as she read.

It was only a minute before Victoire put her quill back to her parchment to copy down a note, and she spent a full minute writing something before realizing that her self-inking quill wasn't working.

"What the-" She quickly looked up from her page and rolled her eyes when she found him standing not three feet away from her.

"I take it that's your way of saying that I need a break?" She asked him with a specific look.

He crossed his arms over his chest, "That depends, have you had to cast a hydrating spell on your eyes because they've gone dry from the intensity of your research yet?"

She didn't verbally reply, but she did put a book mark in her text and close it.

"I'll take that as a yes," Teddy continued.

Victoire stood up, stretched her arms and shoulders out, and then suggested, "Dinner time then?"

Teddy replied in the positive, and Victoire started to put some of her books and rolls of parchment away so that there was more space to move around the hotel room. She said that she wanted to get changed before they left, but Teddy hastily told her that she looked lovely and that she was perfect as she was. There was something about the combination of the over-sized sweater and the tight black jeans she was wearing that he _really_ found enticing, so he didn't exactly want her to change. He did allow her time to fix her hair though, and she opted for keeping it down and loose after she ran a brush through it, instead of pulling it back up.

They left their hotel room not too long after, with Victoire directing them to a particular bistro that Spencer Green had recommended to her.

"So how does Spencer know this place?" Teddy asked Victoire curiously as they walked down the street they had apparated to, which held the bistro only a few blocks down from their point of apparation.

Victoire smiled fondly as she remembered Spencer's excited expression when he found out that she and Teddy were going to New York state for the weekend, "Apparently he has family in this state, so he knows the area rather well. Not only did he say that we _had_ to go to this bistro, but he also told me that his younger cousin Kelly works here, and that we should see if she's working if we stop by."

"Wait, his cousin's name is Kelly Green?" Teddy asked incredulously.

"Yup," Victoire agreed with a laugh.

When they found themselves in front of a rustic looking bistro a few minutes later, they paused at the outside of the restaurant before going in.

"Spencer said his cousin works here?" Teddy questioned confusedly.

"That's what he told me," Victoire replied. She understood Teddy's confusion. The bistro in front of them looked distinctly magical and Spencer was from a family of muggles.

Victoire titled her head as she glanced at the bistro, "He didn't mention that his cousin was magical as well."

"It's not _too_ uncommon for children from the same extended, or even nuclear, muggle family to have magic," Teddy reminded her although he still felt a little surprised at the circumstance himself.

"Well, let's go in and see if we can meet this Kelly Green then," Victoire said in a bright tone.

The inside of the bistro was as charming and endearing as the outside, and Victoire and Teddy were quickly seated at a table for two by a hostess who was _not_ named Kelly.

"So how did your research go today?" Teddy asked Victoire as they opened up their menus.

Victoire glanced at the selection of pasta dishes as she replied, "It was a lot easier than I expected it to be. There were already some books and case files on hold for me at most of the libraries, so I didn't have to spend too much time searching the stacks for other texts before I found everything I needed."

"And are the books giving you the information that you expected?" He asked with an indulgent smile. Despite the fact that staring at books all day was probably tiresome even for her, she still sounded excited about her research.

"I can't make any concrete conclusions yet," She retorted while giving him a specific look, "But I am cautiously optimistic that there is a trend that seems to align with my hypothesis."

Teddy smirked teasingly at her, "You could have just said yes."

"But you like it when I go into detail," She retorted.

He chuckled and just shook his head at her.

"So," Victoire began, changing the topic, "I sent Ally a text with the picture we took earlier in the day."

"And how'd she respond to that?" Teddy asked, picturing in his mind the photo of them in their matching t-shirts that they had taken in the morning before Teddy left to meet the N. A. M. C. O. C. I. D. agents.

Victoire pursed her lips, "She didn't send me a text message back, but she did send me a picture of her at the wedding."

"Did she look like she was having fun?"

"I'm not sure if Ally was, but Alexandrie sure did."

There was a pause in the conversation.

"Pardon?" Teddy asked baffled.

She shrugged her shoulders, a slightly mystified expression on her face as well, "I got a picture sent to me of Ally and Alexandrie at Chris and Giavanna's wedding."

"Wha–How . . . you know what, this sounds like a story that I need to hear in person," He finally told her.

"I agree."

A waitress came up to their table a few moments later. She had a bright smile on her face, brown hair, and looked to be in her late teens.

"Hello! How are we this fine evening folks?"

They both looked up at hearing her greeting, and Victoire quickly replied back that they were well, while Teddy stared at the waitress in shock. He had already seen that same young woman earlier in the day. It was the same Nova employee that Greyson Holmwood had been speaking to in the hallway while Teddy was disillusioned. The one that MacKenzie and Brown were probably presently trying to find an ID on.

"So are we going to start with some drinks?" The waitress asked.

She hadn't noticed Teddy's minutely surprised expression when he studied her, but across the table from him the look on Victoire's face said that she noticed his distraction.

They both said what type of drink they wanted, and the waitress nodded and said that she'd give them some more time with their menus.

"Oh, and my name's Kelly by the way."

Teddy froze.

Victoire seemed too busy to notice. She smiled at the girl, "Are you Kelly Green?"

The waitress's eyes widened in surprise, but she nodded her head, "Uh, yes. I am."

Victoire tried to make her smile sweeter and she figured she should probably explain quickly lest their waitress think she was some sort of stalker, "Hi, my name's Victoire. I'm friends with your cousin Spencer Green in England."

"Oh, you know Spence," Kelly said, a relieved and more relaxed expression coming across her face.

"Yes, we went to healing school together. When he found out that I was going to be around these parts he told me that I had to come to this restaurant and see if his cousin Kelly was working," Victoire clarified.

Kelly rolled her eyes but there was a smile on her face as she did it, "He's always been a bit like the overprotective older brother I never had. And never wanted. It's nice to meet you though."

"You as well," Victoire replied.

Kelly repeated that she would go get their drinks and then come back after they had a chance to look at their menus once more. She left them with a friendly smile, and once she was gone Victoire commented that she seemed very nice.

Teddy nodded at her words, but he wasn't exactly listening to her.

He was too busy thinking about the owl he would have to send to agents MacKenzie and Brown once they got back to their hotel suite. It seemed that he had inadvertently stumbled upon the answer to one of the questions that the visit to the conservatory had created. The name of the Nova Conservatory employee that Greyson Holmwood had been flirting with: Kelly Green, cousin apparently to the one and only Spencer Green.

* * *

 **A/N:** So, who were we more surprised to see Gisele or Alexandrie? Also, how did we like Teddy back in auror mode? I hope you liked this chapter and please let me know your thoughts on it and which part you liked the best. Also, I know that you lot probably expected a lot more Vic and Teddy sightseeing in this chap, but when I went to write it it came out like this and I really liked how it ended up. In addition, the chapter was getting long and I didn't feel that tacking on another few paragraphs at the end would be worth it.

 **Next Update:** Still going to be updating every two weeks, I'll let you guys know when I'll be able to change it back to once a week, because I'd really like to, but it still might be a little while.

 **Next Chapter:** We're back at Hogwarts and we get to see James, Freddie, Al, and Rose again.

Teaser for Next Chap:

 **"Rose smiled slightly, "Yes, Ally and Xavier are going to get married. Although all of us kids here at Hogwarts are rather certain that they're not actually going to have the wedding anytime soon. I even doubt that they'll get married before Victoire and Teddy do."**

 **Scorpius coughed a little awkwardly, but his response didn't lag, "And when is your _other_ cousin getting married then?"**

 **"Not for another year and a bit," Rose explained more than a little awkwardly. They weren't just talking about _Rose's_ cousin getting married now, they were technically talking about Scorpius's as well."**

I want to thank everyone who has followed, favourited, read, and reviewed this story!

I also really want to thank everyone who reviewed and got this story to 800+ reviews so . . .

An especially BIG thank you to:

 **ntlpurpolia, NicoleTheSmith, jeremiah123, AngelTwins527, M, HPsea, TIGERSAGE, mazzmataz, jilyshippingforever, rosesnlilies, kawaiiotaku0405, Seher Syed, Guest (1), cpnjky, Jennifer Jules, no cure for crazy, silverlover02, zvc56, Random Viewer, MuggleCreator,** and **Guest (2)**.

 **ntlpurpolia** : I'm glad that you see it that way.

 **NicoleTheSmith** : You've made a good point.

 **jilyshippingforever** : You also made some good points.

 **rosesnlilies** : She is a Gryffindor for a reason.

 **Guest (1)** : Does it seem like Cecilia and Louis are going to break up?

 **cpnjky** : I'm glad you liked the vault scenes so much, I worked hard to figure out how to write it up and I'm glad it came out well. I would assume that Sirius was still in possession of the vault while he was in Azkaban even if he couldn't use it for much. For that specific info though I'm not entirely sure because JKR created all of that, I've just built off of it. I doubt Andromeda would be mad at Vic for trying to get Teddy to talk to Narcissa, mostly because she'd probably need Andromeda's help to set it up. Also, as we've seen earlier Narcissa has some sort of communication going on with Andromeda so if she's open to speaking to her sister I can't see her being harsh about Teddy.

 **Jennifer Jules** : I hope this chapter lived up to your expectations.

 **Random Viewer** : Well not in this chapter obviously, but maybe part of it in the next . . . .

 **I hope everyone enjoyed this chap!**

 **Please leave me your comments or questions in a review,**

 **Thanks again for reading,**

 **Until next time, DFTBA!**

 **P.S. I just saw _Beauty and the Beast_ and it was fantastic! Anyone else see it yet?**


	34. A Day in the Life

**A/N:** Hello everyone! Here's the next update :)

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own _Harry Potter_.

* * *

 **Recap:** In the last chapter we saw Ally and co. at Giavanna and Chris's wedding, and Victoire in Teddy in New York to do some work with the N. A. M. C. O. C. I. D. The last time we saw the kids at Hogwarts James was telling Freddie that he needed to mature, and Rose and Scorpius's attempt at a first kiss was unintentionally interrupted by Victoire.

* * *

 **A Day in the Life**

 **Monday, October 24** **th** **2022**

 **8:02 AM**

 **Hogwarts**

"Why do Mondays always suck so much?" Nolan Finnegan bemoaned as he dragged his feet towards the direction of the Great Hall.

"Today has barely started," James Potter pointed out as he and Freddie Weasley walked with their friend to breakfast.

Nolan groaned, "And I can already tell that it's going to be awful. I mean our first class is double-potions, if that doesn't scream 'today's going to be awful' then I don't know what does."

Both James and Freddie knew that it would be futile to argue with Nolan when he was in an attitude like he was at present, so they stayed silent while he griped the entire way to the Great Hall.

The minute they entered the Hall Nolan stopped speaking and the trio of seventh-years stopped walking altogether. It seemed as though everyone in the Great Hall had turned to stare at them once they entered, and soon after a cascade of whispering broke out.

"Did you guys pull a prank or something last night?" Nolan asked the other two with a puzzled expression on his face.

James shook his head while Freddie casually said, "No, all I did last night was my Charms homework."

"Wait, that's not due until Wednesday. You actually finished it ahead of time?" James asked Freddie distractedly.

Freddie shrugged, "Norah was working on hers in the common room and I didn't think she'd let me sit near her if she didn't think I was working on my own homework."

"That doesn't explain why everyone's staring at us though," Nolan reminded them.

"I'm sure we're about to find out though," James said as he spotted his little sister Lily in the crowd of faces at the Gryffindor table. She was waving them over a little wildly with both of her arms up in the air.

They made their way over to the Gryffindor table, and they found Al, Rose, and Hugo all sitting near Lily. Realizing that whatever was about to happen was probably going to be an impromptu family meeting, James and Freddie quickly sat down with their family while Nolan continued his way down the table towards some of their other friends.

"I take it you lot know why everyone is staring at us?" James asked as he settled in between his siblings.

"Actually," Lily corrected while Freddie sat down across the table from them in between Rose and Hugo, " _Everyone_ was probably only staring at Freddie."

"Why?" The man in questions asked curiously as he reached forward to fill a glass with pumpkin juice.

"Because of this," Rose answered, she placed that morning's copy of _The Daily Prophet_ open on the table so Freddie and James could see what was written in it.

The headline of the front page read 'Puddlemere Players go Wild at Wedding Party', with one large photo of people dancing at a wedding reception. It was impossible to pick out a specific face within the crowd, but it did look like the people at the party were having a good time.

"What does this have to do with me?" Freddie asked Rose uncomprehendingly, he had only read the headline and had barely glanced at the photo.

Al pointed out a section of the paper that said 'article continued on page 3-4', "Keep reading."

Freddie flipped to the appropriate pages and then his mouth fell open. He didn't even really need to 'keep reading' the written portion of the article, as the photos spread among both pages, and the headlines above said photos, was enough to make him understand why everyone was staring at him.

The first photo was one of Clark Westin at a bar at the wedding, he seemed to be pounding back a series of what looked like firewhisky shots with a pretty blonde woman directly at his side who surprisingly looked a lot like Victoire. The headline accompanying it suggested that Clark had been partying a little _too_ hard and that that held led to an evening of over-indulging. The second photo held an image of Nadia Cassano, presumably at the recpetion, in the middle of snogging a bloke that all of the Weasleys and Potters knew was Malcolm Wood, and the headline was something along the lines of 'Puddlemere's Centre Chaser Always Ready for a Good Time'. On the second page was the third photo, it depicted one of Puddlemere's other chasers facing his wife and gesturing a little too passionately with his hands; the headline for it suggested that the chaser had had a very large and very public fight with his wife at the wedding reception.

The very last photo was the main reason why people were staring at Freddie. It held and imagine of Xavier and Ally slow dancing from the wedding, and featured very prominently in the photo was Ally's left hand resting on Xavier's shoulder, the large engagement ring on her ring finger looked more than a little suspicious. The headline accompanying that photo was printed in the largest font, and it simply read 'Xavier Wood is now off the Market'.

"So the whole wizarding world now knows that Xavier and Ally are engaged," Freddie summarized upon looking up from the paper and glancing at his cousins.

"It seems they do," Lily replied in the affirmative.

Ally and Xavier's engagement wasn't exactly a new concept to the Weasley and Potter kids who were still at Hogwarts, but the fact that the couple's secret had gotten loose to the press without any official statement from the pair almost guaranteed that it would now be a popular topic of gossip for the next several days.

"I don't think Ally's going to be very happy to see this news spread, she and Xavier wanted to announce it on their own terms," Rose commented in a sympathetic voice as she thought of how disappointed her elder cousin probably felt when she found out about _The Daily Prophet_ 's photos.

James eyed the other photos of the Puddlemere players, "I don't think any of the Puddlemere players are going to like this. I'm sure that they'll get an earful from their coaches and publicists about proper behaviour in public after this."

"Not to mention that this is far from a beautiful and tasteful magazine spread about Giavanna Tracey and Chris Mullin's wedding," Lily added, "I'm sure the bride's going to be pissed that the most notable coverage of her wedding is in concerns to her husband's teammates' general debauchery, marital problems, and the engagement of a different couple. Talk about being outshone on your own wedding day."

Rose frowned at Lily, "You shouldn't be so harsh on her. You don't know anything about the bride."

"I know that she pisses Vic and Ally off, so really that's enough for me to make my own judgement about her," Lily replied with a casual wave of her hand.

"How do you even– you know what, never mind."

Hugo smirked at Freddie, "Get ready for people to repeatedly ask you the same questions about Ally and Xavier's engagement over the course of the next week."

"You think they're going to come to me with questions?" Freddie asked incredulously.

Al snorted, "You are going to have _so_ many of Xavier's fangirls asking you all about how he proposed."

"Well that will be a short discussion," Freddie muttered under his breath.

His elder sister had included in her earlier letter to him –the one that announced her engagement– that she had actually been the one to propose to her fiancé. Freddie hadn't thought much about the admission, but his sister had been very clear in her letter that he was not to tell anyone else about that particular detail. She didn't even want him to tell his cousins until much later when the novelty of the engagement was over, and not until the press had decidedly lost interest in their story.

"Cheer up," James told his best mate as he gave him a firm clap on the shoulder, "Maybe Norah Summers will be one of those girls coming up to you looking for details."

"You think?" Freddie asked, suddenly encouraged by the thought.

"Maybe," James replied.

Hugo rolled his eyes, "Nah, it'll probably just be a group of twittering second and third year Hufflepuff girls."

"What makes you say that?" Rose asked her brother curiously.

Hugo snorted and pointed behind where Lily, James, and Al were sitting, "Because there's a bunch of them grouped over there giggling, they're probably waiting for Freddie to get up from the table so they can ambush him."

"Fantastic."

* * *

 **8:32 AM**

"'Ow come you did not 'ave breakfast with me zis morning?" Mélanie asked James when he sat down beside her in potions class later that morning.

The redhead had an adorable pout on her face that stayed in place even when James leaned forward to give her a hello kiss on the cheek.

"I had to save Freddie from some rabid fangirls," James replied tersely as he opened up his rucksack and started to search for his potions' textbook.

Mélanie's facial expression was one of confusion, "Fangirl?" It seemed as though she wasn't entirely sure if she had heard his pronunciation right.

"Yeah, those Hufflepuffs take the concept of loyalty much too far sometimes," He explained, finally finding his textbook.

She still didn't seem as though she understood him fully, so he clarified that he was helping Freddie field questions from people about his sister's engagement. She seemed to be able to comprehend that explanation better, but their conversation was cut short once their Potions' professor arrived.

"We're going to need all of our time for our assignment today class, so I'd appreciate it if everyone would take their seats," Professor Nurmi announced as she swept into the classroom and took her place in front of the blackboards.

While the Professor had been addressing the entire class with her statement, it was obviously only meant for Freddie and Nolan as they were the only people who weren't at their assigned work station yet, they had been teasing a pair of Mélanie's friends on the other side of the classroom.

"Good, now today we're going to work on something that will be more difficult than what we have been trying, but this exercise will also give you all a chance to practice several very important potion's making skills," Professor Nurmi continued in a very excited tone, "And since we're going to be trying something very different from what we are used to, I've decided that we're also going to switch partners for this assignment."

Almost everyone in the class frowned at hearing the professor's words as they were all happy with who they were already paired up with and sitting next to. They had chosen partners on the first day of class and had been working with their partners for each Potion's in-class assignment ever since.

James also didn't sound too excited about Professor Nurmi's declaration about changing partners because he wanted to stay with Mélanie and work with her like every other Potion's class.

The class's unenthusiastic reaction to Professor's Nurmi's explanation didn't stop the professor's roll, and she began to call out the names of the students and let them know who they were paired up with.

". . . Miss Childs you're with Mr. Finnegan, Mr. Morrison with Mr. Weasley, Miss Bonheur-Lévesque and Miss Dawson, Mr. Potter and Miss Spiros . . ."

The students stood up and began to move around to get into their pairs, and James leaned over and gave his girlfriend a quick peck on the cheek before relinquishing his seat to Mélanie's friend Lauren Dawson.

He then found Selene Spiros sitting a few tables away, and sat down on the empty stool next to her at the work station.

"I guess we're working together today," James said with a pleasant smile as he pulled out his Potion's textbook.

Selene grinned back but raised an eyebrow at him, "I guess we are. And I hope you won't take it personally if I ask you if your potion's skills are as up-to-date as your quidditch skills?"

"While I will admit that my counter-clockwise stirring might not be as good as my Finbourgh Flick, I'm not too horrid at potion making," James replied with a smirk, "I know that I don't need to ask _you_ about your potion's prowess Miss-I-want-to-be-a-healer."

Selene's smile was still on her face but it didn't quite match her eyes.

"It's more like Miss-whose-parents-want-her-to-become-a-healer," She muttered with a sad shake of her head.

James's eyes narrowed in concern when he glanced at her, "Um, are you okay Selene?"

"I'm fine James," She replied quickly as she flipped through her textbook to the page number that Professor Nurmi wrote on the blackboard. She quickly changed the topic, "This does look more difficult than what we've been doing."

James took his cue from his new partner and glanced down at his own textbook, "Hmm, I'm surprised that Professor Nurmi's assigned this to us, it seems to be a type of love potion."

"I think she's under the impression that none of us are actually going to be able to make this correctly, so I doubt she's worried about someone in the class nicking a bit of it and trying to use it on someone," Selene reasoned.

James nodded and then offered to go get the ingredients for their potion. His trip to the ingredients closet was quick and he came back with his arms full. He unloaded it onto the table of their work station and then he and Selene swiftly got to work.

It turned out that the pair of chasers worked just as well together off the quidditch pitch as they did on it, and their combined potion's knowledge and proficiency made them extra efficient. It took them only a relatively short amount of time to do the bulk of the potion's brewing, and they had started on the hour-long stirring and simmering portion of the instructions while many of their classmates were only halfway through measuring and adding ingredients.

Their productivity was so prominent that their Potion's professor decided to comment on it when she was doing her rounds.

"Well, well, well it looks like the two of you make a good team," Professor Nurmi remarked with a pleased clap of her hands, "I see you've just got to add the honey water and faerie wings to it."

"After it's had the chance to simmer just above a low boil for the next hour," Selene said.

"And after stirring clockwise six and a half times every twelve minutes," James added with a bit of a grin.

Professor Nurmi smiled proudly, "Very good Miss Spiros, Mr. Potter. Twenty points to Gryffindor!"

They waited until their professor strolled over to check on the next pair of students before sharing a satisfied high-five. With them having reached the more boring section of potion brewing, it gave the pair a chance to look around the room and see how their classmates were faring with the assignment.

"As much as I love my friend Teagan, I will confess that you are a better potion's partner than her," Selene admitted to James in a whisper.

He smirked and then glanced at a work station a few metres away from them, where Selene's friend Teagan Childs was paired with Nolan Finnegan. The poor girl looked more than a little confused as she read a section of the instructions from her textbook, and beside her Nolan was no help. He seemed to be too occupied with staring at her to actually help her with the potion they were supposed to be working on together.

"I feel like this is where I should apologize for my friend's ogling on his behalf," James told Selene in a truly apologetic tone.

She shook her dark head and then waved him off, "There's no need. They might end up failing this assignment, but Teagan's still probably going to be happy with its results. It probably goes against some unwritten girl-code to say this, but Teag's had a massive crush on Nolan for at least a month now."

"I promise not to use this information for evil," James said, holding his palm up as if he was making some sort of solemn vow, "Although if Nolan's busy flirting with Teagan it'll mean that he _won't_ be flirting Norah."

"Leaving Freddie as the only contender for Norah's fair hand?" Selene replied sarcastically and with a knowing look.

James eyed her speculatively, "You're a friend of Norah's . . . do you think that Freddie's constant pestering of her is hurting his chances?"

"If it was any other girl I'd probably say yes, but Norah's a little peculiar. I'm rather certain that she likes playing this game of back and forth with Freddie. But that's pretty much the extent of my knowledge of Norah and any possible feelings she may or may not have for Freddie. If you're really interested in more details you should probably ask your cousin Rose if she knows anything, she at least shares a dorm room with Norah," Selene said.

He sighed, "Nah, can't do that. Rose specified last year that she is not getting involved in anything concerning both Freddie and Norah."

"Smart girl," Selene stated, "I'm trying to do the same thing. I think that getting involved and picking sides is just going to make playing quidditch together as a team even more awkward."

James pursed his lips thoughtfully, "So you're against players on the same team being involved with each other?"

"I'm definitively against players on different teams being involved with each other, and generally against players on the same team becoming involved. Even in the professional league, in the history of players hooking-up with other players the _only_ time that something like that actually worked out was when Oliver Wood and Katie Bell got married. They're the exception, not the rule," She reasoned.

"You've got very strong opinions about this topic," He said surprised.

Selene blushed and tucked a strand of black hair behind her ear, "It just annoys me when the media and gossip magazines spend more time covering supposed hook-ups and affairs between professional players than they do writing actual articles of substance about the players' talents and skills."

"I know where you're coming from, I hate it when people insult the integrity of quidditch too," James agreed with her.

She looked away from him and down at their potion, "I think it's about time to add the faerie wings."

He nodded and read the part of their textbook that held the instructions pertaining to the faerie wings, "It says here that we only need the smallest pinch of them. Too much will make the potion much too strong."

He moved his gaze away from the book and glanced at Selene, "So you should probably do it then, you've got smaller fingers."

"But," She argued as she pointed to the textbook, "We also don't want the potion to be too weak. I think that we should consider the fact that the original creator of this potion was male, and that his pinch of faerie wings was probably more approximate to what your pinch of faerie wings would be."

James nodded his head, "That's some sound reasoning."

He reached for the small pile of faerie wings that was on their work table and collected a pinch between his fingers. He held his hand out above the cauldron and looked at his partner, who was busy re-reading the instructions concerning the addition of the faerie wings.

"So I just drop them in then?"

Selene's head was still lent over her textbook so she didn't see how close James's hand was to the cauldron. Her dark eyes were still scanning the directions while she answered him, "Yes-"

James opened his fingers and let the almost translucent multi-coloured wings flutter down into the presently light orange potion.

"We just need to make sure that-" Selene cut herself off as her gaze moved from her textbook and up to James's open hand.

Her eyes widened in surprise and she grabbed James by the arm and hastily jerked him away from the cauldron.

"Wha-" James began to ask as Selene roughly manhandled until he was close to her side and standing three feet away from the cauldron.

Before he could finish his question their potion started to bubble, and some of the bubbles were so large that they escaped the liquid and began to float up and away from the cauldron. The bubbles that escaped popped only about a foot up from the potion below, and when they did a visible lilac coloured vapour dispersed from the bubbles and into the air. The colouring quickly disappeared as the vapour dispersed further.

"Did I do something wrong?" James asked his potions partner in an adorably confused tone of voice as he stared at their potion. The bubbles were slowly subsiding and they had stopped popping.

Selene shook her head and bit her lip to hold in a laugh, "No, but the instructions in the text said that we needed to make sure that we weren't close to the potion after adding the faerie wings. Apparently the addition of the wings makes bubbles form that disperse a vapour similar to a short-term euphoria draught."

"Where does it say that?"

"Directly after it instructs you to add the wings."

"Well they ought to have added that warning before that, not after," James reasoned as he crossed his arms over his chest, "So have we infected the rest of the class or something?"

"No, it only would have affected us because we were closest to it," Selene told him as they slowly walked back to their cauldron.

James looked thoughtfully at their cauldron, which had changed to the appropriate shade of light red after the addition of the wings, "Would it have been so bad to have been exposed to the bubbles and vapour?"

"Have you ever seen someone under the influence of a euphoria draught?" She asked him seriously.

"Nope. Can't say that I have."

"Then you'll have to take my word on it. A euphoria draught may _sound_ nice, but it's not something you want to take while you're in the middle of a day full of classes."

"Fair enough," He replied. James may have sounded as though he easily agreed with Selene's words, but a part of him was very curious as to how she knew everything she did about euphoria draughts.

Just as the two were about to consult their textbooks to see what their next step would be, Mélanie came over and stood in front of their work station.

" _James_ ," The redhead began in a sweet, if not slightly wheedling, tone, "Lauren and I need some 'elp wit our potion. We just cannot seem to understand step nine. Could you come over and give us a 'and?"

She had smiled coyly at her boyfriend and had reached out to grab his hand halfway through her request.

He felt her tug gently on his hand to try to pull him off his stool, and even though he got to his feet he turned his head to send a questioning look in Selene's direction, "I . . . uh . . ."

"Go ahead," Selene told him with a nonchalant wave of her hand, "I think I can handle the next six and a half stirs on my own."

James smiled in thanks at her, "Just let me know when it's time to add the honey water and I'll come back."

He waited for her to nod her head at him before allowing Mélanie to pull him away to the station where she and her friend had been struggling with their assignment.

* * *

 **2:22 PM**

"Time for the next class," Rose commented to Alice Longbottom as they left the greenhouses, their Herbology class had just ended.

Alice smirked, "Time for _you_ to go to your next class, _I've_ got a free period now."

"I still don't know why you didn't continue with Arithmancy this year like Al, Scorpius, and I did," Rose told her friend with a frown.

"It's because I knew that I'd need a break after having a class with my father," Alice explained in a not-quite-fake dramatic tone.

Rose rolled her eyes, "Your Dad's one of the best professors at this school."

"But he's still my Dad, which makes being in his classes supremely awkward," Alice argued just as Scorpius Malfoy and Albus Potter came up from behind the girls and joined them.

Rose scoffed and looked at both boys, "Tell Alice that her father's a great teacher and that she's being too hard on him."

Al automatically held his hands up and said, "I don't think I'm going to get in the middle of this." While Scorpius just quietly nodded his head in agreement with his friend.

"Thank you boys," Alice said in a superior tone as if their refusal to say anything at all meant that they were automatically on her side, "And with that I'm off to the common room, I'll see you lot later!"

Alice skipped away and then the three students that were left began their trek towards their Arithmancy class.

"Did you guys get your homework for this class done?" Rose asked the two boys conversationally as they turned a corner of the hallway.

Scorpius succinctly replied in the positive, while Al calmly informed her, "Nope."

Rose's eyebrows furrowed in confusion, "You had all weekend Al, I can't believe you didn't get it done-"

"Actually," Al began, interrupting Rose's reprimand, "I didn't finish the homework because I don't need to do the homework anymore. I'm dropping the class."

"What? But you're good at it," Rose unnecessarily reminded him.

Al stuck his hands into the pockets of his robes, "Which is why I signed up to take it again this year, but I talked with Mum and Dad about it in my last letter home and they said that if I thought that taking the course was interfering with my marks for my other courses, then they trust my judgement to do the right thing. They said I could drop the course if it's not necessary for the Auror Department –or if I decided to go a different road, I could drop courses that I don't need and take up ones that I do. They're really trying to get me to consider other careers before I make a commitment to becoming an auror."

"So Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny are fine with you dropping Arithmancy?" Rose repeated.

"They trust my judgement," Al reiterated. He stopped walking and turned to face a different hallway than the one that would lead them to their Arithmancy class, "So . . . I'm going to go get a head start on the next DADA assignment now that I've got some extra time."

His last statement was basically his farewell and he quickly scampered away, leaving Rose and Scorpius alone in the hallway, only having covered half the distance to their next class.

Neither the Gryffindor nor the Slytherin looked as though they knew what to say and somehow, without even looking at each other, they were able to come to a silent understanding that they needed to get back to walking to their next class.

They started walking again, but there was no conversation between the two of them.

Whether through fate, or purposeful design on one of their behalves, Rose and Scorpius hadn't spent any time alone together since that fateful day in the library that was interrupted by Victoire. Furthermore, even though Victoire had given Rose some solid advice on how to deal with the almost-kiss, when Rose had gone back and faced Scorpius she found that she couldn't bring herself to discuss the incident with him. Afterwards, it wasn't the first time that she had ever felt herself wondering why she had been sorted into Gryffindor –house of the brave– instead of safe and predictable Ravenclaw where she wouldn't feel as though she was a misfit in her own house just because she couldn't find the courage to do something that scared her, but it certainly wouldn't be the last time she had those thoughts either.

When she had gone back to see Scorpius in the restricted section she _did_ had every intention of having a real, open, and honest talk about the fact that he had almost kissed her. But it just so happened that the sight of him made her stomach feel like there was a pack of hippogriffs living in it, and made her mind go completely blank. Before she knew it, she was reverting back to her shy standby and she picked up their conversation while pretending that both the almost-kiss and Victoire's interruption had never happened.

While she and Scorpius continued on with their lives and pretended that nothing had (or almost had) happened between them, inside, Rose was a mess of different emotions. Some days she would kick herself for letting the whole situation pass without giving Scorpius a chance, while on other days she was almost certain that she had made the right decision when she thought about how Al would feel if he found out that she had kissed his best friend. And on the few days that she thought that just maybe Al and the rest of her family wouldn't mind if she ended up being something more than friends with Scorpius, she would heavily berate herself for being a coward and for not tackling the situation head-on when she had the chance like a true Gryffindor would have.

About a week into her inner musings on the situation, Rose came to the realization that her wavering back and forth on the whole Scorpius-in-the-library-situation didn't actually have much to do with _her_ feelings or Scorpius's feeling about each other, but about the opinions of the other people in their lives. And while she _knew_ that the only opinions that mattered in the entire situation were hers and Scorpius's, she still couldn't bring herself to talk with him about it. There's was still something holding her back that she hadn't reconciled with yet.

Expectedly, Rose and Scorpius made it the entire way to Arithmancy class without speaking even a word between them. They continued to be silent as they entered class, and they sat down next to each other without having Al as a buffer between them like they usually did.

Luckily for Rose, their class started almost right away and she didn't have to worry about awkwardly trying to talk to Scorpius while they sat next to each other and waited for the rest of their classmates to file in. On the flip side, since class had started so promptly, the professor gave them lots of time to work on their assignment during class time, even telling them that they could do it in pairs if they wanted to.

Both Rose and Scorpius slowly turned in their seats to look at each other. Scorpius raised a white blonde eyebrow as if he was asking a question, and Rose responded with a minute nod of her head. They followed the lead of their classmates around them, and within no time they had their desks pressed together and were quietly working through that afternoon's assignment.

They eventually upgraded from communicating in complete silence to using a handful of words that strictly described only the Arithmancy work they were doing, and surprisingly, they got pretty far by only using the bare minimum of words possible. It didn't hurt that they were both exceptionally good at the subject and only needed to use a few words to communicate about it. In fact, they were so good with their work that they were frequently called upon by their fellow classmates to give them some help, and that day was no different.

"Hey Rose!" Norah Summers suddenly called to her from across the classroom, "Can you come over and show Christen that trick you showed me on the weekend when we did our homework together?"

Rose barely acknowledged Scorpius as she stood up and scurried over to where Norah Summers was working with Christen Lazar, a friend of the former's from Hufflepuff house. The two other girls had scrounged up a chair of Rose, and she sat down on it in-between the pair so that she could help them with their work.

"Thanks so much Rose, I was trying to show Christen how it worked but I just kept screwing it up," Norah admitted unabashedly.

Rose explained that she didn't mind helping them, and then she went on to show the girls the little trick she used to get the sum more quickly once they had finished the first three steps of the equation.

"Now, if what I've just said sounds a little confusing there is a slightly different way to do it. Scorpius uses it all the time and still gets the same number, it's just about which one makes more intuitive sense to you when you use it," Rose was explaining as she used her quill to point out parts of the equation they were presently working on.

Christen nodded her head in comprehension, while Norah suddenly smirked at her friend, "Well if that's the case then Christen's definitely going to want to use the trick Scorpius uses."

The Hufflepuff's face turned bright red, "Norah!"

Norah just rolled her eyes and turned to address Rose, "Christen thinks Scorpius is cute-"

"Well he _is_ cute," Christen defended herself, her cheeks still flaming red.

"And she _fancies_ him," Norah continued in a sing-song voice. It seemed she was trying her best to embarrass her friend.

Even though she was a Hufflepuff, Christen didn't back down from the challenge Norah unknowingly issued, "I don't see how you're in any position to make fun of me Norah, not when you're the one who fancies Fred Weasley."

"I _don't_ fancy Freddie," Norah retorted automatically.

"Then why is your face red?" Christen countered.

Norah did her best to collect herself and put on a haughty facial expression, "I just don't know what you see in Scorpius, Christen. I mean sure he's nice and cute and all, but he's a, _you know_."

Christen rolled her eyes while Rose looked honestly confused.

"What do you mean Scorpius is a ' _you know'_?" Rose asked perplexedly, "Are you referring to the fact that he's a Slytherin?"

Norah snorted, "Merlin no, that's not the issue at all. It's the fact that he plays for an opposing quidditch team that I can't get over."

"Well _I_ don't play quidditch," Christen reminded her friend, "So I have no reason to be prejudicial against him."

It was Norah's turn to roll her eyes, and she did so before swiftly changing the topic of conversation, "So where's Al? He was in Transfiguration earlier in the day."

"Oh, he's decided to drop Arithmancy in order to ensure that he gets top marks in the classes he _needs_ to continue on at N. E. W. T. level," Rose explained.

"He's lucky," Norah announced jealously, "I'd drop this class if I could too, but alas, it's kind of standard if I'm going to be a cursebreaker."

Rose glanced at Norah interestedly, "Is that what you want to do after you graduate?"

"It is, although for some odd reason my cousin Hayden has been very resolute all of a sudden in trying to convince me to go a different route. He's been bothering me about it since this past May at least," Norah complained with a blasé shake of her head.

Once their impromptu gossip session was over, Norah and Christen profusely thanked Rose for her help, and the latter stood up and walked back to her desk. On her way back she was briefly detained by Alice's boyfriend Kieran Chang, but once she showed him that he had accidently dropped a number during his calculations in an earlier step, she had nothing left to do but to go back to her desk and sit down next to Scorpius again.

The Slytherin in question had been busy in her absence, and he was now ahead of her on that day's assignment. However, instead of them going back to their previous way of quietly finishing their assignment, Scorpius offered to help Rose get caught up to where he was.

Such an offer meant that they would have to speak more than just the few odd words to each, but Rose agreed. Their conversation didn't steer away from the task at hand –like it did when Rose had helped Norah and Christen– but a full conversation about equations and sums was better than awkwardly avoiding eye-contact with each other like they had been doing earlier.

By the time class was over, both Rose and Scorpius seemed tired of discussing Arithmancy with each other. Nevertheless, neither of them wanted to fall back into silence as they traversed the castle to get to their next class, so eventually Scorpius decided to bring up what he thought was a safe topic of conversation, which had the added benefit of having nothing to do with Arithmancy.

"So, am I to believe that _The Daily Prophet_ is correct and that your cousin is engaged?"

Rose smiled slightly, "Yes, Ally and Xavier are going to get married. Although all of us kids here at Hogwarts are rather certain that they're not actually going to have the wedding anytime soon. I even doubt that they'll get married before Victoire and Teddy do."

Scorpius coughed a little awkwardly, but his response didn't lag, "And when is your other cousin getting married then?"

"Not for another year and a bit," Rose explained more than a little awkwardly. They weren't just talking about _Rose's_ cousin getting married now, they were technically talking about Scorpius's as well.

She continued, "I don't think they've even started to consider making up a guest list. I know they want to wait until Victoire finishes her residency, gets a job, and then gets a bit of job experience under her belt before tying the knot."

"Sounds very meticulous," Scorpius responded.

"That's just how Vic is, many people may think that she's impulsive, but she's only really like that in situations when her back is to the wall. In reality she's very much a planner and likes to have things done in a particular way," Rose explained on behalf of her cousin, who at some point in the next two years was going to legally become Scorpius's cousin as well.

Scorpius smiled at her, his grey-blue eyes going very soft, "So she's a lot like you then?"

He meant it as a compliment, but the words made Rose's stomach twist uncomfortably.

"No, she's a lot braver than me."

Rose felt the pain of the comparison very keenly. After all, when Victoire had realized that she had more-than-friendly-feelings for her male friend, she chose to face the problem head-on instead of ignoring it; and now she and Teddy were engaged to be married.

The two stopped as they came to the door of their next classroom, but instead of Scorpius moving to open the door for her like he usually did, he turned to face her directly.

"I don't think you give yourself enough credit, everyone's situation is different, and there are different kinds of bravery," He told her softly, his voice almost at a whisper.

She felt so vulnerable in that moment, all she could do was ask, "Do you _really_ think I'm brave?"

He smiled at her once more, and slowly opened the classroom door for her, "I'm confident that there's more than a little courage inside of you, it's just waiting for the right moment to break free."

Rose smiled back at him, but if she hoped that his words were a sign that she should be brave _right_ that minute, than those hopes were quickly dashed when she heard Al's voice calling to them from inside the classroom. He was and waving them over to the seats on either side of his desk that that he had saved for them.

* * *

 **6:38 PM**

It was still surprisingly bright out on the Hogwarts grounds for late autumn, and many of the students decided to take advantage of the nice weather by staying outdoors as long as they could. Normally on such a nice evening James would have insisted on the Gryffindor quidditch team having an extra-long practice, but as it was, it was Slytherin house's quidditch team that had the pitch booked that evening.

Even so, James decided that he was going to make the most of the nice weather and get a good, long run around the grounds in. As he walked towards the door that opened out to the back courtyard, he found that he wasn't the only person to have the same idea.

Standing in the middle of the courtyard stretching out her shoulders, and decked out in black running tights and a navy long-sleeve work-out shirt that had Puddlemere United's logo on the front on it, was James's fellow chaser Selene Spiros.

"I never took you for a Puddlemere fan," James remarked in lieu of a greeting as he joined his teammate on the grass.

Selene nodded her head at him in recognition of his greeting, but then she shot him a look complete with a raised eyebrow, "Then what exactly do you think a Puddlemere fan looks like?"

"I just meant that I never pegged you as a fan because you were always so calm and collected around Cecilia. You never once fangirled or asked personal questions about her parents or Xavier," James expounded.

Selene bent over to stretch her hamstring, "Yeah, well I'm also a big fan of the Harpies but I've never fangirled over you and asked you questions about your Mum."

James nodded his head. She was right, she had never asked him personal or inappropriate questions about his mother before. He'd actually never heard her ask any awkward or inappropriate questions about any of his family members before, including his father. Even Mélanie had asked him personal questions about his family when they were first getting to know each other, and he wasn't talking about the regular types of questions that potential girlfriends ask potential boyfriends about their families. He'd gotten so used to people asking him particular questions about his family that he hardly noticed anymore when people did it. Or, more to the point of his and Selene's conversation, when they didn't do it.

"It all comes down to a certain level of respect," Selene continued, finally straightening up, "Just because some people end up becoming public figures doesn't mean that everybody is automatically entitled to all of the details of their personal lives. Take this morning's paper as an example, I guess I'm glad to hear that Freddie's sister and Cecilia's brother are engaged, but I'm not going to go up to Freddie in the common room and ask him to give me every detail about the engagement. Reading about it in the newspaper doesn't automatically make it any of my business."

He nodded, "I completely agree with you." He then asked her if she wanted to join him on his run, and she said something cheeky about having had the idea first, so technically he was inviting himself to _her_ run.

They took off quickly and fell into a comfortable pace that was at present slightly faster than a jog, and they easily agreed on what route they were going to take along the perimeter of the grounds.

The pair _was_ able to maintain a comfortable silence while running, but James broke it when he realized that he was incredibly curious about what Selene had told him earlier.

"You've got very decided opinions about the lives of professional quidditch players," He observed as he remembered her remarks about both the _Daily Prophet_ article and her philosophy on quidditch teammates getting involved with one another romantically.

Her face, which was already slightly red from the exertion of the run, became redder around her high cheekbones, "I've probably thought about it more than others . . . what it would be like to _be_ a professional quidditch player."

"I've thought about it too," James admitted, "Obviously because I'm hoping to be one someday. I feel like I already know what it feels like to have complete strangers come up to me and ask me inappropriate questions though, so I think I've got that part covered.

Selene smiled shyly and confessed, "I've always wanted to be a professional quidditch player too."

"I thought that you wanted to be a healer?"

"My parents want me to be a healer," Selene corrected, "And I go along with it and everything else they tell me to do –like keeping my Head Girl badge– so that they'll allow me to at least play quidditch on the house team."

James frowned, "You mean they're not supportive of your goal?"

"They don't exactly see becoming a professional quidditch player as a goal. It's more of a daydream to them, a flight of fancy," Selene explained.

She was starting to sound more breathless, but James had a feeling that it had less to do with the fact that they were running, and more to do with the fact that she seemed to be admitting a closely guarded secret to him.

"It'd be a daydream to a lot of people, but not to you. You've definitely got the talent and the drive to get there," James told her, his tone leaving no room for her to doubt that he was one-hundred-percent sincere in his words.

Selene smiled self-consciously, "Tell my parents that will ya?"

She had meant it sarcastically, but when she glanced at James's face she noticed that he had taken her words seriously, "I'm kidding. Please don't."

"I wasn't going to," James defended.

He was being honest; he had no intention to talk to her parents about her dream to become a professional quidditch player. He did however think about telling _his_ mother about it; she did still have lots of contacts within the Harpies' franchise after all.

The slipped into silence once more as they continued their run, and when they were more than half-way done it was Selene's turn to pick a new topic of conversation. They spoke about how Professor Nurmi was very impressed with the outcome of their assignment during Potions earlier in the day, and how they both felt more than a little embarrassed when she stopped the entire class so she could point out how well James and Selene had done. They weren't against praise by any means, but their professor had also decided to point out that they had done a much better job on their potion than anyone else in the class had.

The pair come to a stop once they had finally run their full circuit and ended up back where they started. Both James and Selene were breathing heavily as they began to do their cool-down stretches, and they stayed seated on the grass in the courtyard once they were done stretching.

"Two weeks until our first quidditch game against Slytherin," James commented conversationally as he looked up at the quickly darkening sky.

Selene smirked, "Twelve days actually."

James chuckled, if the roles had been reversed, he knew that he would have responded almost the same exact way that she did.

"So, feel like sneaking over to the quidditch pitch and getting a look at how the Slytherin team is coming along this year? Al refuses to share even the most basic of information that Scorpius might accidentally let slip," He said.

She bit her lip, "Normally I'd be so game for that, but I've got a patrol later tonight. You know, Head Girl duties and stuff."

Neither her words nor her actions seemed urgent, if anything she seemed a little defeated after bringing up the topic of having Head Girl things to do, "And don't you have a girlfriend waiting very patiently for your return back in the common room?"

"Nah, I asked Mel before I left if she wanted to join me for a run and she told me that she had plans to spend the night with her girlfriends," James explained.

"You do realize that she might have only said that because she didn't fancy going on a twelve mile run, right?" Selene asked him.

James frowned, "Then why wouldn't she just tell me that she didn't want to run?"

Selene rolled her eyes at him, "You don't know anything about most girls, do you?"

"I'll have you know that I have six female cousins _and_ a sister," He announced with faux-outrage.

"Which just makes your absolute cluelessness all the more pitiful," She replied, trying hard to keep a serious expression on her face as she got to her feet.

James wanted to feel at least a little indignation at her words, but if anything he felt oddly impressed with her insult. He escorted her back to the common room as it was obvious that they were both going there anyway, and once they got through the portrait hole Mélanie made a beeline directly for James.

"Where 'ave you been?" Mélanie asked James as she came up to him, her eyes were wide and there was an obvious pout in her tone.

James's eyebrows furrowed in confusion, "I told you that I was going for a run."

"Well I did not expect it to take you so long," Mélanie told him defensively.

Her boyfriend wrapped an arm around her shoulder and gave her a comforting squeeze, "I didn't either, but I pushed myself harder because I had someone to run with."

The redhead's eyes narrowed suspiciously, "Who?"

Selene had apparently chosen the wrong time to try to sneak by the couple without being noticed, because before the words were out of Mélanie's mouth the redhead caught sight of her dorm mate walking past her, also wearing her running clothes.

"Were you running wit Selene?"

The question was aimed at James, but it was obvious that she _meant_ it for both quidditch players to hear.

James shrugged unaffectedly, "I found Selene doing her warm-up stretches when I went out into the courtyard, so as her quidditch captain I _imposed_ upon her to run with me."

"I uh, I need to go change for my rounds," Selene told the two more than a little awkwardly, "Goodbye."

She high-tailed it out of there right away, leaving James alone with his girlfriend.

He used his arm that was resting on Mélanie's shoulders to direct her towards one of the common room couches as he said, "I thought you were spending the night with your girlfriends?"

Mélanie snuggled into James side once they were on the couch, "I was, but I was missing you too much so I t'ought I would come down and see if you were back yet."

"Aren't you sweet? He told her as he pressed a kiss against her temple.

She looked down at her hands and fiddled with them, "It just feels like it has been a while since we 'ave spent time toget'er."

James slid his index finger under Mélanie's chin and tilted her face up so that he could see her eyes, "Well the rest of my night's free."

Mélanie smiled brightly at him, her eyes warm and loving, "Mine too."

* * *

 **A/N:** So, Ally and Xavier's engagement is now out in the open, Freddie's slowly changing, and Rose still doesn't exactly know what to do about Scorpius. I know that a lot of you might be disappointed that Scorpius and Rose haven't resolved all of their issues yet, but they're both reasonably shy sixteen-year-olds, so it'll probably take them a little longer to work this mess out.

I hope that you all enjoyed this chapter, and please leave me any questions or comments you have in a review, I always love hearing from all of you!

 **Next Update:** We're going to be sticking with this two-week updating rotation until further notice. Sorry.

 **Next Chapter:** It is going to be about the Puddlemere United charity event that Ally was talking about arranging in the previous chapter. Therefore we will get to see all of our favourite quidditch playing characters, as well as Ally and Xavier, Vic and Teddy, and their friends. Oh, and let's not forget that there will be some Brogan cuteness :)

Teaser for Next Chap:

 **""Hey Tab."**

 **"Hi Mark."**

 **"Hello Victoire," Victoire interjected, greeting herself after a few moments of silence because the beater had been too busy staring deeply into Tabitha's eyes to greet her."**

Thanks again to everyone who has followed, favourited, read, and especially reviewed this story :)

BIG thank you's to:

 **Hpsea, fangirl5300, Guest (1), cjaben1, Guest (2), zvc56, Venz, no cure for crazy, jeremiah123, KiMaYa, rosesnlilies, cpnjky, NicoleTheSmith, HappyHour, Jennifer Jules, Random Viewer, Ellie1429, ntlpurpolia, xxTheMadHatterCharmedxx, GinevraFangirl,** and **teddyvictoire'slovechild**.

 **fangirl5300** : I especially liked how they added more backstory to Beauty in the Beast, it made everything flow better.

 **cjaben1** : Thank you for the recap of everyone you ship, also I'm surprised to hear that you like the idea of Andromeda and Healer McDavid together so much.

 **Guest (2)** : I don't think I had one favourite part of Beauty and the Beast, I enjoyed all of it.

 **zvc56** : We will definitely be addressing some more Teddy/Andromeda/Narcissa interaction in future chapters.

 **KiMaYa** : Your requests have been noted.

 **HappyHour** : Um, your suggestion was very interesting but I'm afraid that I probably won't be using it. It's a very inventive suggestion, but I don't think it would fit very well into this story, nor do I think that this type of chapter would mix well with my writing style. I'm not really sure how to go about writing a 'musical style' chapter, and I don't think I would be able to do it justice.

 **Random Viewer** : We will see Ally and Xavier house-hunting at some point, I've just got to figure out which upcoming chapter it would fit best in. As for seeing more Alexandrie, it'll probably be awhile until we see her again, but we should see once more before the story is complete.

 **Ellie1429** : I have a soft spot for Louis and Cecilia as well :)

 **xxTheMadHatterCharmedxx** : Josh Gad was one of my favourites, I think he should play a part in every Disney movie from now on. Even if it's just one line.

 **GinevraFangirl** : Kelly Green is the name of a specific shade of green. You can google it if you want to see the exact shade. The name's funny to Vic and Teddy because obviously her parents were trying to be funny by giving her a first name that was a type of green. It would be like a child being named Emerald Green, Forest Green, or even Hunter Green.

 **I hope that everyone enjoyed this chap,**

 **Please leave me any questions, comments, or concerns you have in a review,**

 **Happy April everyone, and until next time,**

 **DFTBA!**


	35. Puddlemere's Charity Event

**A/N:** Hello everyone, I'm so sorry that this chapter is a week late, but I was very sick the past two weekends so I didn't have the chance to work on this. The good news is that I'm feeling much better now, and this chapter is finished so you can have it now.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Harry Potter.

* * *

 **Recap:** Ally has been involved in organizing a charity event for Puddlemere United (along with several other wives or fiancees) and she's recruited several of her friends and family members to come and help. Nadia mentioned that her friends Dante and Annalisa and their children were going to come to the event. Victoire and Teddy skipped Chris and Giavanna's wedding.

* * *

 **Puddlemere's Charity Event**

 **Saturday, October 29** **th** **2022**

Even though Victoire had never actually been to a children's Hallowe'en charity event hosted by a professional quidditch team, she had to admit that when she showed up at Puddlemere United's stadium on Saturday morning, the quidditch pitch looked _exactly_ like what she imagined it would. It was sort of as if her Uncle George's Hallowe'en theme at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes shop had migrated to Puddlemere's stadium. It was rather obvious that Ally had at least helped out with the decorations for the event if not more. Since it _was_ a children's charity event, the theme was more along the lines of cute and just a little creepy, instead of petrifyingly frightening.

In all honesty, Victoire considered the scariest thing she had seen so far to be the ghastly coloured bright orange t-shirts that all of the volunteers and Puddlemere players were wearing. Ally had dropped off a pair of the t-shirts at Victoire and Teddy's flat a few nights ago so that they could wear them to the event. While she was there, the brunette had very specifically explained to her cousin that she had no say in designing that year's t-shirt, and that if Victoire wanted to complain to someone she was to take it up with Giavanna, as the t-shirt design had been originally been hers.

The bright colour of the t-shirts was useful in one respect, it made it easier for Victoire to pick out the people she was looking for in a crowd. She had come to the event an hour and a half before it was supposed to open to the public, so the only people who were at the stadium were the players, their families, and other people and volunteers who were going to be involved in the organization of the event.

Victoire found Ally and Xavier standing near a carnival style game, they were in a loose group with Katie, Oliver, Nadia, Malcolm, and Dom. It took a few minutes to get the greeting and the hello hugs over with because it had actually been a while since Victoire had seen several of them. She might have also hugged Oliver a little longer than was strictly necessary, but she told herself that she only did it because she knew it would annoy Xavier. Whether or not she was being truthful with herself wasn't an issue for long, because Xavier quickly asked in a pointed tone where Teddy was.

"He got called in to work unexpectedly this morning," Victoire explained before turning to Ally and saying in an apologetic tone, "He did say that he'll get here as soon as he can, and that he'll make up for his absence by bringing reinforcements, whatever that means."

Ally shrugged, "It's no problem, and we've got lots of volunteers today so everything should still go smoothly."

"And that's all thanks to you," Katie told Ally encouragingly, "You've done so much for the event today. I know that everyone involved with its planning were really glad that you joined the committee."

Ally blushed a little and Xavier wrapped his arm around her waist, the expression on his face distinctly proud.

Before Katie, and Oliver, could undulate Ally with even more praise, the husband and wife were called away by one of Puddlemere's other coaches. Just after they left, Sandra and Kyle, and Anastasia and Colton showed up, all four of them wearing their bright orange t-shirts that Ally had supplied them with. A whirlwind of greetings, hugs, and a slightly awkward friendly slap on the back by Victoire to Colton, then ensued, and the salutations were barely over before Sandra started to complain about the colour of the t-shirts.

"I understand that it's Hallowe'en themed and all, but I would have thought that Giavanna could have done better than this. She is the one who likes to claim that she knows so much about, and has so many friends in the fashion world after all," Sandra said while sneering down at the shirt she was wearing.

Ally just shrugged her shoulders in defeat, "Since Giavanna's engagement and marriage to Chris came on so . . . quickly, the committee decided to give her something simple to be in charge of when she insisted that she wanted to get involved in the event."

"And apparently she couldn't even do that right," Nadia grumbled, she was always up for insulting Giavanna.

"I don't know," Dom mused, "I think she may just be an evil genius. She hates it when people look prettier than her, so she must have known that no one would look good in this colour and picked it because of that."

Anastasia didn't even seem to have it in her to defend her _acquaintance_ , "It _does_ sound like something Gia would do."

"It's just too bad that it backfired on her, personally I think that I'm rocking it," Dom said, her voice filled with a healthy dose of self-confidence.

Victoire looked at her sister and had to admit that Dom did look nice that day with her orange t-shirt tied with a knot just below her bellybutton and in a pair of tight dark-blue skinny jeans. She might have thought her younger sister a little ridiculous for wearing a pair of high-heeled black ankle boots with the outfit, but Victoire was honestly just glad that the heel on her boots was thicker and not of the stiletto variety.

For her part, Victoire had paired her orange t-shirt with a pair of black yoga pants and some comfortable running shoes.

"I don't know, I think it may clash with your hair," Malcolm considered in a serious tone.

Dom just rolled her eyes at him and sent him a rude hand gesture.

Victoire glanced at Malcolm a little confusedly as she had belatedly remembered something that he had told Teddy earlier in the week, "What are you doing here? I thought you were going on a work trip to Germany this weekend?"

Malcolm and Nadia shared a glance before he explained, "It's been pushed back to next weekend. Nadia and I had a meeting with Puddlemere's publicists a few days ago and they strongly suggested that we needed to get some good publicity in to counter-act the media's present view of our relationship."

"So they're hoping that some photos of you volunteering at an event for child will cover-up last Monday's photos of you and Nadia playing tonsil quidditch at the wedding?" Dom asked brazenly.

"Basically."

Victoire bit her lip and glanced from Nadia to Xavier, both had been very upset with the coverage of them in the _Prophet_ on Monday, but they seemed to be taking it better now. Victoire and Teddy had ended up being sounding boards for both couples during the week as Ally had come to Victoire to vent, and Malcolm had gone to Teddy. Nadia and Malcolm's new publicity wasn't too bad once one got passed the fact that the newspaper was implying that Nadia was a slag, they hadn't mentioned Malcolm by name in the article, so they weren't getting any particular heat directed at them and their relationship.

Ally and Xavier on the other hand, were in a very different predicament. They had been hoping that they could announce their engagement on their own terms, and _The Daily Prophet_ had taken a lot of their thunder. In the end they decided to go along with their original plan, and the next Monday issues of _Quidditch Weekly_ and _Up in the Air_ magazines were going to contain press releases and photos explicitly announcing Ally and Xavier's engagement. The couple had decided that they wanted to give Cecilia's magazine the scoop, but at the same time they also wanted to deal with _Quidditch Weekly_ since that magazine had been very respectful of their privacy, and since the father of Ally's friend from Hogwarts was the editor of it. Therefore, _Quidditch Weekly_ was to get the full press release about the engagement and an interview with Xavier and Ally to be set at a later date, while _Up in the Air_ were to get a shorter version of the same press release, in addition to some posed photos of Xavier and Ally that had never been published before. Both magazines were happy with the settlement, _Qudditch Weekly_ preferring to print a longer article with substance while _Up in the Air_ was happy to print a shorter article with more pictures.

"So how much trouble did you get in as a team for your behaviour at the wedding?" Victoire asked Xavier and Nadia delicately.

"Well I didn't exactly do anything wrong, I just got caught dancing with my fiancée," Xavier explained slowly as his eyes unintentionally drifted towards Nadia.

His teammate huffed and crossed her arms over her chest, "I didn't do anything wrong."

"You did drink a wee bit too much," Malcolm reminded his girlfriend.

"Well if I stayed sober I probably would have said something horrible to the bride, so really this was probably the best outcome," Nadia defended with a pout.

Xavier went on to explain to Victoire that the other chaser who had a photo of him and his wife having an argument printed was false to begin with so he didn't need to meet with the team's publicists, and that that only left Clark, and that considering that it wasn't the first time that a photo of him drinking alcohol with a pretty woman had been printed in the newspaper, the coaches weren't actually all that concerned about it. Xavier's explanation only made Nadia complain more about the double-standards between men and woman and that if Clark had been photographed snogging a girl, he wouldn't have had to see a publicist about _his_ image.

Before Nadia could really get into a good rant about the gender inequality between men and women in both the media and professional quidditch, Ally decided to hand out jobs for everyone to do. Nadia and Xavier had their own specific itinerary for the day like all of the other Puddlemere players, and Malcolm's task for the day was essentially to stay near Nadia and help her with whatever she was doing so that they could get photographed together by the members of the media who would be allowed into the event once it finally opened to the public. That left Ally in charge of Colton, Anastasia, Sandra, Kyle, Dom and Victoire, and she quickly assigned them different tasks to do.

Since they were still setting so activities up, Ally introduced Colton and Kyle to another member who was on Puddlemere's charity committee and told her to put the two men to work. Ally then instructed Sandra and Anastasia to go around to the carnival style games booths and asked them to unpack the boxes at each booth that held the prizes for those games. And finally, Dom and Victoire were instructed to make sure that all of the supplies for the more active events that were scheduled for later were in the open spot of grass at the edge of the pitch. Ally gave Victoire a list to double-check that they had enough items for the Hallowe'en themed obstacle courses, the quaffle toss, sack race, snitch on a spoon race etc., and then sent the two sisters off in the right direction.

There were large containers sitting on the edge of the field where the games were going to be hosted, and Victoire and Dom created a simple system to inventory everything from Ally's list. Dom would call out the name of the item needed for the activities and the number of that item needed, and Victoire would look through the bins to make sure that it was all there. Their system was both efficient and convenient, and Victoire was just searching through a bin for the last few items on the list when she heard her sister suddenly swear.

"Damnit," Dom muttered.

Victoire lifted her head up, but before she had the chance to voice an inquiry to her sister she saw the probable reason for Dom's previous language.

Walking towards the pair, most liking having just exited from one of the field level entrances from that side of the pitch, was Chris Mullin and Giavanna Tracey. Or was it Giavanna Mullin? Victoire wasn't entirely sure if the socialite had taken her new husband's last name or not.

While both Victoire and Dom would have preferred for the couple to walk right past them and further onto the pitch, the newly married couple seemed to have another idea.

"Hello there," Giavanna announced cheerily as she and Chris came within hearing range of the sisters.

Dom folded her arms over her chest and raised an eyebrow at the couple, so Victoire figured that it was up to her to be the polite one.

"Hello Giavanna, Chris. Congratulations on the wedding, I heard it was beautiful," Victoire told the pair civilly. She had also heard a lot more than that about it, from multiple sources, but she didn't add that part. Neither Nadia nor Sandra had been exactly full of praise for the wedding, or the couple either for that matter.

Giavanna ran a hand through her loose hair and smiled brightly, "It was, it's too bad that you and your boyfriend couldn't make it."

Victoire saw her sister's mouth open from the corner of her eye and she decided to pre-empt Dom before her little sister could rudely remind Giavanna that Teddy was Victoire's fiancé, not just her boyfriend.

"Yes, we felt awful about having to miss it, but unfortunately work got in the way," Victoire explained.

Giavanna nodded her head understandingly, but the small smirk that was on Giavanna's lips told Victoire that the other woman was probably very glad that she and Teddy didn't end up attending the wedding.

Dom put her hands on her hips, "I'm surprised to see you both here so soon after the wedding, aren't most couples still on their honeymoons at this time?"

The new Mrs. Mullin –or Mrs. Tracey-Mullin because Victoire wasn't sure which last name Giavanna went by anymore– put her arm through her husband's and lent her head against his arm, "Normally we would be, but we couldn't take the time to do it right after the wedding since Chris is _now_ Puddlemere's starting seeker. We're just going to postpone a longer honeymoon until after the season is over."

"Oh yes, I heard about your promotion Chris, congratulations," Victoire told him sincerely.

With Dom playing the role of the bitchy mean girl, it fell to Victoire to practice being civil to the couple, and she was doing a rather good job at it too, which was a good thing because Dom's claws were definitely out.

"Of course your honeymoon will also have to wait until after you have the baby," Dom said with a faux-concerned look, "When are you due again Giavanna? March or February?"

The redhead ended her question with a critical examination of Giavanna's midsection, suggesting that her guess of the due date was because of how big she looked.

Giavanna's lips turned down into a frown, "It's still the same date that I told you earlier, April."

Victoire's eyes quickly gazed around the large pitch in an attempt to come up with something else to talk about, and even though what she did come up with was decidedly thin, she went with it anyway. She quickly wanted to get Dom away from Giavanna, and she wanted to get herself away from Chris; something about him still gave her the creeps. Which is why she hastily excused Dom and herself from Chris and Giavanna's company by saying that Ally was probably expecting them, and then almost dragged her sister away from the married couple.

The lie about needing to see Ally was feeble, so when the sisters spotted Cecilia on their trek across the pitch they stopped to chat with their little brother's girlfriend.

"I didn't think the press was going to be allowed in until the event officially started," Dom teased Cecilia after the sisters had the chance to greet her.

Cecilia just rolled her eyes and pointed to the ghastly coloured orange volunteer t-shirt she was wearing, "I'm not the press today, just a member of Puddlemere's extended family. Two other people from my magazine will be here later to cover the event."

"Well if you're not working I'm surprised that Louis isn't here hanging off of you," Dom remarked carelessly.

"He's got training today," Cecilia explained with a pout, "Or else Ally would have forced him to be here with the rest of you."

Victoire smiled indulgently at the thought of her favourite cousin, "Ally's not forcing any of us to be here. We're all happy to help her out today."

"Well I was definitely forced to be here. All of Ally and Stasia's combined nagging about it was tantamount to coercion," Dom griped.

Ally had _firmly_ encouraged Dom to come out to help at the event, because she had a hidden agenda about it. Ally was not so subtly trying to convince Dom to be in the same place as Clark, and Victoire was surprised that Ally's intentions were not as plain to her sister as they were to her.

"I think you're just trying to hide the fact that you didn't have a better offer than this," Victoire pointed out to her sister, "Which is odd. Usually you spend your weekends trying to go on dates with as many different men as possible."

Dom rolled her eyes at her elder sister, "I don't purposely go from man to man. I just get bored easily."

"Yeah, we should look into getting you examined for an attention-deficit disorder," Victoire muttered.

"I mean," Dom continued speaking mostly to Cecilia, "Why should I commit myself to one person when there are dozens of people out there begging for the chance to adore me?"

Victoire pinched the bridge of her nose, "We should get you checked for either a narcissistic or borderline personality disorder as well it seems."

Cecilia giggled and then spotted someone across the pitch, "I've got to go and talk to some people. Today's a good opportunity to work on expanding the project Eli Martell and I are creating."

Dom and Victoire nodded at Cecilia and then watched as she strolled away from them. Victoire glanced down at her watch next and reminded Dom that they should probably find Ally and ask her what she wanted them to do next as the event was soon going to start.

It didn't take them long to find Ally, and an even shorter time for Ally to inform them of where they were going to be stationed for their first volunteer shift. She had placed both Sandra and Anastasia at the face-painting area, but since neither Victoire nor Dom had one ounce of artistic talent, she had to come up with something else for the sisters. Ally did a poor job at hiding her gleeful expression when she told Dom that she was going to handle ticket sales to the event with Clark, but Dom just shrugged nonchalantly and strutted off towards the front gates where she was told she was expected. Victoire on the other hand was given the less glamourous job of being stationed at the drink half of the refreshment tables where she was going to hand out water for free but other beverages for a donation price. While the position was a simple one, Victoire was content with making sure that the people attending the event wouldn't suffer from dehydration.

The first hour and a half that the event was open went by quickly, and Victoire's face was starting to hurt from smiling at every person she served. She didn't begrudge the smiles she handed out to the children and their parents, but that didn't stop the simple fact that the muscles in her cheeks were starting to get sore from overuse. Several people she recognized stopped by her drink station from people that she recognized as acquaintances of her parents or extended family members, to Puddlemere's onsite medi-witch and wizard Claudia and Steven (who had had a short but nice catch up with Victoire), to Malcolm's older Duncan and his son, to Clark's sister and nephew.

"Hello Tabitha, hi there Zach!" Victoire told the two cheerily when they came up to her and ordered two pumpkin juices.

Tabitha smiled brightly at Victoire, and glanced down at Zach who she was holding tightly by the hand, "Honey, do you remember Uncle Clark's friend Victoire?"

Zach stared at Victoire and pursed his lips, "You're a healer?"

Victoire nodded her head as she handed the two their drinks, "I am. How are the both of you?"

"We're good, prepared for a long day today," Tabitha explained with a smile that was both sweet and slightly harried.

"Are you going to stay for the entire thing today?" Victoire asked curiously.

Tabitha gestured for Zach to pick up his bottle of pumpkin juice and then answered Victoire, "Well Clark showed Zach a list of all of the events and activities today and my little man here decided that he needed to try absolutely everything."

Victoire smiled indulgently at Zach but before she could respond to Tabitha, the little man in question looked up at his mother with a pouty expression on his six-year-old face, "Mum I want to use both of my hands for my drink."

Tabitha bit her lip worriedly, but she calmly told her son, "Alright, but you have to stay right here next to me. No running off, got it?"

Zach nodded, his blonde hair flying crazily around his head, and then sighed with relief when his mother relinquished his hand. Tabitha glanced back up and saw Victoire looking at her with an inquisitive expression on her face.

"You probably think that I'm some sort of helicopter mom right now-"

Victoire interrupted her, "No, no, of course not. I've been out with Brogan in a less crowded place than this before and I insisted that he hold my hand as well. I totally understand."

It seemed that her words took some of the stress out of Tabitha's shoulders, "It's not even like he's always running off or something like that. He's just gets tunnel vision sometimes. Especially if he spots Clark or Mark, I don't want him running after one of them and getting lost in the crowd."

"I get it, when I have kids they're not going to be allowed to leave my sight unless they have extra-strength tracking and locating charms on them," Victoire proclaimed.

"Don't you need special permission from the Wizengamot to use spells like that on people?" Tabitha asked.

Victoire shrugged, "Wouldn't be the first time I've done something not completely legal."

Instead of looking appalled by Victoire's words Tabitha just chuckled warmly.

"Mark!" Zach suddenly yelled in an excited tone.

Both Tabitha and Victoire's heads moved around and they found Mark Doyle quickly making his way over to them, a bright smile on his face. Victoire's expression automatically turned into a smile as Mark got closer, while Tabitha's cheeks reddened.

Zach seemed to know that his mother would be very displeased with him if he ran off –even the short distance– to Mark, so instead he chose to bounce up and down on the balls of his feet as he not-so patiently waited for his uncle's fellow beater to come up to them.

"Hi Mark!" Zach exclaimed excitedly, taking a two steps away from his mother so that he could give Mark a high-five.

Mark greeted Zach with a grin almost as bright as the one on the six-year-old's face, and then he looked up and saw Tabitha.

"Hey Tab."

"Hi Mark."

"Hello Victoire," Victoire interjected, greeting herself after a few moments of silence because the beater had been too busy staring deeply into Tabitha's eyes to greet her.

Tabitha, who had also seemed to momentarily forget Victoire's presence, blushed redder and looked down at her hands.

Mark's gaze shifted once Victoire had broken the spell, and he gave the blonde a look as well as a raised eyebrow, "Good to see you too Vic."

Victoire nodded at him and squinted her eyes as she looked closely at his face, "Nice to see you too Mark . . . would it be rude of me to ask you why you have Xavier's jersey number painted on your cheek?"

On Mark's right cheek was a neatly painted beater's bat and bludger, while his left held a largely drawn replica of Xavier's quidditch number.

"I just came from the face-painting station, Ally was there giving the other people at it a hand and she offered to paint my face," Mark explained.

Victoire and Tabitha both chuckled before the former asked, "What did you actually ask her to paint on your face?"

"It was my fault, I told her to do whatever she fancied."

"It definitely is your fault then, you should know that pretty much the only thing Ally fancies is Xavier," Victoire told him.

Mark shrugged, "I'm just going to own it now."

"Well it does make you look adorable," Victoire reasoned.

Zach then spoke up and announced that he wanted to get his face painted too. Before Tabitha could reply, Mark offered to take him and Zach promised his mother that he wouldn't let go of Mark's hand. Tabitha had no choice but to cave to the adorable persuasion and insistence of both males and within a few minutes they were off and Victoire and Tabitha were left alone together.

The two women continued to chat and get to know each other, and Tabitha offered to help Victoire out at the beverage station until Mark and Zach came back. It only took about ten minutes for Zach to come running back to his mother –still holding Mark's hand like he had promised– his face newly decorated with Mark's quidditch number on one cheek and Xavier's on the other. He was very happy to show his mother his new body artwork, and Mark mischievously suggested that they find 'Uncle Clark' and show him Zach's face paint. Tabitha smirked –she and Mark both knew that Clark would be annoyed that his nephew decided to wear Mark and Xavier's quidditch number instead of his own– but agreed that they should find Clark as they hadn't seen him since they first got to the event.

They three of them left together soon after, and Victoire served drinks to a few more families before another familiar face came up to her station.

"Vic!"

She turned her head towards the voice just in time to see a cheery Brogan Wood run up to her with his arms held open wide. Victoire knelt down and Brogan abruptly stopped in front of her and gave her a big hug. She hugged him tightly back and then lifted him up with her as she straightened out and rested him on her hip. Grumbling a little under her breath about how she'd have to cast a feather-light charm on him the next time she held him if he was going to keep getting bigger. Once she was standing again she glanced towards the adult who had accompanied Brogan.

"I thought you were supposed to be Nadia's shadow today?"

Malcolm shrugged and crossed his arms over his chest, "I was, but it's her turn to sit down and sign autographs and I didn't need to be there for that. I traded places with Katie and said I'd watch Brogan for a while."

Victoire poured Brogan a cup of water and gave Malcolm a much needed butterbeer. By the time the two were finished drinking them, a new volunteer had come by the beverage station and said that it was his turn to hold down the fort for a while. Being dismissed, Victoire walked away from the station, still carrying Brogan, and with Malcolm beside her. Miraculously she found Ally, and was instructed to go relieve Kyle who was at a carnival-type game station.

Ally had intended to change everyone's position up every few hours to give them the chance to help out in different areas to stave off potential boredom, so it was now Victoire's turn to hand out prizes at the bludger batting stand. Kyle was very happy to no longer be in charge of making sure that no stray bludger became loose and wreaked havoc on the event's large crowd, and after explaining to Victoire what the job entailed he left to go join his wife at the stands that were serving food for the picnic lunch.

Brogan had a few tries at the game that Victoire was in-charge of, and once he had finally won a prize he turned to Malcolm and announced that he was hungry. Malcolm then inquired of his youngest cousin why he didn't ask for food when they were closer to the food station, to which Brogan simply replied that he hadn't been hungry at that point. The elder Wood refrained from rolling his eyes at the younger, snatched up the boy's hand to hold, and then muttered something about going to find Duncan, Sile, and Callum and have lunch with them. The first two were Malcolm's oldest brother and his wife, while the second was said couple's three-year-old son who always got along rather well with Brogan.

Victoire was a little busier at the bludger batting station than she had been at the beverage stand, but she enjoyed it all the same and finally began to understand why Ally, Freddie, Clark, and Mark would enjoy playing the position of beater. There was something very cathartic about being able to smack something _really_ hard. Not an hour after Malcolm and Brogan left, there was a bit of a lull at her station as most people had left to have lunch, so Victoire entertained herself with sorting through the prizes again and arranging them from smallest to largest. As she did so someone came up to her stand when she had her back turned.

"I'd like a turn Miss."

She spun around in a hurried circle –almost toppling over even though she was wearing flat trainers– in her haste to see the newcomer. She knew that voice.

Standing in front of her game stand and wearing his own garish orange volunteer t-shirt was Teddy. Victoire smiled at him and immediately leaned forward across the small counter at the front of the stand so she could give him a kiss. He bent his head down and met her halfway when he realized what she was trying to do, and they shared a quick but enthusiastic kiss. When their embrace was finished Victoire took a step back and looked around Teddy.

"So what exactly did you mean by bringing reinforcements?" She asked him perplexedly.

"This is what I meant," Teddy explained as he pointed behind him just as two familiar people squeezed out of the crowd behind him.

Victoire's face took on an expression of surprise and she lifted her hand and waved to Louis Weasley and Jilly Donaldson. The former had an orange volunteer shirt on while the latter just had a white long-sleeved shirt. Victoire sent Teddy a raised eyebrow and asked him how he was able to bring Louis with him when her younger brother was supposed to be completing an MLE training session that day.

Teddy looked at his feet and admitted that he was able to spring Louis from training and drag him along.

"And you really need to stop doing that," Louis told Teddy with a roll of his brown eyes, "Part of the reason why I joined the department of MLE instead of the Auror Department is because I didn't want this kind of special treatment."

Teddy just shrugged his shoulders, "You'll get over it. Whatever flack you get from your fellow trainees over this will be much less than the flack you would have gotten from Oliver for not helping out today."

"Fair point," Louis admitted with a nod. The mention of Oliver Wood prompted Louis's desire to find Cecilia, so swiftly he left before he could complain again about Teddy getting him out of training.

"He's not going to get in trouble for whatever you did to get him out of training, is he?" Victoire asked Teddy worriedly as she watched her younger brother walk away.

Her fiancé shook his head, "Nah, I was just speaking to a few of the MLE agents who were in charge of the training session today and I offered to run a concealment and disguise training module with their trainees –which is the session they were going to do today – but told them that I'd only be available to do so on Monday."

Victoire nodded her head, "Ah, that's sneaky." Then she turned to Jilly, "So how'd you end up tagging along today?"

"Teddy heard me bemoaning the fact that I have absolutely no plans for this weekend and then begged me to come and help," Jilly explained.

"I did _not_ beg."

Jilly ignored him and shared a look with Victoire, "He was _totally_ begging."

Teddy grumbled at the two women, but he put a smile on his face a few minutes later when some customers came up to the game stand. Jilly and Teddy stayed at the stand to help Victoire for about another half hour before Ally found them. She excitedly thanked Teddy for finally showing up and bringing some extra help, and then she informed Victoire that she could have a lunch break and that someone else would take over for her at the game stand.

The group wandered over to the food stands and picnic area, which was less crowded than it had been for the past few hours as most of the people at the event had taken the chance to eat already, and they bought some food and looked around for a place to sit. Not far away from the food stands, and seeming as though they were already half-way through their lunches, were Sandra, Kyle, Anastasia, and Colton –the latter of which didn't seem very happy to be sitting on a blanket on the ground. Victoire, Teddy, Ally, and Jilly sat down around the others and quickly ate while discussing how the event was going so far.

Near the end of their meal Xavier found them, his hands filled with two plates of food. Close behind him were Malcolm and Brogan (who apparently had gotten distracted by another game and didn't end up eating earlier like they said they would), and the littlest Wood was very excited to see Teddy, although the Wood who was most excited to see the metamorphmagus turned out to be Malcolm.

"So is Nadia still signing autographs?" Victoire asked Malcolm just before shoving half a buttered bread roll into her mouth.

Malcolm ignored Victoire's horrible eating habits –although the look on Xavier's face said that he didn't– and helped Brogan spear a difficult pickle slice onto the end of his plastic fork as he explained, "No, it's Uncle Oliver's turn to do that. Nadia was going to meet Dante, Annalisa and their kids at the front gate, they're supposed to show up here any minute."

"Or any second," Xavier remarked, putting down his fork so that he could point out the forms of Nadia and her friends quickly coming up to them.

There was a flurry of activity as Nadia introduced everyone to her friends who hadn't met them before, and re-introduced the ones who had. Dante and Annalisa smiled brightly at everyone and somehow they were able to politely and graciously handle the introductions of a half a dozen new people while simultaneously wrangling four young children. Eliana, Teresa, and Arturo were the couple's triplets who were a month and a half away from turning three-years old, and baby Valentina was three weeks old and so adorable that Victoire let out a very girlish giggle when Annalisa introduced her to her.

Malcolm, who was still trying to win over Dante, immediately began trying to get on the good side of the triplets by asking the children questions and feeding them bits of fruit that he had on his plate. Annalisa asked Victoire if she wanted to hold the baby, and Victoire tried not to look too excited as she received the infant from its mother.

"Be warned, I don't think Victoire's going to give you your baby back," Teddy told Annalisa.

Nadia's friend chuckled, "That's fine. Once you're on your fourth kid you're not too worried about losing one of them. Dante and I know that they'll always come back, mostly because no one would _want_ to keep them."

"You're Madre's not being very nice to you," Victoire told baby Valentina in infant-directed speech, "You seem like a perfect little baby."

Annalisa sent her baby an indulgent smile, "I will admit that she's a much better baby then her older siblings were . . . but that may just be because one baby's easier to take care of at once than three are."

"Probably," Nadia agreed with a nod before leaning towards Teresa and tickling her side to make her giggle.

"She's a very cute little thing," Kyle commented in a soft tone as he sat up on his knees to get a better look at the baby Victoire had in her arms. He did try very hard to keep his eyes on the baby, but he couldn't stop his gaze from drifting out of the corner of his eye towards his wife.

Sandra spared only a slightly tender glance at Baby Valentina before replying, "Babies are always cute when you only see them for a little while at a time. It's completely different if you're responsible for its development and wellbeing for a whole eighteen years."

Victoire didn't have to ask to know that Sandra and Kyle seemed to be continuing a previous private conversation via their thinly-veiled comments. But thankfully someone else took the responsibility of furthering the conversation out of Victoire's hands.

"Raising children is _very_ different, and _very_ difficult. Having a child is not something that you want to go into lightly, and especially not if you do not think you are ready," Annalisa remarked, "I mean, I don't think that anybody is ever completely ready to have children, even the ones who say they are, but you definitely don't want to begin the process if _you_ don't think that you're at least somewhat prepared for it."

Kyle and Sandra shared a look that Victoire couldn't exactly decipher, but she _did_ notice them reaching for each other's hand and giving each other a small smile.

Baby Valentina made a few fussing sounds, but before Annalisa could offer to take the baby back Victoire started to gently bounce the baby up and down in her arms. The action almost immediately settled the infant.

"You're pretty good with babies," Jilly complimented the blonde with an admiring nod.

"I've had a lot of practice with newborns over the last few months," She explained, thinking of all of the time she had spent with Rowan.

Teddy smiled down at the baby in his fiancée's arms before glancing enquiringly at Jilly, "Have you ever thought about having one of these?"

Jilly scoffed and rolled her eyes, "In like ten years. Maybe."

Victoire ended up holding Baby Valentina until everyone finished their lunches, when she had to reluctantly hand the infant back over to its mother. The triplets jumped up soon after, and each of them separately reminded their parents that the three-legged race was about to start soon and that they wanted to join. To Dante's chagrin both Eliana and Teresa began to argue over who would have Malcolm as a partner in the race. Eliana, who was the more dramatic of the two, ended up receiving the chance to have Malcolm as a partner when Nadia sweetly offered to partner with the more easy-going Teresa. Arturo had already decided that he was going to be partners with his father because the little boy was determined to win the race, and everyone else stood up to go over and watch the event.

As they approached the event's starting line Brogan excitedly bounced on his toes and sweetly asked Victoire to be his partner in the race, and Xavier –who didn't seem too put out that his little brother had chosen Victoire over him– just explained that he had already promised Malcolm's nephew Callum that he'd be his partner. While the adults and children were getting prepared for the race, which included using a spell to stick the sides of their legs together from heel to the child's hip, Victoire noted Mark, Clark, Tabitha, and Zach coming towards the area –most likely so that Zach could join the race.

Zach had decided that his Uncle Clark was going to be his partner, and even though the uncle and nephew had to pass by Dom to get to the starting line, Clark only acknowledged her presence with a slight wink thrown in her direction. Clark and Zach's migration to the starting line left Tabitha and Mark alone together on the sidelines, and Victoire saw that Ally was slyly trying to inch closer to the pair so that she could eavesdrop on their conversation.

From the obnoxiously huge smile that graced Ally's face after listening in on the pair's conversation for a few minutes, it seemed that whatever Mark and Tabitha were talking about was helping what Ally liked to refer to as 'the couple's progress in their relationship'.

Once Victoire and Brogan were spelled together, they settled onto the starting line in between Malcolm and Eliana, and Xavier and his second-cousin Callum. By the time Oliver blew the starting whistle to signal that the race was to start, there were three dozen or so pairs lined up to go. They all took off on a run, and after several short minutes of stumbling and more than half of the pairs tripping and falling, Xavier and Callum sprinted across the finish line first with Victoire and Brogan coming in a very close second, and Dante and Arturo claiming third.

Both Callum and Xavier got palm sized medals that simply read first-place on them for winning and, even though he didn't get anything for coming in second, Brogan was still very happy to have done as well as he did in the race. Victoire chuckled at his enthusiasm –which was very refreshing and reassuring as she had been worried that Brogan might have taken not coming in first hard– and watched as Brogan went over to high-five his cousin Callum, as well the each of Dante and Annalisa's triplets, _and_ Zach.

Victoire was standing next to Brogan –who had been in the middle of high-fiving Zach– when she heard an exchange between Clark and Dom, who were standing closely together a little ways away from everyone else.

"I see that you didn't follow Mark's lead and get _your_ face painted," Dom told Clark with a small smirk.

Clark smiled back, just slightly, "He went without me. I'm not opposed to getting some _body art_ , but I think I'd like someone to go with me to help me pick out what to get."

"And to tell you whether or not the artist wrote her boyfriend's number on your cheek instead of something else?" Dom asked.

"Exactly," Clark agreed with a nod, "Although, since Mark's got Xavier's number I should probably get it as well to make sure that we match."

"You could always get Xavier's number on one side and Mark's on the other, that way you'd match your nephew," Dom suggested.

Clark nodded seriously, "Good idea, I'm sure Zach will insist on it anyway."

The six-year-old must have heard his name because he took that moment to run to his uncle, hug his legs, thank him for being his partner in the race, and then proclaimed in a voice that carried that he was the best uncle _ever_. Zach then ran back over to his mother's side as if the entire thirty-second interlude never happened, and as Dom watched the little boy's retreating figure while Clark coughed awkwardly.

"I swear I didn't coach him to say that."

To his surprise Dom laughed loudly, if a little indelicately, "Oh I can tell that. He was very sincere."

"It's good to get feedback every once in a while," Clark continued in a self-deprecating tone, "A few nights ago he called me a mean-y-bo-beany because I told him that I agreed with his mother about him eating his broccoli; so it's nice to see that my rating as an uncle had gone up a little at least."

Dom folded her arms over her chest and raised an eyebrow at him, "As opposed to your standing in the league as one of the top five beaters?"

"I thought you weren't a fan of quidditch?" Clark asked her as he tried his best not to let his sudden inner smugness leak into his voice.

If Dom had been anyone else she probably would have blushed, as it was she did look shyly –or as close to shyly as Dom could ever look– down at her feet, "I'm not, but with a cousin who's so invested in Puddlemere's standings like Ally, it's impossible _not_ to glean a bit of information about the team every now and then."

"Okay then." Clark's first impulse was to push her harder and tease her a bit more, but since his talk with Victoire at the café, he decided to do something different instead. He gave her a sweet smile and then turned as if to leave.

Dom called out to him before he could, "If you ever need someone to go with you and give you their opinion on your new _body art_ , I'd probably be available."

Clark turned his head so that he could look at her again but he kept walking away from her, "I'll keep that in mind."

The rest of the afternoon's events went by very smoothly and without any type of problem, and even though Victoire spent time volunteering at several more stations, she still had time to do a couple more activities with Brogan.

Teddy had been Brogan's partner for the quaffle toss because Katie was helping judge the event, and Cecilia was busy helping Eli Martell (who had shown up to the Puddlemere event with his eldest child) schmooze people and convince them to join the new charity they were trying to set up, and by the end of the event both males seemed as though they had a fantastic time.

Both Victoire and Colton had ended up helping Brogan with the activities that involved practicing with a golden snitch, and they ended up being some of Brogan's favourite events of the day. Oliver had found the pair of seekers helping his youngest son at one point, and when he caught Victoire's gaze he sent her an eye roll and muttered something about her _still_ trying to turn his son into a seeker.

The last activity of that day's charity event was the silent auction, and since the event was something aimed more for the adults in the crowd, many of the people in attendance who had young children went home before it started. There wasn't much left for the volunteers to do during the silent auction, so Victoire found herself at a table with some of her friends while they waited for people to finish putting down their final bids for the auction to begin.

It was during this time that Ally turned to Victoire and innocently asked, "Oh. I've been meaning to ask you, what are you going to wear to the ball on Monday?"

Victoire's face scrunched up in confusion as her mind processed her cousin's question, "What ball?"

"The Ministry's Hallowe'en ball on Monday night," Ally clarified as if it was self-explanatory.

"Oh . . . I didn't realize they were hosting a ball this year . . . but why would you think I'd be going to it?" Victoire inquired perplexedly.

Ally looked just as puzzled at her cousin's confusion as Victoire seemed from said confusion, "Well Xav and I only got invited because he's a professional quidditch player and the Ministry likes to invite lots of celebrities and upper class types, but I assumed that you and Teddy would be going because he _is_ a Ministry employee."

Victoire's head turned to her left where Teddy was sitting beside her and speaking to Colton, "Did we get invited to a ball at the Ministry on Monday?"

Teddy swallowed thickly and looked decidedly ashamed as he answered her inquiry.

"Umm . . . yeah, we might have been."

His fiancée put her hands on her hips, "Then why am I only hearing about this now? Those invitations must have gone out at least a week ago."

"Two weeks ago actually," Teddy admitted guiltily, "I was just waiting to tell you about it until you knew if you'd be working or not."

"Or were you _hoping_ that Victoire would be working because that way you wouldn't have to go?" Colton chimed in playing devil's advocate.

Teddy attempted to send Victoire a charming smile, it failed, "Perhaps . . ."

Victoire sighed, "Well as much as I hate those sort of things, we'll have to go now. Not only do I have Monday night off, but I go in late on Tuesday so there's no verifiable reason for us to miss it."

"You'll get over it I'm sure, it's important for Teddy to go to these events at the Ministry. Connections and networking are very important," Dom added, deciding to join in on the conversation as well.

"He's already got Uncle Harry and Kingsley, what other connections in the Auror Department could he need?" Ally asked Dom.

The redhead rolled her blue eyes at her cousin, "You people do realize that there's more to the Ministry than just the Auror Department right?"

"Of course I know that," Teddy replied seriously before suddenly grinning wickedly, "There's also the department of Magical Law Enforcement, or as we like to call it, the department-of-everyone-who-failed-to-get-into-auror-training."

His jibe was intended for Louis, but the younger man –who was on the other side of the table– didn't seem to hear him as he was too busy staring at Cecilia who was several metres away from them and talking to Eli Martell.

Victoire flicked a wadded up ball of paper at her little brother, and he finally turned his face towards them after the ball bounced off his head.

"Oi, what was that for?"

His elder sister ignored him, "Are you going to the Ministry's Hallowe'en ball?"

"Yeah, Cecilia and I are going."

Victoire nodded and then turned to give Teddy a _look_ , "See? Even he told his girlfriend about the upcoming Ministry ball."

"You don't like balls or other fancy events," Teddy reminded Victoire in an achingly patient voice.

"No I don't, but this is a function for your work. Of course I'll go if it's best for you in the long run," She told him stubbornly.

He leaned over and pressed a kiss to her temple, "Thank you. Are you very angry at me for not giving you enough warning?"

"Nah, I would have just spent the last two weeks stressing out about it."

"I should have given you more notice though, you'll need to find something to wear."

Victoire shrugged, "I've got stuff in the closet that I bought because it was on sale but haven't worn yet, it should be perfectly fine to wear. Besides, if I'm ever in a pinch I could always raid Dom's closet."

"You probably should anyway, whatever I've got will be loads better than what you have," Dom commented.

Victoire rolled her eyes, but refrained from telling her sister that there _was_ a difference between dressing for a work event and dressing for a night out at a club, and that even though _she_ couldn't understand the difference, that didn't mean that Victoire couldn't.

* * *

 **A/N:** I hope that you liked this chapter even though it was late. I apologize again for not updating last week like I was supposed to. Please let me know what your thoughts, comments, or questions for this chapter are though, so I can know what you think about this story's progress.

 **Next Update:** I promise it will be in two weeks.

 **Next Chapter:** We get to see some of the characters at the Ministry's Hallowe'en ball.

Teaser for Next Chap:

 **"It's not going to work," the third man whom they were standing with informed them in with a derisive tone.**

 **Matt pursed his lips and glanced innocently at his friend, "What's not going to work?"**

 **"This isn't going to work," Louis reiterated as he swept his hand out to gesture to where Matt and Anish were standing, still gawking at his girlfriend from a distance.**

Thanks again to everyone who has followed, favourited, read, and especially reviewed this story :)

BIG thank yous to:

 **Padfoot1999, HappyHour, Guest(1), HPsea, silverlover02, macs14, Seher Syed, sepoetry, GinevraFangirl, zvc56, AngelTwins527, rosesnlilies, Rainbow Lava Ninjas, no cure for crazy, luminere100, kawaiiotaku0405, Paddfoot12, Jennifer Jules, KrystynaK, KiMaYa, jeremiah123, ntlpurpolia, Aeistrya, Cjaben1,** and **Guest(2).**

 **Padfoot1999** : Katie probably will find out at some point, but from what I can recall she doesn't know yet.

 **HappyHour** : I doubt that there will be more rumours about Vic and Xavier dating. Especially now that it's public that Xavier and Ally are engaged.

 **silverlover02** : I'm glad that you still like the Hogwarts kids, and that you liked the Puddlemere gone wild part.

 **macs14** : I'm sorry FOR MAKING YOU CONFUSED.

 **sepoetry** : I don't think it's bad that you like Selene, I tried to make her a likeable character. And no, not an obscure 90s reference, I'm a child of the 90s as well.

 **GinevraFangirl** : I like your summary of the Hogwarts characters, and I find it interesting that you think Al and Alice are secretly dating.

 **rosesnlilies** : I'm glad that you like Selene, I meant to make her interesting so I'm glad that she's coming across that way.

 **Cjaben1** : Well I'm sorry that I made you check everyday for nothing, but I hope that persistence pays off today.

 **zvc56** : Happy belated birthday, it's funny that you mentioned that because April 3rd is one of my cousins' birthday.

 **AngelTwins527** : There was nothing else really specific that happened in New York that pertains to the story, which is why I didn't mention it. However, because I left it blank there's always that chance that I could write a one-shot about it later on at some point.

 **luminere100** : I'm glad that you found this story and that you like it so much. Thank you for your comments, and I'm happy that you like the Teddy/Victoire pairing, they are the central pairing and the main reason why I started writing these stories.

 **KiMaYa** : James and Selene do see t have a lot of chemistry, but of course I'd never tell you anything else than that. We'll just have to wait and see what happens.

 **I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter,**

 **Please leave me your questions or comments in a review!**

 **I will definitely update in two weeks,**

 **Until next time, DFTBA!**


	36. A Night of Surprises

**A/N:** Hello everyone, I'm feeling much better now, I'm still running on the high from the Ottawa Senator's OT win yesterday afternoon. Here's the next chapter about the Ministry's Hallowe'en ball.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own _Harry Potter_.

* * *

 **A Night of Surprises**

 **Monday, October 31** **st** **2022**

 **7:03 PM**

Cecilia very carefully trod the staircase at her home to avoid stepping on the bottom of her long dress, while holding in her hands the only pair of high-heeled shoes that she owned.

"MUM!" She yelled as she jumped from step to step, "Do you know a spell that gets rid of scuff marks?"

After she traversed the bottom step off the staircase, she turned towards the living room and found both her father and Brogan, but not her mother.

Oliver looked up from the puzzle he was helping Brogan complete, and his eyebrows shot up on his forehead when he saw his daughter, "Are you sure that you want to wear that to cover the Caerphilly versus Chudley game tonight?"

Cecilia ignored her father's expression. She continued to gaze around the room as if her mother would suddenly pop out of a corner, and she replied, "I'm not covering the Caerphilly-Chudley game tonight."

"Oh, I though your work schedule said that you were," Oliver remarked casually as he handed Brogan another puzzle piece.

"I was supposed to, but I asked Charley to cover for me so that I could go to the Ministry ball with Louis tonight," She explained.

Her father frowned and seemed to stop paying attention to his and Brogan's puzzle altogether, "You made your co-worker cover for you at work so you can go to some dance with your boyfriend?"

As if Katie had an internal radar that could detect whenever Oliver and Cecilia were about to get into an argument, she suddenly appeared from around the corner and instantly read the tension in the room via the expressions on her husband and daughter's faces.

"Did I hear you calling for me Cee-Cee?" Katie asked loudly as she tried to nonchalantly put herself between the two physically.

Cecilia's hurt gaze moved from her father and to her mother, "I have a scuff on my shoes and I wanted to know if you could fix it."

Her voice was pleading and dejected and Katie instantly took the shoes from her daughter, pulled out her wand, and cast a spell on the black heels to make the scuff marks on the toe disappear.

"There you go Sweetheart," She said handing the shoes back to Cecilia, "And may I say that you look absolutely beautiful tonight? Doesn't she Oliver?"

Oliver crossed his arms over his chest, "She's always pretty, she doesn't need some tight dress or all of that make-up to do that."

While Cecilia appreciated the intent behind her father's words, she still wanted to be petulant because her dress wasn't _that_ tight and she didn't have _that_ much make-up on.

"As much as I'd hate to sound as though I'm playing into media-popularized stereotypes about unattainable female standards of beauty, I _would_ say that a ball at the Ministry requires a little more effort than any other day of the week," Katie countered.

Oliver pouted when he realized that he was outnumbered on the topic and he grumpily went back to helping Brogan with the puzzle, "I still don't see why Cecilia needs to go to the ball in the first place."

"Oliver Ruairdh Wood," Katie chastised her husband firmly, "Cecilia is going to the ball with Louis because it is important for people in relationships to support each other. He came to the Puddlemere event on Saturday to help on her behalf, and now she's going to this Ministry event to support him as a new Ministry employee."

Cecilia wanted to add that she was also going because she sincerely _wanted_ to spend time with her boyfriend, but she knew that that would only get her another eye roll from her father. She decided to go a different route instead.

"Going to the Ministry ball will also help me, Dad. Xavier wasn't the only quidditch player invited to the ball tonight, there will be lots of people within the industry there that I can make connections with. It could benefit not only my career, but also the project I'm helping Eli Martell with."

Her father's face soured a little at hearing the logic in her words and he finally looked away from her and gave his full attention back to his youngest child.

Katie sighed at Oliver's less than encouraging actions and tried to make up for her husband's lack of enthusiasm by cheerily complimenting every part of Cecilia's appearance. She helped Cecilia into the uncharacteristically high-heeled shoes she had picked, aided her with slipping on her travelling cloak, and then whispered to her daughter that she'd make sure that Oliver didn't stay up and wait for her to come back home after the ball. They still needed to take Brogan out trick-or-treating, so Katie assured Cecilia that she would tire the both of them out before the night was done.

* * *

 **7:42 PM**

Victoire stared exasperatedly at the reflection of her blonde hair in the bathroom mirror and wondered whether or not it would be considered too extreme for her to just shave it all off whenever she was having a bad hair day.

Like that day.

She sighed at her image again and picked her wand up from the vanity. She closed her eyes, held her wand up to the level of her head and then cast a few spells that she had read about in an abandoned copy of one of Molly's women's magazines the night before.

When she opened her eyes she pursed her lips and inspected her hair. The mix of different spells didn't actually look too bad. There was a thickly braided section of her blonde hair wrapped around her head almost like a headband, while the rest was curled loosely and left down and hanging just below her shoulder blades.

Victoire shrugged in acceptance with the hairdo and then quickly swiped some make-up across her face before heading back into her bedroom to grab some jewelry.

In their room, Teddy was double-checking that his bow-tie was tied correctly. When he spotted his fiancée in the reflection of the mirror he asked her, "Does my hair clash with my bow-tie?"

The theme of the Ministry's Hallowe'en ball that year was orange and black, and as pedestrian as Victoire thought the theme was, it was better than some other lame theme like a masquerade.

Teddy's dress robes were a traditional black style with a little white and his hair was his normal turquoise colour; his bowtie was the only part of his outfit that was orange.

"Very fantastically," Victoire told him seriously as she slipped behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist.

His hands moved to rest on hers which she had gently placed on his stomach, "Should I change it to black then?"

"Do whatever you want Teddy, but I for one _really_ like the blue," She said with a wicked smirk.

He raised an eyebrow at her via the mirror they were still in front of, "Is that your way of telling me that you only fancy me if it's blue?"

"The black just makes you look a little too much like Uncle Harry sometimes," Victoire replied honestly.

"And that would be a bad thing because . . . ?"

Instead of verbally responding to his faux-serious question she just rolled her eyes at him.

Teddy grinned, spun around, and slid his arms around her waist, crushing her to him.

"I like your dress, but I'm now wondering what you're going to do for orange," He said as his eyes appreciatively took in the low cut criss-cross neckline of her black dress. For something that bared such a large amount of skin, he was pleasantly surprised with how classy the dress still looked.

Victoire's hands moved to smooth out the fabric of the all-black dress that fit tightly across her stomach and hips as she explained, "I've got orange shoes to wear."

She then moved her hand to wandlessly summon said shoes from her closet and held up the bright orange satin covered stiletto pumps for him to see, "What do you think?"

"I'd say that I'd be worried that no one would see them, but from what I recall that dress has a wicked slit up the one side," Teddy mused.

One of his hands continued to cradle her lower back while the other slid down her right thigh until he felt the place, rather high up, where the fabric of the dress parted to reveal her smooth skin.

"And from what I recall," Victoire whispered, her voice suddenly husky as her hand moved up to rest on his chest, "You thought that particular feature of my dress rather convenient the last time I wore it."

He smiled wolfishly at her, the expression on his face very clearly implying that he remembered the last time she wore that particular dress, "That is _one_ of my favourite pieces of clothing that you own."

"And you're wearing my favourite shade of hair colour," She countered.

"Then I don't see how we're going to be able to keep our hands off of each other for the rest of the night."

"Who says that we have to?"

The raised-eyebrow expression that was on Victoire's face was met by yet another one of Teddy's smirks before they closed the distances between their faces and shared what had started out as a very ardent kiss, before slowly ending it.

Teddy pulled back first.

"Sweetheart . . . not that that wasn't nice and all, but I don't think you were completely into that kiss. I could pretty much hear the cogs whirling around in your head during it."

Victoire stepped out of his embrace and sighed heavily as she sat down on the bed, "There's just something that's been on my mind recently."

"What is it?" He asked softly, sitting down next to her on the bed.

She bit her lip and looked down at her hands, ". . . I think I want a baby."

"I know," He told her, giving her a kiss on the top of her head, "After we get married, in two years."

Victoire turned to him, put her hands on his shoulders, and looked him straight in the eye, "No . . . I want one now."

He froze and she quietly waited for him to contemplate her words. She knew that she was dropping something really big on him and that he would probably need a lot of time to process it.

So she was rather surprised when he responded after only reaching forty-eight in her count.

"Like right now right now, or like sometime this week?"

Victoire frowned at him, "I'm serious Teddy. I don't think I want to wait two years to start trying."

Teddy raised his hand up to her face and he cupped her cheek, "Are you sure about this?"

"I think this is the part of the conversation where you're supposed to tell me whether or not _you_ want to have a baby," She said, a frown still on her face.

He sent her a look with a raised eyebrow, "Did you not see how I monopolized Rowan yesterday when we visited her and Eliza? I think it's safe to say that I'd like a baby too."

"So are we agreeing that we're going to try to have a baby sometime soon?" Victoire questioned him, rather surprised that the conversation only took a relatively short amount of time to come to this resolution.

"I think that we probably have a little bit more considering and discussing to do on the topic before deciding what our next step will be," Teddy said tenderly, "But I'm glad that we're talking about this. Especially since it's about something that it seems we've both been thinking about recently."

Victoire nodded her head solemnly, and smiled at him, "I agree."

They gazed deeply at each other and their faces slowly began to inch closer together. Just as their lips were about to meet they were rudely interrupted.

"Alright, we've got to stop this dawdling!"

Victoire and Teddy hastily pulled away from each other and turned to stare wide-eyed at the redhead standing in the doorway of their bedroom, who had just interrupted them.

"Lucy? What are you doing here?" Victoire asked her cousin with a confused frown.

"I figured you two would be dragging your heels tonight and I didn't want you to end up coming to the Ministry's ball late," Lucy explained nonchalantly as she summoned Victoire and Teddy's travelling cloaks and sent them to the pair.

Teddy raised an eyebrow at his fiancée's cousin, "And it's important for us to arrive on time because . . . ?"

Lucy put her hands on her hips and her family resemblance to Dom was suddenly striking, "Because everyone knows that Victoire is my cousin and her behaviour –and by extension yours Teddy– reflects directly on me."

Victoire opened her mouth to argue, but Teddy quickly shook his head at her and firmly suggested that all three of them should get moving if they wanted to get to the event on time. Both women nodded in agreement, and Victoire only had the time to ask Lucy if she was going to meet Austin before the ball or at it, before the metamorphamgus ushered them out the flat's front door.

Once they got to the Ministry's ball Lucy skipped off to meet Austin, and Victoire informed Teddy that she needed a glass of wine before starting their mingling with his colleagues. Victoire had met several of Teddy's colleagues and supervisors before (including ones that weren't her uncles, her godfather, or Hayden, Jilly, or Kurt) so she pretty much just smiled politely and nodded her head every once in a while during Teddy's benign conversations with those people.

Luckily for Victoire, she realized that she wasn't the only person acting as arm-candy that night when she and Teddy stumbled upon Teddy's partners. Both Hayden and Kurt were going stag that night, but Jilly had brought her boyfriend Caleb Cooke with her, and it turned out that the History of Magic professor cleaned up very well. While Teddy spoke with his auror colleagues, Victoire had a rather in-depth discussion with Caleb on the research project she was doing with Healer McDavid. Caleb wasn't as well versed on the healing magic aspects as Victoire was, but he could easily grasp the historical aspect of her research, as well as her theorizing about magical intent affecting healing spells.

After about a half hour of conversation, the four aurors broke apart because they knew that they should mingle more with the other ministry employees. Teddy and Victoire, who did not really have much of a specific agenda for the evening, pretty much decided on where in the ballroom they would wander to by figuring out which side of the room Lucy and Austin were not presently inhabiting. In doing so, Victoire and Teddy finally ended up running into Ally and Xavier for the first time that night.

"Oh you look _so_ pretty," Victoire complimented Ally as the two cousins shared a tight hug.

Ally was wearing a figure-flattering mostly all-black floor-length dress with an off-the-shoulder neckline, and her attempt at orange was a thin orange sash tied around her waist along with an orange ribbon braided into her black hair, which was secured into a French-twist. She did have some simple jewelry on, but the most noticeable piece was still the ginormous engagement ring on Ally's left hand.

"You look better, I _love_ your hair," Ally gushed back at Victoire.

"Thank you, just don't ask me how I did it because I really don't know," Victoire replied.

Ally laughed and then launched into a complaint about how everyone she and Xavier had talked to had felt that it was their duty to comment on their engagement. She wouldn't have minded so much if the people were just congratulating them on their engagement, but it was the other comments on their relationship, the size of Ally's ring, and prying about the date of the wedding that bothered Ally so much.

"Have you had any fun tonight?" Victoire asked her cousin concernedly.

"Hanging out with Clark and Mark and their dates tonight was fun," Ally mused.

Victoire's eyebrows rose up in surprise, "They brought dates? Those two never bring dates to anything."

"It's partially the fault of our publicists," Xavier added in explanation.

"Partially?"

Xavier smirked, "The other part is Ally's fault."

Ally lightly smacked her fiancé's arm, "It's not _my_ fault, I just convinced him that Dom would be a good date for tonight-"

"Whoa," Victoire interrupted holding her hands up in a 'stop' gesture, "Back up. Dom's here? As someone's date? She didn't tell me she was coming tonight. Whose date is she? Clark's?"

"To answer your first question: yes Dom is here. Your second: yes, she's someone's date. Third: She didn't know she was coming tonight until around noon when I asked her if she would come as a favour to me. Four: She's Mark's date. And no," Ally rattled off surprisingly precisely.

Victoire pursed her lips, "Dom is Mark's date tonight? But I thought you were trying to get Clark and Dom together?"

"I am," Ally reaffirmed, "But you see, the Puddlemere's publicists are so worried about Clark's reputation as a ladies man that they heavily suggested to Clark that he bring a date with him who would be above reproach if pictures of them were posted in the paper."

"Which is why Dom's _not_ his date tonight."

Ally nodded, "Yes, but it is why Tabitha _is_ his date."

"So Clark's date for tonight is his sister?"

"Clark's escort for tonight is his sister," Ally reiterated, "And since Tabitha is Clark's date, I convinced Mark to bring Dom as his."

Victoire smiled understandingly, "And because Clark and Mark will most likely spend most of the night together, that means that Clark and Tabitha and Mark and Dom will be spending most of the night together."

"It's like a double-date, but opposite because Clark should actually be on a date with Dom, and Mark should be on a date with Tabitha," Ally expounded.

Victoire almost rolled her eyes, "So you're trying to further along both of your ships tonight then?"

Xavier threw his arm over Ally's shoulders, "She's been bouncing on her toes all evening so far. I've had to keep her away from Clark and Mark and their _respective_ dates so that she doesn't interfere anymore."

"I'm not _that_ bad," Ally defended herself as she pouted at her fiancé.

"Yes you are, you're almost as bad as Victoire was when she was trying to get us together during my seventh-year," Xavier countered.

Victoire groaned at the memory, "Godric, the number of times I wanted to bang my head against the wall in frustration that year. I thought everything was over with after Ally's seventeenth birthday party, but then Ally had to go and forget that you'd kissed each other and Xavier wouldn't tell her the truth –and I'm getting worked up right now just _remembering_ it."

"Oh, trust me, Xavier and I could not have been as oblivious about it as Mark and Tabitha are," Ally argued.

"I'll believe it when I see Mark and Tabitha make out and then go on with their lives pretending like it never happened," Victoire countered.

Xavier glanced at Ally, "Victoire has a point."

Ally rolled her eyes, "Whatever, I'm going to accidentally wander back over there and see how they're doing."

Xavier chuckled at her but when she wiggled out of his grip and marched away he stopped laughing and realized that she wasn't joking. He then had to offer up a quick goodbye to Victoire and Teddy so that he could try to catch up to Ally and stop her from meddling in the private lives of his teammates and her cousin.

"Did I act like that when I was trying to get Ally and Xavier together?" Victoire asked Teddy interestedly once the other couple was gone.

Teddy shook his head, "Nah, you weren't that bad. I mean, you probably could have been, but you were so busy with quidditch, being Head Girl, studying for N. E. W. T.s, and of course the Tri-Wizard Tournament, that you didn't end up coming across _quite_ as interfering as Ally is right now."

Victoire pursed her lips and then nodded her head thoughtfully. She would have then asked Teddy if she had come across as annoying all those years ago as Ally was right now, if she hadn't just spotted her Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny coming towards them. She and Teddy spent a few minutes trading pleasantries with her aunt and uncle before Victoire sweetly asked her aunt why she wasn't wearing any orange.

Ginny raised an eyebrow at her niece, "I don't do the colour orange."

"Is that why you decided to play for the Harpies over the Cannons?" Teddy teased her.

Ginny nodded her head sombrely, "That's exactly why I chose the Harpies instead."

Harry rolled his eyes at her dramatic tone and then grinned, "Actually Teddy, when you were three years old Ginny held up both a Harpies and a Cannons jersey in front of you and told you to pick which team she should play for."

"And _I_ picked the Harpies jersey instead of the Cannons jersey?" Teddy asked.

"Well you weren't really paying attention to what Ginny was saying to you because you were trying to build a tower out of blocks, but you morphed your hair green and gold and she took that as a sign," Harry explained with a chuckle.

Ginny added, "Plus I really didn't want to have to wear orange every day."

"I don't blame you, Molly and Lucy both hate wearing orange as well," Victoire said.

"Yeah the only redhead I've seen pull orange off both unaffectedly and flawlessly is Dom," Ginny mused.

Victoire nodded her head, "She's got this aura about her that would make it impossible for someone to think she looks awful in something, if she ever does look awful in anything that is."

The conversation then drifted into a discussion about Auror Department and Ministry politics that pretty much only Teddy and Harry were involved in. Harry did mention however that he had spoken to someone, not long apparently after they had spoken to Teddy, and Harry explained that said person had told Harry that he had found Teddy a very informed conversationalist and that his fiancée was charming.

"Yeah," Victoire interjected with a roll of her eyes, "Apparently all I need to do to be charming is to not say a word and smile when it seems appropriate."

"Well I like you Vic, and I'm one of Teddy's direct supervisors so that should be all that matters," Harry told her.

Victoire pursed her lips, "But do _you_ think I'm charming?"

"You are a lot of things Honey, but I'm not entirely sure if charming is an adjective I'd use to describe you . . . you're more of an acquired taste."

"Thanks Uncle Harry."

The sarcasm in her tone was obvious but not completely biting, so her uncle responded in kind.

"You're very welcome."

Just as Victoire was about to offer up another sarcastic retort, that probably would have led to a lengthy satirical conversation that would have been interesting to listen to but devoid of any real substance, an old acquaintance of her Uncle Harry's waddled by and stopped to greet him once he recognized him.

"Harry my boy! Is that you?"

Harry jolted in surprise at being accosted by the rather old and round-looking man, while Ginny sighed heavily.

"Horace," Harry greeted the white haired man in a tone that did a rather good job of hiding his disbelief at encountering the other man, "What a . . . pleasant surprise."

The older man smiled brightly at him and then seemed to notice that Harry's wife was standing next to him, "And hello Ginevra."

Only the most miniscule of muscles on Ginny's face twitched upon hearing herself referred to by her full first name, "Good evening Professor Slughorn."

The plump older man, who was almost completely bald, waved off Ginny's greeting, "Please Ginevra, call me Horace, it's been quite a while since you were my student."

If the pinched look on Ginny face said anything, it was that she probably wasn't about to take the man up on his offer.

Harry hurriedly turned to Victoire and Teddy (who had been about to slowly back away from him and Ginny) and quickly introduced them to the elderly man in an attempt to interrupt Slughorn before he could start speaking.

"Horace, may I introduce you to my niece Victoire Weasley and her fiancé Ted Lupin?"

Within an instant Horace Slughorn had gone for staring intently at Harry, to giving Victoire and Teddy his undivided attention.

"Oh of course! I've heard quite a lot about you Miss Weasley, I've been eager to meet you since you competed in the last Tri-Wizard Tournament," Horace Slughorn told her as he held his hand out for Victoire to shake.

Victoire smiled charmingly at the pudgy man, "It's nice to meet you too Professor Slughorn, I've heard so much about you from my family members."

Slughorn blinked at her in a way that made Victoire think that she may have used a little too much charm, but he quickly recovered and then turned to Teddy and shook his hand heartily.

"It's a pleasure to meet you as well Mr. Lupin, did you know that I taught your father while he was at school? He wasn't exactly the best Potions student I ever had, but he was quite a talented and gifted wizard. Your mother as well was a great witch, as was your grandmother. Even though it's not strictly proper to have favourite students, especially those of your own house, Andromeda was one of mine . . ." Slughorn continued in that vein a little longer, and went on to pretty much compliment every witch or wizard that had had some part in helping raise Teddy, ending with his famous godfather of course.

Harry and Ginny had silently listened to Slughorn as they patiently waited for an opportunity during which they could make their escape, but once Slughorn had circled back to bragging about Harry (in particular his potions prowess which he must have inherited from his lovely mother) The Chosen One decided that he needed to make Victoire and Teddy the centre of the conversation once more if he and Ginny were ever going to hi-tail it out of there.

"It's a pity that you retired from education before you could have had the chance to teach Victoire or Ted, I think you would have been very impressed with their Potions' ability," Harry explained with a large smile that seemed more smug about making the conversation drift away from himself than gratified because he was actually proud of his godson and niece's accomplishments.

Slughorn glanced interestedly at the pair, "So you're both potions' prodigies then?"

Teddy smiled self-deprecatingly, "I wouldn't say that we're prodigies, but we did both scrape an O on our Potions O. W. L.s and N. E. W. T.s."

"And do you often use your potions knowledge in your daily occupations?" Slughorn asked them rivetedly.

"I'm an auror so I'd say that knowing about potions is particularly important for my chosen career path. Isn't that right Uncle Harry?"

Teddy was trying to bring his godfather back into the conversation, because it seemed obvious that Harry and Ginny were trying to creep away, and it worked. Slughorn shifted his gaze from the younger couple back to Harry.

"Yes, well obviously having an extensive knowledge of Potions is important for anybody," He then glanced around the room and made a big show out of recognizing someone a good several metres away.

Harry apologized to 'Horace' on his Ginny's behalf because he was 'terribly sorry' but that there was someone that he 'just had to speak with', but if 'Horace' would excuse them they 'needed to depart' from the 'always pleasant' conversation. And, to help clear his guilty conscious about leaving his old Potions' professor so impolitely, he ensured that the conversation between Slughorn and Victoire and Teddy would continue by informing Slughorn that Victoire was a resident healer at St. Mungo's.

Slughorn didn't seem to care one whit about Harry and Ginny's departure after learning about Victoire's job. The elder man immediately began asking Victoire questions about what she did, as well as informing her about all of the connections he had to the world of magical healing. He jabbered on about brilliant former students of his before mentioning that he had taught _the_ Healer McDavid and that he was actually the person that gave the healer the idea to create the Dark Arts Reversal ward at St. Mungo's after the last war.

At that point Victoire was finally able to add her own voice to the conversation –which had up to then had pretty much just been a soliloquy performed by the old Potions' professor– and she mentioned that she was currently studying under Healer McDavid and doing research with him. This lead to an explanation from Victoire about the research she was doing with Healer McDavid (or Shawn as Slughorn insisted on calling him). It didn't take long for Victoire to direct the conversation into a depth of healing lingo that became too difficult for Slughorn to follow, and at that point the retired professor drifted back to asking Teddy about his job with the Auror Department.

Teddy explained that he was technically a Jr. investigative auror in the department –which he clarified was above both levels of aurors-in-training as well as the probationary auror level– and that he did a lot of undercover work.

"An auror and a Dark Arts healer," Slughorn mused a little while later once Teddy had pretty much exhausted the talking points about his job that he was allowed to say to someone without any level of security clearance, "You too are quite the power couple then."

Victoire tried to smile at the man's well-intended words that she knew he meant as a compliment, but her smile fell flat. It wasn't the first time someone had referred to her and Teddy as a power couple –Spencer did it all the time and even called them the wizarding world's version of Beyoncé and Jay-Z, whatever that meant– but there was still something about the term 'power couple' that turned her off of it for whatever reason.

Thankfully, Slughorn chose to extend the topic of conversation to other famous or highly talented people he knew that were power couples, and he barely needed a response from either Victoire or Teddy to keep going.

Just when Victoire thought she'd rather be having a conversation with anyone else (including Austin Pennington or Pamela Mace) she noticed out of the corner of her eye that Ally and Xavier wandering no more than five feet away from them. She immediately and enthusiastically called out to her cousin and friend, and the couple wandered over before they realized who she and Teddy were speaking to.

"Professor Slughorn," Victoire began, hoping that using the most exalted prefix he had would flatter him enough to get him to stop talking for five minutes so that she could complete the introductions, "This is my cousin Alexandra Weasley and her fiancé Xavier Wood."

The large older gentleman didn't need much more encouragement than that, and he quickly introduced himself to Ally and Xavier. He only spent a few seconds needlessly informing Ally that he knew her parents, before he singled out Xavier.

"And of course I'm very familiar with you Mr. Wood. I'm been first and foremost a Caerphilly Catapults fan since early childhood, but even _I_ have kept up with your brilliant career. You're quite the player," Slughorn told Xavier as if he was the first person who had ever told him that he was a good athlete.

Xavier was only able to half-enunciate his thank-you response before Slughorn continued and reminded Xavier that he had taught his mother for a year (before she was almost killed by a cursed necklace and spent several months in St. Mungo's of course) and that she had been a rather good student.

"I'm sure that you still have quite the career ahead of you, you play very much like Gwenog did –Gwenog Jones that is, you know of course that she was one of the Harpies' most celebrated players ever, but she was also a dear student of mine– and I'm sure that you'll have a career as illustrious as hers."

Xavier nodded his head, but when Slughorn turned his face slightly the professional keeper glared at Victoire with a look that said 'I'm-not-going-to-forgive-you-for-calling-us-over-here'.

It had been Victoire's intent to pawn Slughorn off on her cousin and friend, so she barely felt any remorse upon seeing Xavier's irritation. In fact, there was one more thing she intended to tell the elderly man before quickly excusing herself and Teddy.

"Professor Slughorn, did you know that Ally here is a potioneer at St. Mungo's?"

Her innocent sounding question was all she needed to say to cement the fact that Slughorn was going to spend the next half hour talking about potions' making in-depth with Ally. Before Slughorn could get too far into a conversation with her potion-making cousin however, Victoire apologetically took leave of him on both her and her fiancé's behalf.

Both Ally and Xavier sent Victoire and Teddy a nasty glare –when Slughorn wasn't looking at them– as the latter couple scurried away from the old potions' professor.

* * *

 **9:47 PM**

"I can't believe that I'm saying this, but _damn_ does Cecilia Wood clean up good," Anish Sharma said in between sips from a tumbler filled with firewhisky.

Matthew Everheart rolled his eyes at first, but then joined in on his friend's ogling, "I always knew that she was a girl –or I guess a woman as would be most appropriate term right now– but dang, I didn't realize that she had so many curves."

"All in the right places too," Anish added, tilting his head a little to the side so that he could see a different angle of the woman they were discussing.

"It's not going to work," the third man whom they were standing with informed them in with a derisive tone.

Matt pursed his lips and glanced innocently at his friend, "What's not going to work?"

" _This_ isn't going to work," Louis reiterated as he swept his hand out to gesture to where Matt and Anish were standing, still gawking at his girlfriend from a distance.

Anish smirked, "What do you think ' _this_ ' is exactly?"

"You're trying to bait me."

"By complimenting your girlfriend?"

"Is it really a compliment when you preface it with 'I can't believe that I'm saying this'?"

"Yes."

Louis looked seriously at his friend, "That's probably why you're still single."

Matt snorted in amusement, and Anish glared at him, "Don't you be so smug Mister. In case you've forgotten, _I'm_ your plus one for tonight."

"That's only because I needed a wingman," Matt brushed him off.

Louis turned to his friend interestedly, "Why do you feel as though you need a wingman?"

"Isn't it apparent? He plans to chat up some bird from his department," Anish answered as if it should be obvious.

Matt blushed a little but muttered, "Actually, she's from the Department of International Magical Cooperation."

"That means that she works for my uncle then, what's her name?" Louis asked curiously.

Matt's eyes narrowed, "I don't think I'm going to tell you."

"Why not?"

"Because you're probably going to do a comprehensive background check on her now."

Louis tried to look sincere, "I just want to look out for you."

"Whoa," Anish exclaimed when he realized that the conversation was turning sappy, "How did we go from objectifying Cecilia to this soppy bromance thing?"

Both Louis and Matt rolled their eyes, but Anish had moved on to a new question.

"Speaking of your girlfriend, I can't believe that you're seriously allowing her to spend all night chatting with good-looking professional quidditch players. Are you batty?"

Louis automatically glanced towards the area of the room where Cecilia was speaking to a circle of male professional quidditch players, one of which was Elijah Martell.

"First, I'm not allowing her to do anything. I don't have any say in what she does or doesn't do. Second, she hasn't spent all night chatting with quidditch players, that's a hyperbole. Third, she's doing this because she's trying to make connections and further the charity work she's helping Martell with, so no, I'm not batty."

Matt came to Louis's defence, somewhat, "Besides, Louis doesn't have anything to worry about. Some of those quidditch players may be fitter than he is, but he's part-veela so he's definitely better looking than all of them."

Louis rolled his eyes, "Thanks Mate."

"Well it's true, and the quidditch player's attractiveness was the only thing Anish commented on. If he had emphasized that Cecilia is surrounded by quidditch players and that she's in _love_ with quidditch on the other hand, I'm not sure what I would have been able to say in your defense," Matt continued.

"Just because she loves quidditch doesn't mean that she'd leave me for a quidditch player," Louis reiterated even though he really didn't want to keep the hypothetical conversation going.

Matt folded his arms over his chest, "Well I'm not suggesting that she'd do that-"

"I am," Anish interrupted.

Louis raised an eyebrow at his friend, "I trust Cecilia and I trust what we have together. I can't believe that I'm defending myself to my friends, but there it is. If she wanted to date someone who plays quidditch, she's had ample opportunity over the past four and a half years to chuck me and choose someone else."

"Well the past four years your relationship lived in the bubble that was the Hogwarts school community. It's different now that it's out in the 'real' and 'adult' world. Also, her father didn't start hating you until now," Anish pointed out.

"Oliver doesn't hate me," Louis argued.

Anish sent his friend a raised eyebrow, "Well from what you've told us it certainly _sounds_ like he hates you-"

"It's just a rough patch that's cropped up all of a sudden. It'll be over just as quickly as it came up," Louis insisted.

Anish shrugged, "Whatever, I for one wouldn't want to upset Oliver Wood though, especially if I was dating his only daughter."

Matt sent a look at Anish that said 'you're-not-helping', and then he tried his best to change the topic of conversation away from Cecilia in general and towards something hopefully more benign. He had succeeded and the three were just in the midst of a conversation about new cauldron regulations when Anish noticed a familiar woman slowly inching her way towards where they were standing. She would take a step closer to them, pause, and then pretend to look around at the crowd of people near her, before taking another close step towards them in repetition of the cycle.

"Don't look now, but we have an eavesdropper at seven o'clock," Anish whispered to his friends, keeping an ordinary smile on his face as he said it.

Matt and Louis took turns moving slightly so that they could see whom Anish was talking about, and Louis's only response was, "That's four o'clock, not seven o'clock Anish."

Anish glared exasperatedly at Louis, "I tell you that Gloria Dustin is practically stalking you right now and your only reaction is to tell me that my direction was off?"

Louis shrugged his shoulders and glanced at Gloria again, this time making the mistake of making eye-contact with the Ravenclaw alumnus. Gloria practically jolted when she realized that Louis was looking at her, and she smiled nervously at him before closing the relatively short distance between them.

"Bollocks," Anish muttered under his breath just before their old fellow Hogwarts student joined them.

"Good evening boys."

Matt and Anish mumbled out a pair of gruff hellos while Louis tried to make up for their lack of politeness in his return of her greeting. However, he was a little worried that instead of just coming across as respectful, that his greeting might come across as a little too encouraging.

"So," Gloria began, pulling her shoulders back a little to give Louis a better view of the not-very-low-at-all neckline of her dress, "Are all three of you flying solo tonight?"

Anish spoke first, "Matt and I are, but Louis brought Cecilia with him of course."

Gloria tilted her head to the side and obviously eyed the thin air beside Louis, "Is she wearing an invisibility cloak tonight?"

"No, she's presently speaking to some acquaintances," Louis explained, hoping that the bare minimum would be enough.

Gloria gave him a look filled with faux-concern, "And she left you here all by yourself?"

"What are we? Chopped liver?" Anish muttered to Matt sarcastically in a not completely quiet tone of voice.

Matt shushed him and Gloria continued.

"I mean, if I had a boyfriend who was as charming and handsome as you are, I'd never let you out of my sight."

Anish, who had just taken a sip of his firewhisky, choked on the burning liquid and coughed so much that Matt had to thump him on the back to help clear his windpipe.

"Godric that doesn't sound creepy at all," Anish finally muttered out, his voice rough from having choked on his drink.

Louis pretended not to hear his friend, "Well luckily for us, Cecilia and I have a lot of trust in our relationship."

"Everybody says that before their relationship implodes," Gloria told Louis with a sage nod of her head, "There's statistics on it."

Louis's eyes were wide, "Um . . . I'm sure there is-"

"But it's great that you trust your girlfriend so much, I know I'd have a difficult time if my boyfriend spent all of his time surrounded by fit female athletes for _his job_ ," Gloria continued.

Anish rolled his eyes, "What boyfriend?"

Once again he was ignored by Louis and Gloria.

"Well it's not like she spends _all_ of her time interviewing quidditch athletes-"

"Of course not, just the good-looking ones like Valentin Krum and Eli Martell," Gloria pointed out.

Louis wanted to remark that he was surprised to hear that she had obviously read Cecilia's articles, but before he could defend his girlfriend and their relationship, Matt interrupted.

"But luckily for Louis and Cecilia, Valentin Krum's a friend of Louis's and Martell's old enough to be Cecilia's father," Matt defended his friends in a tone that was more than a little forceful.

Anish started to slow clap and Louis looked like he wanted to pinch the bridge of his nose in frustration.

Adding to the slight mayhem of the situation was the sudden appearance of Cecilia just behind Gloria.

"Gloria, how nice to see you again," Cecilia greeted as she announced her presence to the group.

Gloria spun around and put her hands on her hips as she looked at Cecilia, "Wood."

The two girls sized each other up and Cecilia was the first to speak, "I like the orange sequins on your dress."

She meant the comment sincerely, but it came across catty.

"I'd compliment you on your outfit, but I see that you opted _not_ to follow the theme for the evening," Gloria said as she critically eyed the entirety of Cecilia's clothing.

Cecilia took a few steps so that she was closer to Louis and she wrapped an arm through his, "I do have something orange on tonight actually."

She held her other arm out so that Gloria could see the silver bracelet on her wrist that was inlaid with orange gemstones, "Louis gave me this bracelet tonight. It has orange moonstones in it."

Gloria's jaw clenched, and even though Cecilia wasn't one who liked to brag about stuff her boyfriend bought her, she did feel really good that she had made the other girl visibly jealous.

"I do believe that you owe me a dance Cee-Cee," Louis said suddenly when he heard a new song start up and couples on the nearby dance floor starting to slow dance.

Before anyone else, including Cecilia, could respond, Louis had swept his girlfriend away to the dance floor and pulled her into a tight embrace before beginning to slowly spin her around.

Even though his friends had previously been teasing him when they spoke about how great Cecilia looked that night, Louis had to admit that what they said wasn't incorrect.

Cecilia's black dress was more daring in the neckline, and with the multi-length hem, than he'd ever seen her wear before. Her dress accentuated the curves that _he_ knew she had, and the high-heeled shoes she was wearing made her legs look _much_ longer. He respected that she didn't like wearing heels too often, but he couldn't say that he minded it when she _did_ wear them. The fact that the added height of the heels made the height difference between them a little less didn't hurt either.

Louis pressed a kiss to Cecilia's temple, "So, I saw you speaking with Martell and some other quidditch players. Were you able to convince more of them to get involved with the charity?"

"Yes," Cecilia responded happily, "And I've done one better. It turns out that in two weeks I'm going to get the opportunity to write a piece for the magazine about whatever topic I choose."

"That's fantastic!"

Cecilia nodded excitedly, "And I'm going to write about the charity project that Eli and I are starting."

"That's brilliant! I'm sure it'll be a fantastic article," Louis told her optimistically.

She smiled and set her head on his shoulder, "I'm excited to get started on it. I told Eli about it a few moments ago and he said he's going to check his work schedule so that he can find a time when we can sit down and finally have a few hours to go through all of the particulars of what we've accomplished so far."

"It'll definitely take a few hours too, because you have accomplished quite a lot in such a short amount of time," He told her sweetly.

Cecilia giggled, "You don't have to lay it on so thick Louis, it's pretty much a given that I'm going home with you tonight."

"That's not why I said it."

"It's still gonna happen though."

"You're telling me that you father's not going to be waiting up for you to get home tonight?" He asked her with a sardonic raise of his blonde eyebrow.

She smirked roguishly at him, "Mum said that she'd cover for me."

"Wicked."

Louis leaned forward with the intention to give Cecilia a somewhat chaste kiss on the lips, but they were interrupted before their lips could meet.

"Have you seen your sister?" Ally accosted him as she suddenly popped up beside him and Cecilia on the dance floor, her fiancé in tow.

He didn't take his eyes off of Cecilia but he _did_ respond to his cousin, "Which sister? The one who's probably off sucking face with a professional quidditch player, or the one who's probably off sucking face with her auror fiancé?"

"The malicious _w_ itch who left Xav and I on our own to fend off Horace Slughorn."

Louis finally looked away from his girlfriend to raise an eyebrow questioningly at his cousin.

"The older one," Ally eventually clarified.

"I saw her and Teddy talking to Lucy and Austin Pennington like ten minutes ago," Louis told her.

Ally frowned, "Damn. I guess I'll have to wait a little longer to yell at her for what she did then."

"Seems like it."

Before Louis could decide whether he wanted to ask Ally and Xavier to leave him and Cecilia alone or not, Xavier had somehow convinced Ally that they should go and meddle with Mark and Tabitha's 'relationship', and leave him and Cecilia's alone.

The interfering couple left soon after and Louis and Cecilia shared a relieved look.

"The only thing I would change about tonight would be the fact that so many of my family members are here and have the potential to embarrass me _so_ much," Louis told her.

Cecilia smirked, "I'm just glad that Mum and Dad opted to take Brogan trick-or-treating this evening instead of coming tonight."

"Me too."

"I thought you weren't afraid of my dad?"

"I'm not . . . I just don't think he'd enjoy watching how I'm looking at you in that dress right now."

Cecilia blushed and bit her lip suggestively, "How much longer do you we have to stay here tonight?"

Louis smirked at her, "We can leave after the next time Teddy or Uncle Harry brings around a bigwig from the Auror Office over to me to try to convince me to switch out of M. L. E."

"So like another twenty minutes then?" Cecilia asked her boyfriend cheekily.

He grinned back, "Oh, more like fifteen minutes tops."

* * *

Victoire discovered that she needed to be careful with the resting expressions she put on her face as she pretended to listen to the conversations Teddy was having with his ministry colleagues. Normally she would have _actually_ been paying attention to the conversations going on, but since Teddy was only talking to people who were above him in the Ministry's chain of command, the discussions were almost exclusively about boring Ministry and Auror Department politics. She pretty much just stood by his side and pretended to listen to the conversation, while she tried really hard not to allow her eyes to glaze over. She was pretty sure that she had a good idea now about how Teddy felt whenever he was stuck by her side when she and Spencer were in the middle of a discussion on healing related magic.

The latest conversation Victoire found herself listening to involved two men who worked closely with the Minister for Magic, and they were asking Teddy his opinion on all of the new legislation that had recently been passed about the new ways to fill out forms and paperwork for certain Auror Department requests. Even though Victoire didn't feel as though there was anything she could add to the discussion, Teddy would covertly squeeze her side whenever he needed to signal to her that she needed to respond –even if it was just via a nod of her head.

The present dialogue had drifted to Teddy explaining that the new protocol of filling out requests for all extra supplies that they need for a case –even if it was just more ink for an inkpot– was starting to hinder the department's efficiency instead of helping it. Interestingly enough, both men were nodding in understanding with his words and then they asked Teddy how he thought the situation could be fixed.

Victoire had just started to let her mind wander off once more –this time into a daydream about what she was going to do once her and Teddy finally got back to their flat that night– when she felt Teddy pinch her side and jolt her out of her speculation.

"Victoire Sweetheart," Teddy addressed her a little louder than necessary, "Why don't you answer Mr. Wiest's question about your occupation?"

She ran a hand through her hair and faced the man that she was only seventy-percent sure had introduced himself as Mr. Wiest, "I'm presently a resident healer at St. Mungo's."

Mr. Wiest, and the other man whose name Victoire couldn't remember, nodded intently, "That's quite the accomplishment Miss Weasley, which ward do you work in? Obstetrics? Artifact Accidents?"

"Dark Arts Reversal ward," Victoire clarified as she tried her best _not_ to sound insulted by the suggestions he had thrown out. She was hoping that they were honest suggestions instead of gender-bias based ones.

Thankfully, Mr. Wiest didn't look shocked by her admission, "You must have worked really hard to get that position. I understand that that particular healing specialty is very difficult. I think I've heard that there are only half a score of healers in all of the Western Wizarding world that have the qualifications to become a fully qualified healer in Dark Arts Reversal."

Victoire tried to keep her eyes from going wide in surprise, "That's correct, it is a very quickly growing field though, and relatively new when you consider that some of the other healing specialties are centuries or even millennia old."

The other man with Mr. Wiest seemed as though he was about to add something to the conversation, but before he could Victoire's Uncle Harry slipped into the group and said that he needed to speak to Teddy immediately.

Mr. Wiest and the other man seemed to respect, if not understand, Harry's urgency and they quickly departed, leaving Harry alone with Teddy and Victoire. Victoire wasn't entirely sure if she was also supposed to leave the two men alone or not, but before she could try to leave –or insist that she should stay– Harry began to speak.

Apparently, the Auror Department had just gotten word of an incident involving a dozen people in a bog and some rather nasty dark magic, and Harry needed to send in extra aurors right away to help deal with it. Harry explained that Teddy's partner Hayden Summers as well as Jilly Donaldson and Kurt Williamson had already been recruited from the ball and sent off to the incident site not five minutes ago, and that Teddy needed to get there as soon as possible to give assistance and support.

"Casualties and injuries?" Teddy asked Harry, his eyes already looking as though his mind was running a mile a minute as he tried to form a plan.

Harry glanced at Victoire for a second before gazing back at Teddy, "No confirmed casualties as of yet, but several moderate to serious injuries."

The words were barely out of his mouth before Victoire realized why her uncle hadn't asked her to leave before telling Teddy about his new assignment. Harry must have figured that she would hear about it sooner or later considering that she _was_ a healer in the Dark Arts Reversal ward after all.

Teddy looked at down at Victoire who was still standing right up against his side, "I have to go."

She nodded her head understandingly, "I should go too. To St. Mungo's. They'll probably try to call me in anyway if the volume of patients gets too heavy."

"I'll see you later then?" He asked her.

She stood up onto her tiptoes and pressed a kiss to his lips, "See you later."

They were purposely being ambiguous about the place and time at which they would later see each other, because they really didn't know when they'd next meet. It would most likely be when they both ended up stumbling into bed in the early, or rather late, hours of the next morning.

"Be careful," Victoire whispered to him as they both started to move towards the portion of the room that held the exit.

Teddy pressed a kiss to the top of her head, "You too."

* * *

 **A/N:** Well . . . a lot happened in this chapter, but I hope you enjoyed it :) Also, how'd you like Slughorn's little cameo? And how adorable are Cecilia and Louis?

Hmmm . . . it seems like there's something else I should probably address . . . Oh yeah, Vic's bombshell in the beginning about wanting a baby. We'll hear more about that very shortly as the story progresses. I promise I won't leave you hanging on it for very long.

 **Next Update:** In two weeks.

 **Next Chapter:** We get to see Vic do some serious healing, and Teddy do some auror-ing. It'll be lots of fun.

Teaser for Next Chap:

 **""Uh . . . Healer Weasley . . . how is this potion going to be effective if half of the patient's stomach is missing?"**

 **Victoire didn't miss a beat as she continued to repair the injuries to the visible portions of the intestines, "You'll have to switch it over so that it can be given intravenously to the patient.""**

Thanks again to everyone who had followed, favourited, read, and especially reviewed this story!

BIG thank-yous to:

 **Random Viewer, TIGERSAGE, Guest (1), B. arendes, Guest (2), silverlover02, rosesnlilies, AngelTwins527, Break This Spell626, Seher Syed, TheSlytherinQueenbee, GinevraFangirl, Jacquie Lily Black, Guest (3), kawaiiotaku0405, ntlpurpolia, Jennifer Jules, Venz, Jily71102, The Awesome One, Sharon, liverpoolss,** and **lumiere100**.

 **Random Viewer** : It's the end of October in the story, so the next time all the Hogwarts kids will be home will be Christmas. We will definitely get to see a big family dinner chapter with them when that comes up. It might be a while before we get there, but it will be lots of fun when we do, because we'll be meeting Charlie's girlfriend at the same time. However, we will be seeing the kids at Hogwarts in a few chapters time, and there will be a little bit of interaction between them and their family members.

 **TIGERSAGE** : I haven't read 'The Cursed Child' (I'm assuming that that is what you mean when you say 'in the books') so anything from that play will not be purposely used in this story. Since 'The Cursed Child' and all the extra info from Pottermore came out after I started writing my next-gen series, I know that there are things that I wrote that may not be considered 'cannon' now. However, since my first story was cannon when I started writing it, I don't exactly consider my series non-cannon. If I've already written something that ends up being different from something that J. K. R. eventually puts out, I am not going to go back and change what I've already written. I'm just going to go forward based on the foundation I've already laid.

 **Guest (1)** : I am feeling better, thank-you. I really don't know when I'll be able to update weekly like I used to. When I was doing that I was in university and I had more time to get chapters written. When I have enough chapters written ahead of time I'll be able to post once a week, but as it is that will be a while away. I'm having a hard enough time right now posting every two weeks, because that seems to be how long it takes me now to write a chapter. If I get on a writing kick and I'm able to get some chapters written up ahead of time I will get back to posting once a week, but for that to happen you'll have to be patient with me. :)

 **Jennifer Jules** : I'm glad that you like the group events, because there's so many characters in this story that the only way to see most of them is to do group events every once in a while.

 **Venz** : We don't really celebrate the 1st of May as anything special where I'm from, but I do think it might be celebrated in some other provinces or maybe larger cities. We don't have a national or provincial holiday or anything for it though. We do have a long weekend later on in May that we call the Victoria Day long-weekend that celebrates Queen Victoria's birthday, so that's pretty much the only holiday we have in the month of May. I try to use names that belong to different ethnicities or cultures when I write these stories because the world is becoming such a globalized place. I didn't specifically pick Professor Nurmi's name because it was Finnish or create some extensive background story for her, I just wanted something that wasn't English and when I was doing a search of random last names Nurmi was one of the first ones to come up. I do put some though into some of my other characters names, but unfortunately Nurmi was just luck of the draw.

 **Jily71102** : I've addressed this a few times over the years, but even though Victoire may _seem_ perfect, she's not. Yes she's pretty, smart, athletic, and magically powerful, but she's also rash, impulsive, holds grudges longer than she needs to, too nosey, very outspoken, sometimes thoughtless, has a wicked temper, and had no artistic abilities whatsoever. Her faults don't seem as big because I usually focus on her good qualities, but if you read what I've written and think back on my stories her flaws are there in the stories, they're just ones that most of her friends and families forgive. Which is what you want from your friends and family anyway, for them to accept your faults.

 **The Awesome One** : I'm glad that you're caught up now.

 **Sharon** : Hayden, Jilly, and Kurt are all a little older than Teddy (I'd imagine in ranges from one year to five, the three of them sitting somewhere in between those numbers). I've never addressed specifically if the other three aurors went to Hogwarts or what house they were in, because in all honesty I didn't want to have to create too many complicated back stories and figure out whether they knew each other in school or if they didn't, or if they had friends who hated each other, etc. I purposely avoided adding that info because I felt that leaving it ambiguous added less constraints to the story, so if it's okay with you I'm going to leave that information ambiguous, and you can imagine it how you'd like :)

 **lumiere100** : Well I've stated that Tabitha is Clark's younger sister, and she said she was four years older than Vic, and two years older than Teddy. Therefore Tabitha is 26. Both Clark and Mark are around the same age (one may be a year or two older than the other), so I imagine them both to be between 27-31.

 **I hope that everyone liked this chapter!**

 **Please, please, please leave me some reviews, I'd love to hear your thoughts!**

 **If you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer them,**

 **Until next time, DFTBA!**


	37. Pieces of the Puzzle

**A/N:** Hello everyone! I know this update is technically a day late, but it's the Victoria Day long weekend here in Canada, so it's still technically the weekend here.

 **Important:** Fan-Fiction has been having problems with their e-mail updates in the past few weeks (I noticed because I was not getting e-mail updates myself nor was I getting updates about some reviews I got). I'm not sure exactly what was wrong with the system, and I'm not fully sure that whatever was wrong is completely fixed, so let me know if you did get an email update about chapter 37's update.

Because of this problem, you may not have seen that I updated two weeks ago. If you haven't read the chapter that involves Vic and Teddy actually attending the Ministry Ball, you will want to go back and read that before you read this one.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Harry Potter.

* * *

 **In Previous Chapters:** Victoire and Teddy were at the Ministry ball on Hallowe'en night when Harry came by and informed them that an incident involving dark magic happened to a bunch of people in a bog and Teddy needed to go and investigate. Victoire took it upon herself to go straight to St. Mungo's, knowing that there would be casualties that the Dark Arts Reversal ward would be filled. Several chapters ago we met the Milligans, a blended family the father (Clyde) and sister (Lygia) are muggles, and the mother and two boys are magical.

* * *

 **Pieces of the Puzzle**

 **Monday October 31** **st** **2017**

 **11:38 PM**

During Victoire's years at healing school she had taken several elective courses, the oddest of all of them being a course in which she learned to do simple to moderate healing magic with the help of everyday items (a skill she ended using repeatedly when she was working at the dig site in Peru and trying to heal people without the proper supplies and tools). However, despite how handy the skills she learned from that particular elective ended up being, she was starting to think that it would have been more beneficial for her if her healing school had offered a course on how to heal patients while wearing non-optimal clothing like a tight black dress and orange satin high heels.

To make the situation even more awkward, she had almost forgotten what she was wearing when she hustled to St. Mungo's and up to the Dark Arts Reversal ward. She found her ward extremely busy with interns and assistant healers running around, but almost everyone stopped to stare at her when they realized that she had arrived. She had sort of expected her fellow residents Fabius and Wesley Hall to be surprised when they saw her, but she didn't anticipate that Cassidy and Healer Seward would pause mid-spell to stare at her as well.

The only person who didn't seem to bat even one eyelash at her appearance was Healer Rhee.

Obviously the seventy-something healer had seen a lot during his many years, and one of his resident healers showing up to work in a slinky black dress and high-heels must not have been irrational enough to register with him. The head healer of the D. A. R. ward only reacted to her odd arrival long enough to calmly ask one of the healing interns to find an extra pair of healing robes for Victoire, and to inform Victoire that he could use her help with the patient he was presently examining.

Victoire swiftly made her way to Healer Rhee's side, and as she went her fellow resident healers felt the need to ask her questions that they just couldn't seem to hold back.

"What in the world are you wearing?" Fabius asked her with a suspicious narrowing of his eyes.

"A dress and shoes."

"Why?" Wesley asked in a tone of voice that was more curious than anything else.

Victoire self-consciously brushed a piece of hair behind her ear, "Because I just came from the Ministry's ball."

Cassidy was the only one whose facial expression changed to comprehension, "So that's where you heard about this incident from then. Healer Rhee was just about to dictate that someone send you an owl to ask you to come in and work."

"I heard about it and figured that I'd be called in at some point," Victoire explained once she finally made it to Healer Rhee's side.

Healer Rhee took a short break so he could smile at her, "I see that you were a couple steps ahead of me."

"Only insomuch that I got here before you were able to contact me. All I know is that there was an incident involving several people and dark magic, and that there were many injuries," Victoire told Healer Rhee.

The head of the ward nodded his head, "We only have five patients right now, the emergency magical medical responders told us to expect many more before the night is over."

"That was the impression I got as well."

The healing intern was back at that point, and handed Victoire an extra pair of bright green healing robes. The fourth-year healing student intern blushed a little when he apologized to Victoire and told her that he couldn't find any extra shoes for her to wear, but that there was another female intern who was still looking for her.

Victoire slipped the robes on and decided to keep wearing the shoes until something better could be found. She then asked Healer Rhee for the specifics of the patient who was in front of him, and with that question the rest of the healers and resident healers snapped back to work.

The next several hours both flew by quickly and dragged on forever for Victoire and the other people working in the D. A. R. ward. Victoire thought that it had started out comparatively slow as she got caught up by Healer Rhee, but once a new patient was brought in she was immediately assigned to examine him on her own since all of the other healers, resident healers, and interns were busy with the other five patients.

Up until that night, Victoire had never seen the ward so busy. Usually the leading healers would work beside the resident healers to help teach them how to do their jobs. However, since the ward was rather hectic that night, Victoire found herself being assigned to the care of several patients without being under the direct supervision of Healer Rhee or Healer Seward. In most of the instances she did have one of her fellow resident healers and a few interns to help her, but during the point of the evening in which the ward became its busiest, Victoire did at one point find herself healing a patient under no one else's supervision, and with only _one_ healing intern to help.

It was that point of the night at which the ward was the most overloaded, that Victoire realized that her feet were screaming at her. She was still wearing the high-heels, and if they hadn't had stabilizing charms on them she probably would have kicked them off much earlier in her shift.

As it was, the floor of the ward wasn't the cleanest as there was blood, bodily fluids, and lots of mud and water all over it –most likely having been transferred from the patients were coming from the bog– and Victoire was pretty sure that she would rather her feet develop blisters than let them touch the dirty and presently un-sanitized tile floor.

While Victoire was treating a patient on her own –but with the help of an intern– she discovered that her intern had never seen the damage that an entrails-expelling curse could do. Her intern's face went green and for a few moments Victoire was convinced that he was going to retch. He didn't end up doing so, but he did turn his back on the patient and take a few minutes to compose himself.

Upon seeing his reaction, Victoire idly wondered how he hadn't seen a picture of the after-effects of the curse during healing classes or in a textbook, but then she realized that she might have only seen photos of those types of curses' effects because Kingsley had shown her them when he was trying to teach her how to defend herself from said curses. Either way, she needed to heal the patient, and if her intern couldn't help her she'd need to call someone else in to aid her.

The hardest part about healing entrails-expelling curses was to keep everything in and try to keep the injured area as clean as possible. Thankfully, the emergency magical medical responders who dealt with her patient in the field had their wits about them and did exactly what they needed to do to keep the patient stable until a certified healer could get to the patient.

Victoire had started repairing the intestines by the time her intern had decided that he could handle the carnage, and she started barking orders at him right away –partially because she didn't want to give him time to really stare at the amount of blood and fluids their patient was expelling– so she asked him to cast new extra-strength stasis charms on the injured area, and to go get a pain-killing potion and a blood replenishing potion once he was finished with his spell work.

To her intern's credit, his stasis charms were flawless and he travelled as quickly as he could to get the potion and then come back to assist her. It wasn't until he came back with both potions bottles in hand that he realized the issue with her request.

"Uh . . . Healer Weasley . . . how is this potion going to be effective if half of the patient's stomach is missing?"

Victoire didn't miss a beat as she continued to repair the injuries to the visible portions of the intestines, "You'll have to switch it over so that it can be given intravenously to the patient."

The intern gave her such a blank look that for a minute she thought that she might have accidentally spoken in French instead of English, but when he asked her how exactly he was to go about giving the potions intravenously she realized that she _did_ speak to him in English. She then gave him simple explanations on how to modify the potions to be dispensed intravenously while healing the injury to the entrails at the same time.

Luckily he was a quick study, and it didn't take long for him to complete what she had asked him to do, and during that time she had mostly healed the patient's missing half of stomach, and she gave him a new task to complete. He was in charge of slowly removing the stasis charms he had placed on the intestines, one small section of bowel at a time.

"Why do you want me to remove the stasis charms? Aren't they the only thing keeping his blood inside him?" The intern asked her uncomprehendingly.

Victoire then explained, in a very teacher-like tone of voice, that they needed blood to flow freely through certain parts of the intestines so that she could make sure that she had healed all of the perforations. She told him that if there were still smaller nicks in the intestines that she had missed, then they would be able to see it via which sections were bleeding. It was important to go about reversing the stasis charms methodically and slowly so that the patient wouldn't lose any more blood than necessary.

It wasn't until Victoire had looked up, to gage how the intern had taken her explanation and instruction, that she realized that the intern hadn't actually addressed her with the question in the first place.

Standing just beside the intern and looking directly at the patient's injury was Healer Rhee, who had come over to see Victoire's progress once he had sent his latest patient to a private room.

The influx of the patients had happened so quickly that many of the patients were being healed before they could be moved to a room that was properly equipped for those matters. Hence, Victoire had been healing the patient while standing on the dirty floor of the D. A. R. ward's main patient receiving area.

Before Victoire had the opportunity to feel embarrassed at having answered a question meant for the head healer, Healer Rhee smiled proudly at her and congratulated her on her excellent explanation of the medical process she had described to the intern.

He then offered to help Victoire do her final cleansing spells to help ward off infection and to close up the still-open portions of the patient's stomach and pelvic area.

Once the patient was put back together like a macabre puzzle, the intern was put in charge of finding a room for the patient to stay in, and Victoire went on to work on the next patient who slid off the lift and into the D. A. R. ward.

* * *

 **12:56**

"I thought there were only supposed to be a dozen injuries," Hayden commented darkly as he and Teddy stood in the middle of the bog and tried to account for the identities of everyone involved in the incident.

It was easy to collect information from those involved who were still hanging around the bog and under custody of various aurors, it was more difficult to account for the injured parties who had already been taken to St. Mungo's. Many of the suspects (as that's what everyone involved in the incident were considered until they were able to collect more information) had been taken to the hospital before Teddy –and the rest of the Auror Department back-up– had arrived. A few aurors had been dispatched to go to St. Mungo's and stay with the suspects and the injured, and as the aurors at the bog cleared away more of the injured, more of the aurors left the site to go to the hospital and try to interview the suspects.

"And I thought the injuries were only supposed to be moderate," Teddy remarked as he watched a few emergency magical medical responders working on the suspect who was lying on the ground closest to them.

The pair of aurors felt relatively helpless at the moment, and neither were happy that all they could do was essentially watch the emergency magical medical responders try to save the life of a young man who had been hit with an array of unknown curses that they did not know the particulars of.

The same scene was occurring all over the bog in concerns to other suspects who were injured to varyingly different degrees, but Teddy and Hayden were two of the few aurors who were leaving the suspects alone so that the emergency magical medical responders could do their jobs. They both knew that there was absolutely no sense in trying to badger questions out of a barely conscious suspect.

"Lupin! Summers! We've got some information on that suspect of yours!"

Teddy and Hayden turned to see Jilly and Kurt running towards them –or running as quickly as they could in the sticky sinking ground of the bog.

"This guy?" Hayden asked curiously as he glanced down at the young man next to him who couldn't have been more than twenty-years old.

"According to a man Burton has in custody, that bloke is one of the organizers of this event," Kurt explained.

Teddy pursed his lips, "And this event was what exactly? We haven't heard that anyone had finally spilled the beans about why they're all here, or why they started to fling dark curses at each other."

Jilly shook her head, "As far as we know, no one has fessed up to the group's purpose here. What we do know however, is that this young man was hit by at least two Cruciatus curses, a stunner, and a hex that looked very much like _Speculas crustaeum_."

"No wonder this bloke doesn't look so good," Hayden commented with a low whistle.

"Auror Summers, Auror Lupin," One of the emergency magical medical responders called suddenly to get their attention.

They had it immediately.

"I think we need to move this man to the hospital right away," The woman who was holding her wand out over the unconscious man told them.

Teddy glanced at the blood still pouring out of suspect's wounds, "Is he stable enough to transfer?"

"No," The woman admitted, "But I don't think we can get him to that point. There's something that's stopping our stasis spells from working and we can't reverse it. He's going to bleed out before we'll be able to heal him. St. Mungo's is the best chance he has."

Teddy and Hayden both nodded and they gave the request to the emergency magical medical responders to move the man immediately. The female emergency magical medical responder kept casting spells on the suspect, while her male partner pulled out a portkey. In a bright flash of light all three were gone.

"It's starting to clear up around here," Kurt observed as he noted that Teddy and Hayden's suspect was the last of the severely injured in the bog, "You and Hayden can probably move on to the hospital and try to get some info out of your suspect once he gets conscious again."

"Is your suspect who told you the information about _our_ suspect still here?" Teddy asked Jilly.

She nodded, "He made it out with just a broken arm. It's already been healed and we're keeping him here until we get a little more information out of him."

"Then we should probably split up," Teddy suggested, "We need to know if your suspect knows anything else about ours. Hayden, you can stay with Kurt and Jilly and handle that while I go to the hospital."

"I'll go to St. Mungo's with you," Jilly volunteered, "There's a few suspects on mine and Kurt's list who were sent there a few hours ago. They should be ready to talk by now."

Teddy and Jilly left for St. Mungo's exactly eight minutes after Teddy's suspect and the emergency magical medical responders had, so by the time they made it to the D. A. R. ward the suspect was in the process of being moved to a room where the healers could work on him.

The female emergency magical medical responder had just finished saying something to an intern when Teddy and Jilly walked up to her.

"Did the suspect make it here okay?" Teddy asked her hurriedly.

"He lost a lot of blood on the way but the healers went right to him and are working on him as we speak. I was just explaining to the intern the magic we had already used on the patient."

While Teddy had a quick conversation with the emergency magical medical responder, Jilly grabbed a hold of the first person she saw in lime-green healers robes, flashed him her auror's badge, and then tried to tell him what she knew about the spells that had been used on the suspect.

The healer rudely stopped her mid-sentence and walked away from her and into the room that Teddy's suspect was presently occupying.

Jilly put her hands on her hips and glanced at Teddy, who had noticed Jilly's confrontation a little too late, "Can you believe that man? He just told me that he's the healer and I'm the auror, so I'm not allowed to give him advice on how he should handle his patients."

If it had been any other healer, or resident healer, Teddy would have said that he didn't believe it. However, as it was, the person Jilly had regrettably stopped was resident healer Malachi Fabius, and Teddy couldn't honestly say that he was surprised to hear the man say something so pompous and condescending.

"It's important for healers to know what spells were cast on their patient if they want to effectively reverse or treat the damage from those spells," Jilly continued to gripe.

From within the patient's room it sounded like someone else agreed with Jilly's assessment. The door of the room was still open as there were a few interns coming and going from it, and from that open door a very familiar voice carried out to the hallway that the two aurors were still standing in.

". . . _Tête de noeud_! Fabius! I can't believe that you're so stupid! We need to know what happened to this man if we're going to heal him properly!"

The –rather loud– voice definitely belonged to Victoire Weasley, and she was decidedly not happy with her fellow resident healer at the moment.

"If you're not going to go back out there and get that information from an auror, I _will_ send an intern out there to get it . . ."

It became harder to hear Teddy's fiancée's voice as the conversation in the room continued, but both Teddy and Jilly knew that she was probably still ripping Fabius a new one.

A few minutes later a shy male healing intern slipped out of the room and looked around the hallway. When he spotted Teddy and Jilly he eyed their auror badges for a moment before coming up to them and asking one of them to come with him because the resident healers in the room wanted to speak to them.

Teddy insisted that Jilly go in because she had heard the information firsthand, which was true, but his main reason for not wanting to be the auror to go into the room was because he wanted to give Victoire space to do her thing without him being in the same room as her.

Jilly followed the intern into the room and she found Victoire, the healer from before who was rude to her, and a few other interns hastily working overtop of the suspect's body.

Both Victoire and the other resident healer looked up when Jilly entered. Victoire's eyes did widen a little in surprise and recognition, but she mastered the emotions on the rest of her face and spoke without any inflection in her voice.

"Auror Donaldson, we've been led to believe that you have information about this patient that could help us heal him?"

Her tone was very professional, and the only break in her demeanour was when she finished her question with a particular glance at her fellow resident healer.

"We were told that the suspect had been hit by a Cruciatus curse, a _Speculas crustaeum_ curse, a stunner, and another Cruciatus curse," Jilly listed off.

"In that order?" Victoire asked.

"In that order."

The intern that had brought her in to the room looked at Victoire questioningly, "Why does the order matter so much?"

"Knowing the order of the spells that hit the patient can help us treat said patient. For example, it's important to know if a patient's paralysis is because of a stunning spell, or another jinx that severed a part of the spinal cord," Victoire explained patiently.

Fabius rolled his eyes at Victoire's explanation, and then pretentiously expounded for the intern, "In this instance it _is_ actually useful to know that a _Speculas crustaeum_ curse was used because now we can just use the specific counter-curse to take out all of the pieces of glass instead of doing it by hand one piece at a time."

"Pieces of glass?" The same intern questioned.

Fabius scoffed at the intern, "Healer Weasley will explain to you while I actually work on healing this man."

Victoire ground her teeth together, but then she took a deep breath and explained to the intern what the _Speculas crustaeum_ curse was while Fabius performed the counter-curse. It was a simple enough counter-curse that only one of them needed to cast.

"The _Speculas crustaeum_ curse causes tiny pieces of magically conjured glass to slice through the body of the person the curse is cast on. The glass is sent towards the body with enough pressure to slice through layers of skin, muscle, and bone, and the intensity of the spell determines the damage the spell does."

"But there is a counter-curse for it?"

Victoire nodded as she gestured towards where Fabius was currently casting said curse, "A partial-counter-curse of sorts. The spell Healer Fabius is using magically forces the pieces of glass from the _Speculas crustaeum_ curse out of the body. It doesn't heal the damage done by the glass shards, but it takes care of the difficult task of picking out every piece of shrapnel."

Fabius finished the counter-curse quickly and Victoire then suggested that they do a scan of all of the injured areas to make sure that they got all of the pieces of shrapnel before cleaning the wounds and closing them back up.

At her suggestion, her fellow resident healer gave her a look like she had grown two more heads.

"That kind of scan will take at least ten minutes to complete and this patient doesn't have that time because he is _still_ bleeding out," Fabius needlessly reminded her.

Victoire pointed her wand towards the IV bags that were hanging beside the patient and attached to a spot on his arm that _wasn't_ bleeding profusely.

"He's on blood replenishing potions right now, he'll be able to make it until we finish the scan," She argued.

Fabius rolled his eyes at her, "Well that may be _your_ opinion Weasley, but the fact is that this auror over here hasn't given us any information to help us figure out why the stasis spells aren't working on him, so I don't think it's wise to risk the patient bleeding out so that you can do an unnecessary scan."

"A scanning spell isn't unnecessary, if there's still a glass shard left in his body that hasn't come out yet it could cause further damage to the blood vessels or organs-"

"The counter-curse has a seventy percent success rate across the board in removing _all_ shrapnel pieces," Fabius interrupted Victoire, "And right now we don't know the extent of the damage to the blood vessels that is making it impossible for stasis spells to work-"

It was Victoire's turn to interrupt, "Auror Donaldson just told us that the patient was hit by a Cruciatus curse and then a stunning spell. It's possible that the stunning spell caused blood vessels to freeze in a dilated state-"

"For what you're suggesting to be even remotely _plausible_ ," Fabius countered, "It would have to assume that Castilla's theory about the Cruciatus curse is real, and most modern healers are still leaning towards the already established Avraham theory-"

"This isn't an argument about theory. I'm just asking you to trust my medical judgement, I think running this scan should be our next step," Victoire contended.

Fabius looked down at the patient and then back at Victoire, "And I think the statistics speak pretty clearly for themselves. A scan for residual shrapnel would be frivolous and could cost this patient his life."

Victoire glanced back down at the patient as well and was hit with a bitter wave of uncertainty. The statistics did support Fabius's claim that the counter-spell had handled all of the pieces of glass shrapnel, and even though he was a pompous prat, she knew that he was good with magic. He was her partner in healing the patient at that moment and she needed to trust him. If he said that he removed all of the glass, then he removed all of the glass.

"Let's heal the injuries to the blood vessels then. That should stop him from bleeding out," Victoire said with a nod as she tightened her grip on her wand.

Fabius nodded at her in return and, and just as they started to heal the patient Victoire asked the intern to show Auror Donaldson to the waiting room.

* * *

 **1:32 AM**

Even though Fabius had scoffed at her and muttered something under his breath about her not trusting him, Victoire still cast the scanning spell on the patient that she had wanted to cast earlier. She just waited until they had finished healing his wounds and stabilizing him, to do so. There was a nagging part of her that wouldn't let her leave the patient's room without double checking to make sure that there wasn't any glass left inside of him.

Thankfully, the scanning spell came back negative. All of the glass was gone.

If there had still been even one shard of glass left in the patient, she would have had to purposely open him up, pick it out, and then heal the area around which it had been embedded.

She had volunteered to give the aurors waiting to hear about the patient an update on their patient's status, which Fabius replied to with a non-caring shrug of his shoulders.

Victoire walked out of her latest patient's room in her blood-stained healers robes and still wearing her orange satin pumps (which had definitely seen better days), and towards the waiting room. She spotted both Cassidy Hopewell and Wesley Hall speaking to a different pair of aurors –Victoire guessed it was about their own patients– and standing on the opposite end of the room from her was Healer Rhee, speaking to two familiar aurors.

"Auror Donaldson, Auror Lupin," Victoire greeted both aurors with a bland nod as she walked over to where they were talking with Healer Rhee, "I take it you're still waiting for an update on your suspect?"

Victoire had schooled her expression rather well considering that she hadn't expected Teddy to be one of the aurors waiting to hear from her.

"Will we be able to question him soon?" Jilly asked Victoire while Teddy stood silently and a little awkwardly by his fellow auror's side.

"I don't think that would be the best idea. He's stable but he'll be unconscious for quite a while. Until noon at least I'd say," Victoire explained.

Jilly glanced at Healer Rhee, "Let me get this straight . . . so we can't speak to any of the patients who have to stay her overnight because they're all going to be unconscious for several hours?"

Healer Rhee nodded and then glanced at Victoire as if to say that she would explain. It took her a minute to think back to what she had discussed with Healer Rhee before being assigned her last patient, but once she remembered her explanation started to flow.

"The preliminary toxicology reports on several of the patients who came in show that they had extremely high levels of synthetic adrenalin _leaving_ their systems. The amounts were so high that now their bodies are coming down from that high and basically crashing on them. Even if they hadn't been injured and needed sleep to help them heal they would have been knocked out for at least eight hours after coming down from it," Victoire clarified.

Teddy's eyes narrowed and his curiosity forced him to speak for the first time, "All of the patients had synthetic adrenalin in their systems?"

"Everyone we have seen except for the last patient that Fabius and I healed had extremely high levels of synthetic adrenalin in their systems. Healer Hopewell remarked that she was surprised that they hadn't all gone into cardiac arrest from the amount that they were excreting alone."

Jilly titled her head to the side in contemplation, "Could they all have accidentally consumed something with this amount of synthetic adrenalin in it, or would it have to have been on purpose?"

"Definitely consciously done," Victoire decided, "The amounts were so high that they had to be taken in smaller doses over a moderately paced time line. If it was taken all at once it definitely would have stopped their hearts almost immediately."

Teddy glanced at Victoire, "But your last patient didn't have any synthetic adrenalin in his system?"

"No."

"Do you know why the stasis spells the emergency magical medical responders used weren't working?" Jilly asked.

Victoire eyed Healer Rhee as she replied, "Fabius and I have differing opinions on what could have caused it, and there isn't a way for us to discover who was right."

"What were your differing opinions?" Healer Rhee asked her non-judgementally.

"Fabius suggested that the stasis charms weren't working to stop the blood flow because the shrapnel from the glass destroyed the blood vessels to a point where they couldn't be immobilized. I thought perhaps it had something to do with the interaction between the Cruciatus curse and the stunning spell," Victoire admitted.

Healer Rhee nodded, "In accordance with Castilla's theory instead of the Avraham theory."

"Yes . . ." Victoire answered a little shyly.

"Interesting proposal," Was the only thing Healer Rhee said in response to her.

The elderly healer then looked down at his watch and told the two aurors, "I suggest you tell your colleagues that all of your suspects that have yet to be discharged will have to stay for the next several hours, and that they will not be in any condition to answer your questions."

"I take it that you won't object to us stationing a few aurors and trainee-aurors in the ward to make sure that the suspects don't wake up early and try to leave?" Teddy asked Healer Rhee.

Healer Rhee shrugged, "Feel free to post as many babysitters as you'd like."

The healer then turned to Victoire and not so subtly told her that she should go home once she finished filing the folder from her last patient. He cited that she needed to get as much sleep as she could because he expected her to be back at the Hospital by ten o'clock that morning to do a check up on her patients.

Healer Rhee left shortly after that, and then Jilly conspicuously informed Teddy that she'd go speak to the other aurors who were still in the ward.

"I think that was her poor attempt to slyly leave us alone," Teddy remarked to Victoire.

"Inelegant, but it worked," Victoire mused.

He took a slight step closer to her so that he could speak to her in a voice that wouldn't carry to anyone else in the waiting room, "Are you going to take Healer Rhee's advice and go home soon?"

"I think it was more of an order than anything else, but yes. I am going to go home once I file the last of my initial paperwork. It shouldn't take more than a few minutes," She told him.

Teddy nodded and ran a hand through his hair tiredly, "I'm going to go back to the department and do a quick debriefing with the other aurors. I should be home in about fifteen minutes, a half hour at most."

"Well I'm probably going to pass out before my head hits the pillow, but if it takes me longer than usual to fall asleep, I'll see you at home then," Victoire said softly.

She wanted to kiss him goodbye, and she could tell that _he_ wanted her to kiss him goodbye, but neither wanted to cross the –somewhat awkward– line of shaky professionalism that they had just established. In the end, they just shared a look that said that they'd figure out at a later date what the appropriate levels of professionalism and personal privacy were during similar situations in the future.

They whispered goodbye and then turned their backs on each other at the same time.

It didn't take Victoire long at all to file the still-open portion of her last patient's case, and she even took a quick peek into the room of her patient who had suffered from the entrails-expelling curse to make sure that he was also still stable.

As she left her patient's room, she ran into Cassidy and Wesley. Both resident healers had already been scheduled to work the night shift that evening and had been there when the onslaught of patients had first started. Cassidy thanked Victoire for coming over so quickly to help, and Victoire asked her friend and Wesley to keep her informed about the patient's she had helped treat. She was just saying goodbye to them and about to leave the ward for good when Healer Seward came across them and asked one of them to run a folder down to the Emergency Medical ward.

Victoire volunteered to do the errand, and even though both Cassidy and Wesley complained that she was officially off the clock, the part-veela argued that she was the one who was leaving the hospital, and therefore the one who was going to be down stairs close to the Emergency Medical ward anyway.

She had every intention of finally leaving the hospital and going back to her flat once she finished the errand, she really did. But just when she turned to leave the Emergency Medical ward she spotted a now-familiar witch speaking to a very familiar healer.

Victoire was exhausted from the combined events of the ball and her unexpected shift in the D. A. R. ward, so she didn't have the energy to think twice about what she was about to do.

"Mrs. Milligan?" Victoire called as she walked up to and addressed the middle-aged woman who was speaking to Spencer Green.

Mrs. Milligan turned at the sound of her name and her eyes lit up in recognition almost right away, "Healer Weasley, what a surprise."

Victoire nodded her head and ignored Spencer's perplexed gaze for the moment, "For me as well, I hope everything is well with your family."

"Clyde and Lygia are fine," Mrs. Milligan explained, referring to her husband and teenaged step-daughter, "I'm here with the boys. They had an awful rash and some trouble breathing this evening and I brought them in because I was afraid that they might have caught something."

Victoire nodded her head, it explained why Spencer –a resident healer in the Bugs and Magical Illness ward– was the one assigned to deal with it. It must have been his turn to be the person from his department working the Emergency Medical ward shift that night.

"I was just explaining to Mrs. Milligan that I think the boys' reaction is something environmental," Spencer explained.

Victoire stayed quiet as Spencer then finished writing a prescription for Mrs. Milligan to get for her sons and then sent her on her way.

"What was that about?" Spencer turned to Victoire once Mrs. Milligan had collected her sons and left.

"I've treated her children before . . . was the boys' reaction really something environmental?" Victoire asked Spencer curiously.

Her friend nodded, "I'm not entirely sure what could have caused the rash because she wouldn't let me run a culture test on the rash itself, but it definitely wasn't due to a virus or a bacterial infection."

"Got pictures of the rash?"

Spencer sent her an incredulous look, but it only lasted about five seconds before he sighed resignedly and opened a case file in his hands.

"I took the pictures because the mother didn't let me run a culture test. I thought that if they end up here again at least their previous medical files would be somewhat up to date," Spencer defended himself as he showed Victoire the photos he'd taken.

Victoire inspected the photos, it seemed that the rash was localized on the backs and stomachs of both Milligan boys, "That looks suspiciously like a chemical burn to me."

"I thought the same thing, but when I started to question the mother about the types of chemicals or potions ingredients that are kept in the home, she couldn't give me any helpful replies. Apparently they use all natural non-toxic cleaning supplies, and they have absolutely no potions ingredients of any sort in the house," Spencer enlightened.

"That makes sense, I met the muggle step-father and he didn't seem like the type who likes magic much."

Spencer nodded, "I healed as much of the boys' rash as I could, gave them a few puffs on the nebulizer for their lungs, and wrote a prescription for a salve to put on the remaining sections of the rash."

Victoire pursed her lips, "Spence . . . do you mind making me a copy of the forms you're going to add to their files?"

"I don't mind," Was her friend's generous reply, "But why do you want one?"

"I'd like to add it to a separate file I already have started about them," More specifically it was a separate file that held the medical information about both Milligan boys as well as their step-sister, but Spencer didn't really need the details.

"I'll send one up to your ward."

"Thanks."

There was nothing left she could do to procrastinate going back to her flat, so she wished Spencer a good morning and then left the Emergency Medical ward and made her way to the hospital's staff exit.

Just before Victoire was about to make her escape out the door Wesley came running up to her, calling her name.

She turned towards him and waited patiently for him to catch his breath and notify her what he had ran down four flights of stairs to tell her.

"Healer Weasley–Victoire . . . your patient just coded. We tried to bring him back but there's nothing we could do . . . he's dead."

* * *

 **2:03 AM**

"Auror Lupin!"

Teddy had just made it to the bank of lifts when an auror-in-training came running up behind him, calling his name.

The metamorphmagus closed his eyes and swore internally before slowly turning around to face the trainee auror.

"Yes O'Toole?"

The younger auror, who had a first seemed as though he was in a hurry, stopped suddenly and began to fidget.

"Um . . . we just heard from St. Mungo's. One of the suspects from tonight has died unexpectedly," O'Toole explained, looking down at his feet as he did so.

Teddy sighed tiredly and rubbed a hand down his face, "I take it that you're telling me this because the suspect that died was one of the suspects that Auror Summers and I are in charge of?"

"Yes-"

Teddy didn't even bother to listen to whatever else O'Toole was going to say, instead he paced away from the bank of lifts and further into the department so that he could find Hayden. He stumbled upon Jilly first, and she offered to go back with him to St. Mungo's since Hayden and Kurt were busy dealing with something that had just came up that involved another suspect altogether.

He stepped into the lift with Jilly and belatedly asked, "Which suspect is it that died?"

"Our last one. The one that was hit by the _Speculas crustaeum_ curse," Jilly explained plainly.

Teddy's hand, which had just pressed the button on the lift for the lobby, froze in place with the rest of his body.

"You mean the one who was Victoire's patient?"

"Yes," Jilly responded quietly, "He was one of Victoire's patients."

" _Fantastic_."

The trip to St. Mungo's was quick, but instead of going to the floor that held the Dark Arts Reversal ward, Jilly directed them to the lowest level that held the mortuary and explained that the note that came to the Auror Department asked them to meet there.

When Teddy and Jilly entered the morgue they spotted Victoire, Fabius, Healer Rhee, and another healer conversing in quiet voices just past the entrance of the room.

The healers did seem to notice the two aurors' entrance, but they continued to talk in their little group for a few more moments before breaking apart.

Healer Rhee and Fabius then came towards Jilly and Teddy, while Victoire stayed behind and spoke a little more with the other healer.

"I take it that you got the message about the patient?" Healer Rhee addressed the two aurors needlessly.

Both Jilly and Teddy nodded their heads.

"What happened? When we left a half-hour ago he was stable," Teddy remarked, perhaps a little too intensely.

"He was stable, however it turns out that there was a small unattended injury to the man's superior vena cava that suddenly became exacerbated and made him bleed out internally," Fabius explained.

Healer Rhee gave Fabius a specific glance and the resident healer flushed a little before clarifying, "Uh, more specifically _we_ missed the cause of the unattended injury-"

"What exactly caused the injury then?" Teddy asked, not caring to hear more of Fabius's deliberation. He also didn't like how Fabius was emphasizing the word 'we' but he told himself that his sudden annoyance with Fabius was because he wanted facts and not excuses.

"A foreign object that somehow ended up in the man's wounds," Fabius explained.

Jilly folded her arms across her chest, "A foreign object? Like the glass shrapnel from the _Speculas crustaeum_ curse that he was hit with?"

"Similar to it," Fabius admitted, "Which is why we didn't notice it at first."

"So was it a piece of glass from the curse or not?" Teddy asked more plainly since Jilly's question hadn't garnered the exact response they needed to hear.

"The foreign object was not a piece of glass from the _Speculas crustaeum_ curse," Victoire announced, answering Teddy's question as she paced over to when the two aurors stood with Fabius and Healer Rhee.

Jilly glanced at Victoire, "What was it then?"

Victoire handed Jilly a closed petri dish with a magnification spell on it, "It was a piece of bone that was the exact same shape as the glass shrapnel, and therefore caused a similar looking injury. When we used the _Speculas crustaeum_ counter-spell to remove all of the pieces of shrapnel we then healed all of the open wounds on his body, causing the muscle and skin to knit back together. Since the fragment _in_ the superior vena cava was bone and not glass, it did not get removed during the counter-spell. Instead it got embedded into the wall of the superior vena cave when we healed his wounds. At that point it wasn't doing any damage, but some sort of movement must have exacerbated it, and caused the bit of bone to slice through the wall of the superior vena cava, causing him to slowly begin to bleed out into his chest cavity."

"A piece of bone?" Jilly repeated, "Was it from someone else who was injured tonight?"

"No, Healer Mallard was just saying that the bone fragment does not contain any human DNA on it," Victoire clarified.

Teddy noted that there was something . . . not completely right in her tone of voice. She hid whatever it was well during her lengthy explanation about what had caused her patient's death, but he could hear traces of _something_ coming through as she continued to answer Jilly's questions.

"Do you know what type of creature the bone came from?"

"No. More comprehensive tests need to be run before we can find out exactly what type of creature it came from. The only test that was run was one that checked to see if it was human or not," Victoire expounded.

Fabius nodded his head importantly and added, "What we do know is that the fragment of bone must have ended up in the patient either just before, during, or just after the glass pieces attacked him."

"And there was only one foreign bone fragment in his body?" Teddy questioned.

"Yes-"

"No."

Fabius turned to Victoire and glared at her for interrupting his answer.

"We only found _one_ bone fragment in his superior vena cava," Fabius reminded her needlessly.

Teddy expected Victoire to put her hands on her hips and sassily explain to Fabius her opinion, which would make her seem intelligent and him an idiot, but instead she impassively explained her negative response to Teddy's question in a monotone voice.

"Only pieces of glass were pulled out of the patient's many wound entry points, but that's because the counter-curse of the _Speculas crustaeum_ spell only pulls out the pieces of glass conjured by the spell. We healed up all of the internal and external wounds under the assumption that we had extracted all of the shrapnel. If we ended up sealing one bone fragment into the patient, it's possible that we sealed up a few more at the same time. Healer Mallard said that he'd continue to look for more fragments when he does a more thorough autopsy."

And that's when Teddy was finally able to put his finger on it, figuratively. It wasn't that there was _something_ specific in her tone of voice, it was that there was something missing from it. Her voice was detached. There was absolutely no expression or inflection in her voice or –when Teddy thought more on it– in her face.

It wasn't professional detachment or objectivity.

It was something else.

He never really knew what to call that something else: the emotionless state she'd slip into. He'd seen her do this before.

Several times.

Every year in fact, on May second when they attended the memorial services at Hogwarts.

She had slipped into the same emotionless detachment that she did on those days, and now that Teddy was able to place what was wrong with Victoire, he was pretty sure that he knew what was causing it.

"In any case," Healer Rhee began, taking over the conversation, "Once the full autopsy is complete you will of course be notified of any new findings."

Jilly and Teddy nodded and then Healer Rhee effectively dismissed everyone involved by once again stating how late it was.

Teddy had no doubt that Victoire would end up going directly home under Healer Rhee's orders, so when he and Jilly got back to the Auror Department Teddy quickly jotted down in the report about the suspects death –that had already been started– what they had learnt on their second trip to the hospital. Once he was finished he practically ran out of the department and towards the lifts.

He arrived back at their flat not fifteen minutes after he'd left St. Mungo's for the last time and, as he'd expected, there were no lights on in the apartment. He slipped into their bedroom and noted that Victoire was already dressed in her pyjamas and lying in bed. As he started to strip off his auror robes and the clothes underneath it so that he could change into his pyjama pants, he noticed that his fiancée wasn't yet asleep.

Instead she was lying on her back and staring blankly up at the ceiling.

It didn't take him long to get ready for bed, but he was surprised that Victoire's eyes were still open when he slid into the bed.

Teddy slid right up next to her and propped himself up on his elbow so he could look at her face.

"Sleep first and then talk?" He suggested.

Victoire's face was expressionless as she listened to his question. She didn't even blink.

"Why do we need to talk?"

"Victoire-"

She sighed heavily and rolled over onto her side, specifically away from Teddy, "My patient died. It happens."

Teddy frowned at hearing her words but decided that they were both _way_ too tired to get into an argument with each other that early in the morning. He snuggled closer to her and wrapped his arms around her waist from behind her, and even though she didn't want to talk to him, she slowly relaxed into his arms, a sign that she was accepting the physical comfort he was offering.

He figured he'd take what he could get and that they'd discuss what he wanted to discuss with her after they both got a full night's sleep.

Even so, her words rang in his head as he tried to fall asleep.

 _My patient died. It happens._

Following them were the words he regretfully _wished_ he had taken the time to say to her in reply.

 _But this is the first time it's happened to you._

* * *

 **A/N:** I hope that you liked this chapter, and the last one if you hadn't read it yet :) I'd like to know if you enjoyed the action and healing and auror-ing in this chap, so please leave me some reviews to let me know what you thought of this!

 **Help Please:** So, while I was writing this chap I realized that there aren't actually that many cannon dark magic spells which cause injuries that I can have Victoire and her healing colleagues heal. I made up the one used on the patient that ended up dying, which you could probably tell because it's a little lame.

 **Therefore** , I'd like to ask all of you if you could give me **suggestions of dark magic** **spells** that you made up that I can have Victoire heal in the hospital. You don't have to come up with the magical words for it if you find that difficult, but I need some ideas for dark magic spells that cause injuries that Vic can heal, so just a description of what a spell does would be helpful. If you do send me a suggestion over the next few weeks, you can give it to me through a review or PM. Of course, if I end up using some of these suggestions I will give you due credit in the chapter for your help, so please make sure that you have a name attached to your review if you're reviewing anonymously.

 **Next Update:** I will try my best to update in two weeks, but I don't have the next chapter fully written. One of my cousins ended up in the hospital two weeks ago, and was there for two weeks, so we went in every night after work to visit him and I didn't get any writing done.

 **Next Chapter:** We're going to learn more info about the events that happened in the bog, as well as see how Victoire's dealing with the death of her patient. Also, I'm contemplating a bit of Eliza and co. but I have to see how the chapter turns out first.

Teaser for Next Chap:

 **"How's Victoire taking the death of her patient?"**

 **"She's taking it like I expected her to," was Teddy's response. The tone of his voice made it clear to Jilly and Hayden that that particular vein of conversation was closed.**

Thanks as always to everyone who has followed, favourited, read, and reviewed!

BIG thank yous as always to:

 **zvc56, danny, HPsea, Guest (1), kawaiiotaku0405, jeonyerim04, cjaben1, Seher Syed, Jily71102, B. arendes, lumiere100, jeremiah123, paddfoot12, Guest (2), Mike, silverlover02, Jennifer Jules, Guest (3),** and **AngelTwins527**.

 **zvc56** : Oh, well if you like character development then you're going to LOVE the next few chapters.

 **danny** : I'd say that Spencer, Donnie, and Vic's friends from healing school are all around the same age as her. Spencer is definitely the same age as her, but the other could be older by a year or a few more because who knows when they all got accepted into healing school or how long it took some of them to finish. I imagine all of them within a few years of Vic, so they'd be in their early to mid twenties.

 **HPsea** : Not directly in the next chapter, but there will be lots of them soon.

 **Guest (1)** : We will probably have to wait a few chaps to see some Dom and Clark interaction again, but the chapters will be filled until we get up to there so I don't think you'll be bored until we get there.

 **cjaben1** : I'm glad that you thought I wrote Slughorn well, whenever I go to write one of JK's characters I worry about my characterization of them. I'd love to write a one-shot on that, but I've got a long list of stuff I'd like to write before that, so it probably won't happen anytime soon. We will see Oliver and Cecilia coming to a boiling point relatively soon in terms of time passing in this story. I'm thinking it'll be in three or four chapters' time.

 **lumiere100** : My best laid plans always go awry (mostly because my writing ends up going too long), but my plan after this story is complete is to write one about Ted and Vic's wedding. The story in my mind about Ted and Vic's wedding will be shorter than this one or the previous two (or that's what my plans for it are) but it won't be very short, just shorter relative to my other stories because there should be less plot lines than in this one. After Vic and Teddy's wedding story, I'm planning another story concerning all of these characters that should be longer than the wedding story, and more similar in size to the stories I've already written.

 **paddfoot12** : To be honest, ever since I started writing next gen pieces, I haven't much looked at next gen things that are released because I don't want that to colour my idea of where the story is going. Because of this, the later stories in this series may not exactly follow things that have come out recently.

 **I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter, and the last one!**

 **Please leave me your suggestions for dark arts spells and injuries if you have some,**

 **As always, I love to hear your thoughts so please leave a review!**

 **Until next time, DFTBA!**


	38. When the Dust Settles

**A/N:** Hello everyone, I know that this chapter is late, and I'm sorry, but it took me a while to write it because it didn't cover everything I had originally planned for it to have, so I had a bit of writers' block for a while. Because it didn't come out exactly how I had expected it to be, there isn't any Eliza in it, and there's less Vic and Teddy than I thought there would be. However, that just means that you can look forward to all of that stuff in the next chapter :)

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own _Harry Potter._

* * *

 **Previously:** In the last chapter Victoire had an emergency shift at the Dark Arts Reversal ward because of an incident involving dark magic in a bog that Teddy and the Auror Department have to investigate. A patient that was attacked with a spell that caused pieces of glass to slice through his body was healed by Victoire and her fellow resident healer Fabius. The patient ended up dying because there was a piece of bone that was the same size as the glass pieces, and had embedded itself in a part of the heart. Victoire and Fabius did not remove it with the counter-spell to the glass-slicing curse, and the healed over it without knowing the bone fragment was in there. The patient moved in his sleep and it made the piece of bone slice an artery in his heart and he bled out inside his body.

When Teddy arrived back from the Auror Department early that morning (like 3 AM) Victoire didn't want to talk with him about losing her first patient, and he decided to wait until morning to try to get her to open up.

* * *

 **When the Dust Settles**

 **Tuesday, November 1** **st** **2022**

 **9:04 AM**

Teddy was not in a good mood.

He was running on barely six hours of sleep, and when he went back in to the Auror Office for work the next morning he found the department in only a slightly less chaotic state than it was the night before. Auror trainees and qualified aurors were still running around the department like their robes were on fire, and there was a stack of papers and memos on Teddy's desk when he entered his shared office.

Included in the stack were notes from colleagues that were also working on the incident from the night before, and many of the notes seemed to be asking the same questions over and over again. Everybody wanted to know what had happened the evening before but none of them seemed to have enough pieces to put together a comprehensive theory yet. There were still several interviews that needed to be completed –pretty much everyone that spent the night in St. Mungo's still needed to be processed and have their statements taken– and Teddy and Jilly still had to figure out why their dead suspect had a fragment of some sort of animal bone stuck in his aorta.

Teddy spent twenty minutes that morning sorting through the papers on his desk before he realized that he was the only auror in their shared office. It seemed that Jilly, Kurt, and Hayden hadn't made it in yet. He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose when he realized this, and he was more than a little jealous that his partners were able to sleep in more than he had.

None of them needed to be at work until ten o'clock AM that morning, but when Teddy woke up he couldn't go back to sleep, so he decided to go in to the office and get a start on his work. It was a rather easy decision for him to make considering that he woke up to an empty flat. Victoire had already left for St. Mungo's before he woke up –or he assumed that that was where she had disappeared to– so there wasn't much to keep him at home. Because his fiancée had snuck out before he awoke, they hadn't had the chance to talk about anything that had happened the evening before. And there was _a lot_ of stuff that he wanted to talk to her about.

His only option was really to work extremely hard during the day and hope that when he was done for the day that she would also be done her shift and waiting at home for him so that they could finally talk.

He highly doubted that that would be the case though.

Thankfully before he could get too lost in his own head, two of the auror trainees skidded into the almost empty office.

"Auror Lupin-" They both began to say his name at the same time, only to pause and gaze perplexedly at each other. Obviously they weren't there to discuss the same topic with Teddy.

"What is it Morrison?" Teddy enquired blandly, asking the auror trainee who was closest to the door first.

"Auror Burton is in charge of putting together a comprehensive list of completed interviews with the suspects from the night before and she needs the paperwork from yours and Summers' suspects," Morrison replied more than a little shyly.

Teddy nodded his head, "I'll search through my work as well as Donaldson and Williamson's folders and see if I can get all the correct papers together for her."

Trainee-Auror Morrison nodded his head and then quickly left the room, leaving Teddy alone with the second trainee auror.

"And what can I do for you O'Toole?"

O'Toole flushed and looked down at his feet, "Auror Weasley sent me here to help you with your portion of the case."

Teddy was definitely still in a bad mood, because even though he knew that Ron meant well sending O'Toole to him, all the metamorphamgus could think was that Ron had sent him a useless lackey. He felt bad for the unkind words the minute they sailed through his head, so he knew that the sleep deprivation was definitely taking a toll on him.

"I need to sort through these files for the papers Auror Burton needs, so could you go to the front desk and see if there's any new paper-version information about the suspects on this list?" Teddy asked O'Toole as he handed the trainee auror a short list with names on it.

While O'Toole handled the simple task Teddy gave him, Teddy quickly sorted through the folders and piles of paper on his desk and Jilly's. When O'Toole got back he had a few small file folders in his hand and he placed them all down on Teddy's desk.

"What do the files say?" Teddy asked as he continued to search through his co-workers desks.

O'Toole looked surprised and his eyes widened as he started to flip through all four files and summarize the words written on the page. Half of the information O'Toole relayed was old, but half of it _was_ new to him. Teddy asked O'Toole to make copies of some of the parchment pieces in the files, and once he had a duplicate Teddy added them to the pile of papers he needed to give to Auror Burton.

"Is there some sort of death certificate for your one suspect? I don't see one here. Am I just missing it?" O'Toole questioned Teddy in quick succession as he looked into the file from St. Mungo's that held the initial death report about his and Hayden's suspect.

Teddy had moved on from looking through Jilly's desk and went to searching through Kurt's as he replied, "You're not missing it, there won't be an official death certificate until a more comprehensive autopsy is complete."

"But it says here that they know the cause of death. It's even signed by healers Fabius, Weasley, and Rhee."

Teddy tried his hardest not to pinch the bridge of his nose in irritation, "They know the cause of death but they needed to do a more thorough autopsy because they found foreign elements in the deceased's body that might further pertain to our case."

O'Toole looked down at the papers in his hands, "So there might be more pieces of this non-human bone debris in the dead man's body?"

"There might be. This autopsy will let us know for sure."

"So we can't go much further on this particular man's case until that autopsy comes back?" O'Toole questioned him.

Teddy nodded his head, "We still need to discover the man's identity, but questioning the suspects who are still alive may give us new information in that quarter."

He then ordered O'Toole to go give the files he had copied to Auror Burton, and while the Auror-in-training was out of his hair for ten minutes he hastily tried to sort through all of the tasks that needed to be done that day and create a to-do list. Teddy had just added the last item to the list when Jilly and Hayden ambled into their shared office.

"You're early Ted," Jilly informed him with a raised eyebrow.

"I didn't have anywhere else to be," He replied dully.

Hayden shrugged his travelling cloak off and hung it on a hook on the wall behind his desk, "We were up until three o'clock this morning and you're saying that you didn't have anywhere else to be?"

"I'm not going to be able to sleep well until I get a few things settled," Teddy explained cryptically.

Jilly and Hayden shared a look.

"How's Victoire taking the death of her patient?"

"She's taking it like I expected her to," was Teddy's response. The tone of his voice made it clear to Jilly and Hayden that that particular vein of conversation was closed.

Thankfully Kurt wandered in then, completing their foursome, and they quickly got down to business. Hayden and Teddy decided to join Auror Burton in interviewing some of the suspects from the night before, while Jilly and Kurt chose to go to St. Mungo's to interview some of the suspected patients there.

Auror Burton put Teddy and Hayden to work right away with interviewing a few suspects who had been released from St. Mungo's either late last night or early that morning. Several people they interrogated were already interviewed the night before, so many of them just repeated the stories they had given to other various aurors during their first interview.

It wasn't until after Teddy and Hayden had been interviewing suspects for a few hours that they were assigned to a suspect that had just been release from St. Mungo's only about fifteen minutes before. The man's file came with a note in it written in Jilly's handwriting. The note read that St. Mungo's was discharging the patients that were healthy enough to leave because bed space was limited. They were starting to discharge suspects that Jilly and Kurt –and a few other aurors at St. Mungo's– hadn't had the chance to interview yet.

Both Hayden and Teddy gave their new suspect's medical file a quick review, and then they entered the interrogation room to speak to the man.

"So your name is Murry Whitmore?" Teddy addressed the very young looking man who was sitting across the table from him and Hayden.

The man, who looked more like a teenager because he was about nineteen years old, nodded hesitantly, "That's my name, yes."

"And you were at the bog last night?" Hayden asked Whitmore unnecessarily.

The man nodded.

"And you spent the rest of your night at St. Mungo's because of," Teddy paused and glanced back down at the man's file, "A moderately deep laceration to the upper right thigh?"

"Yes."

Hayden folded his hands together, "So are you going to tell us what caused the laceration, or are we going to have to guess?"

"It was a slicing hex."

"A slicing hex led you to a night in St. Mungo's Dark Arts Reversal ward?" Teddy asked, already knowing how Whitmore was going to respond.

The young man swallowed thickly and uneasily drummed his fingers on the table, "I passed out at St. Mungo's when they were treating me and had to stay the night."

Teddy nodded; Whitmore was telling them the truth for now. He had read the young man's file and noted that the healers had first thought that Whitmore had passed out because of blood loss. Healer Cassidy Hopewell was the one who wrote the report, and when Teddy read further through the medical report he saw that Cassidy had changed the diagnosis for Whitmore's fainting from blood loss to exhaustion from a withdrawal of adrenalin. The same synthetic adrenalin that they had found in several of the other suspects' systems.

"You crashed because of the synthetic adrenalin you took," Hayden reiterated.

Whitmore shrunk in on himself, "I didn't know what it was I had taken until the healer chick at the hospital told me this morning when I woke up."

"You didn't know that you were taking adrenalin? Or you didn't know that you had taken something to start with?" Teddy questioned.

The young man swallowed thickly again and ran a hand through his hair, "I-I don't know if I should tell you. It's supposed to be a secret."

"We've already interviewed a dozen of you," Hayden informed the suspect airily, "So it's only a matter of time until someone says something."

"And that someone will most likely be the person who will get in the least amount of trouble once we figure the rest of this out," Teddy told Whitmore.

Whitmore looked torn, he was obviously worried about what was going to happen to him, but he also looked worried about spilling the information that he did know.

"Listen Murry," Hayden began in a soft tone, "I know that this is a lot, and that you're just coming off a stay in the hospital after getting injured, so let's start with something simple."

"Did you know that you took adrenalin last night?" Teddy asked the young man gently.

Murry shook his head, "No I didn't. There's this brew that we all drink each time we . . . I mean . . . uh . . . I purposely drank something that would give me a buzz, but I didn't know that it was adrenalin."

"Thank you Murry, that's very helpful," Teddy told him as he wrote down word-for-word what the young man had said.

Hayden nodded in agreement, "And it wasn't that difficult to tell us about it, now was it?"

Whitmore nodded slightly.

"So perhaps you could tell us a little bit more about your group?"

His eyes went wide, "I-I don't think that-that that would be necessary. We haven't done anything wrong or illegal."

"Actually," Teddy interrupted, "You're all going to be charged with illegally trespassing on private property. However, that's not why the Auror Department was called in to handle this incident. Many of you were injured by dark magic, or cast dark magic spells last night."

Whitmore looked guiltily down at his hands. Other aurors had already checked the young man's wand the night before, and had cleared him of casting any spells other than a few defensive _Protego_ s. Right now he was acquitted of any dark magic accusations, so hopefully they could get him to spill information about others in the group who were less innocent than he was.

"Murry, several of your group were seriously injured last night, and as of yet one person has died from those injuries."

That got the younger man's attention.

"Died? Who died? Was it Chad? I saw something really awful happening with the area around his belly."

Teddy and Hayden shared a look, "We actually do not have an ID as of yet on the deceased. Perhaps you could help us with that?"

Whitmore nodded hesitantly, and Hayden pulled a photo of the deceased suspect out of a different file. The younger man turned slightly green and his eyes bulged out of his head upon looking at the photo.

"Do you recognize him?"

Whitmore's hands clenched into fists and his face slowly lost its green tinge, although it was still white, "His name is–was Jason Abbott."

"Thank you Mr. Whitmore."

The two aurors shared another look, and Hayden unobtrusively got up from his chair to take their new information to Auror Burton. From there, they would be able to call Jason Abbott's next of kin to positively identify his body. While Hayden momentarily left the room, Teddy continued to try to slowly wheedle information out of their reluctant informant.

* * *

 **12:11 PM**

"And how are we doing today Mr. Gerber?" Victoire politely asked her groggy patient as he slowly became conscious.

She was casting spells around him as she asked the question, so she was happy to wait a few minutes for the patient to become awake enough to respond.

"My stomach hurts," were the words Mr. Chad Gerber said when he was able to come up with enough energy to string together a sentence.

Victoire nodded her head and then glanced at the intern in the room with her –the same one as the night before– and silently gestured for him to perform one of the more basic spells before she replied to her patient.

"Well that makes sense, you were hit with an entrails-expelling curse last evening."

Mr. Gerber's eyes popped open wide in surprise, "And I'm still alive?"

"You had the prodigious good luck of ending up with fantastic emergency magical medical responders, as well as a brilliant intern attending to you," Victoire informed him with a smile.

"Am I going to be okay?" Mr. Gerber asked her.

Victoire nodded seriously, "We've fixed all of the injuries to your internal organs, and it seems as though an infection has yet to set in, so you are well on your way to mending perfectly. Normally with an injury like this it would be possible to discharge you after only a day or two of observation –assuming of course that a latent infection does not set in– but I'm afraid that you'll have to stay for a few days longer than normal. When you were admitted you had some excess adrenaline in your system, which caused some problems with your blood pressure and heart rate. We will have to keep you here under observation for a few more days Mr. Gerber, until we can get your blood pressure back to normal."

"I'd prefer if you call me Chad healer . . ." He paused for a minute and squinted as he read the name on her nametag, "Healer Weasley."

"If that is what you'd prefer Chad, now, we have not been able to contact your emergency contact at all since you were admitted, so now that you're awake, perhaps you could give us an alternate?"

Victoire spoke a little more with her patient and gave the intern a few more instructions before leaving her patient to get more sleep. Out in the hall she informed her intern that he should check up on Chad again in a half hour, and to get her if any of his numbers changed.

She continued on to the healer's station to file Mr. Gerber's most recent number checks, and noted Wesley Hall speaking to Jilly and Kurt, and Cassidy speaking to another pair of aurors. Victoire herself had already spoken to two aurors that she was loosely acquainted with earlier in the morning, and she gave them copies of the medical files she had on some of their suspect/patient cases that she was the ranking healer on. She also gave them permission to speak to her patients once they were awake, and once she had done a new set of test and checks on them first.

Since she had finished with Chad Gerber, she was sure that he'd soon be visited by a pair of aurors and interviewed about the events of the night before.

"Healer Weasley, could I speak to you please?" Healer Seward addressed her as he came out of a patient's room that was right next to the healers' station.

Victoire nodded and hastily followed him down one of the halls and to his office. Once inside she was a little surprised to find Fabius already in Healer Seward's office. He grudgingly nodded at her and she took a seat in the chair next to his, and across from Healer Seward's desk.

As the healer in charge of the D. A. R. ward's residents and interns, Victoire wasn't surprised that Healer Seward wanted to speak with her about something. She wasn't sure what he had to say to both her and Fabius at the same time though; she'd been very courteous and professional with him even though he was a pompous prat that reminded her too much of Austin Pennington for _his_ own good.

Healer Seward was a healer who was in his mid to late thirties, and who was also rather good-looking if you were into blonde hair, blue eyes, and a year-round tan. Objectively, Victoire could see the appeal the single male healer would have to anybody who didn't work under him. However, even after working under his supervisor for only two months Victoire could tell that he was very demanding, very exacting, and in her opinion, he seemed to second guess her and Cassidy's work much more than he did Fabius and Wesley's.

He never _seemed_ outwardly prejudiced to the two female healing residents under his supervision, but Victoire still felt the need to be on her guard whenever she was around him.

This situation was no different, so she ended up anxiously tapping her navy-blue flat covered foot on the polished floor –she had made a point to wear sensible shoes that day even though both Cassidy and Wesley still teased her about her footwear from the night before– before Healer Seward even had the chance to explain why he had asked the two of them to his office.

Healer Seward chose to stand behind his desk instead of sitting down, and Victoire's foot automatically started to tap out a quicker tempo on the floor, "Healer Rhee is presently in a meeting with St. Mungo's ethics board. He is there discussing the case of the patient you both treated last evening who died."

Both of Victoire's feet started to tap the floor and Fabius's face tightened with worry as Healer Seward continued, "Anytime a patient dies here, someone from the ethics board has to look into the patient's case, as well as every person who treated the patient. Normally it only takes the same amount of time to clear the patient's care-providers as it does to read the medical files, but something has come up concerning your patient's case that requires further consideration before the board is prepared to clear you both."

"And what is this problem that came up?" Victoire asked in as calm a tone as she could manage. Her voice sounded a little cold even to her own ears, but it was better than having her voice shake as she said the words.

Healer Seward's blue eyes fixed on Victoire and she sensed that something significant was about to happen, "It turns out that the Auror Department was able to identify your deceased patient this morning. His name was Jason Abbott and he was eighteen years old."

Victoire swallowed thickly and Fabius frowned as he respectfully asked their supervisor, "But why would uncovering the deceased's name affect how quickly it will take the ethics board to clear us?"

"Since his identity has been discovered, his next of kin has been contacted to positively identify his body. His parents had the unlucky job of confirming that the body in our morgue was their son, and from there they very angrily asked how their son had died. When they heard that he had passed away because of a piece of foreign matter that was not removed from his body when he was initially operated on, they decided to contact the ethics board. The ethics board was going to look into the case anyway, but since there is now a complaint from the next of kin about potential incompetency on the part of the deceased patient's healers, the ethics board will have to open up a formal investigation to put the complaint to rest."

Both Victoire and Fabius opened their mouths to deny any wrongdoing on their parts, but before they could Healer Seward continued speaking, "I would like to make it clear right now that neither Healer Rhee nor I believe that either of you did anything wrong. In fact, the reason why Healer Rhee is not with us right now is because he is pleading your case and trying to get this put to bed before it has to go any further."

"So how is this going to go then if Healer Rhee can't convince the ethics board disregard the Abbotts' claim that we did something wrong during our treatment of their son?" Victoire questioned Healer Seward.

"The way these investigations normally go will not involve much on your parts besides meeting with members of the ethics committee and telling them your side of the story. You may both be placed on modified assignments until this issue is cleared up, so you may have to spend the next several days doing shifts in the Emergency Medical ward instead of here in the D. A. R. ward," Healer Seward explained.

Victoire noticed that Fabius made a face upon hearing that he may have to spend the rest of the week in the Emergency Medical ward, but right now she'd take that over not being allowed to work in St. Mungo's at all during the potential investigation period.

"Does this happen all of the time? Patients and next of kin needlessly dragging healers to the ethics board and wasting everyone's time when said healers could be saving people's lives?" Fabius asked a little indignantly.

"It doesn't happen all of the time, but it's not unheard of," Healer Seward replied.

Before he had the chance to dismiss them, Healer Rhee entered the room. The elderly gentleman looked harried and Victoire could tell that he didn't have good news.

The head of the D. A. R. ward went on to apologize to the two resident healers for the situation they were in, and then explained that the board of ethics had voted to look investigate the Abbotts' complaint about the treatment their son received from them. They stated that they believed that the two resident healers did not do enough to heal their son, and the members of the board of ethics agreed to review the case in finer detail.

Healer Rhee sadly told Victoire and Fabius that he would have to place them in the Emergency Medical ward for the rest of the week at least, as the Abbotts did not want either resident healer to be allowed to treat other patients from the D. A. R. ward who may have life threatening injuries until they were either charged of wrongdoing or cleared of it. Healer Rhee told them that they were required to take the rest of the day off, and to come back to work the next day in the Emergency Medical ward.

Fabius looked as unenthused about the situation as Victoire did, but he also seemed glad to have the chance to go home and get some solid sleep before his next shift was scheduled. They both got permission to do one last check on their present patients before leaving the hospital for the day, and when they left Healer Seward's office to do exactly that, Healer Rhee asked Victoire to join him in his office for a moment.

When the door of the room was closed behind them, the white-haired healer began, "I believe that Healer Seward explained what happens when healers are under investigation from the ethics board?"

Victoire nodded.

"Despite what you may think, the ethics board prefers to side with the hospital's residents and healers. They will try to do everything they can to clear you and Fabius of any wrongdoing."

She nodded again.

"However, after speaking with the members of the ethics board and hearing from the Abbotts, I need to warn you that the road to clearing you of any claims of oversight will be more difficult than clearing Fabius," Healer Rhee explained.

Victoire's eyebrows pinched, "Why is that?"

"Part of the ethics committee's process is to look into the history of the healers to see if they have had any similar complaints against them."

She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. She understood their private conversation now.

"And I already have a negative history with St. Mungo's board of ethics."

Healer Rhee nodded, "Because you were investigated for your actions last spring when you used an unapproved treatment on a St. Mungo's patient, all the while when you did not have healing privileges at the hospital."

"I'm euchred aren't I?" Victoire asked agitatedly.

Healer Rhee shook his head, "You would be if you did something wrong, but you didn't. You and Fabius did everything you were expected to do, and you did everything right. It might just take a little longer than usual to get the truth sorted out."

"So what can I do to make this work out?"

"Just keep your nose clean for now, take on the easier cases when you're working in the Emergency Medical ward, and if the Abbotts try to contact you, do _not_ talk to them."

Victoire nodded her head, she could do all of that. Or most of it. She wasn't going to stand on the sidelines if a real emergency slipped into the Emergency Medical ward while she was on shift there.

"Also," Healer Rhee said slowly, "As a precaution, I am going to suggest that you get a lawyer and get them in the loop on what is going on."

"So you think I may eventually need legal representation then?" She asked unhappily.

"Yours will be a very particular case Miss Weasley, not only do you have a bit of a blight on your record because of the previous ethics board inquiry into your actions, but I wouldn't put it past the Abbotts to bring your personal life into the situation."

Her face slipped into an expression of confusion, and Healer Rhee clarified, "The Abbotts did suggest to the members of the board that the reason why their son died was because you and Fabius did not try hard enough to heal him since you knew that he was a 'bad guy' and perhaps even a criminal involved in the incident that led to his injury and death."

"They think that we didn't work hard enough to heal their son because he was a 'bad guy'?"

"They think that perhaps your preconceived notions about your patient could have led to you not doing all you could to heal him. It's hogwash of course, and something that the members of the ethics board have heard before in concerns to healers from the D. A. R. ward, but there is a chance that your personal life may play a role in furthering this false narrative," Healer Rhee explained.

Her feet started to tap against the floor, "Because I'm engaged to an auror?"

"They may bring it up as proof that you could be biased against people who perform dark magic, which their son would have been charged with had he lived long enough for the Auror Department to look into the part he played last evening."

Victoire exhaled heavily and pinched the bridge of her nose, "Could this end my career before it even starts?"

"I'm not going to let that happen," Healer Rhee told her softly, giving her a look that reminded her very much of her Grandpa Arthur.

She felt her throat thicken and all she could do was nod her head. He gave her a supportive smile in response and then switched topics slightly.

"Do you want to talk about Jason Abbott's death?"

Victoire automatically felt like she was on alert, "Do you want me to recall all of the medical decisions I made?"

Healer Rhee shook his head, "No Miss Weasley, I want to know how you're dealing with your first patient death."

Her lips pressed together into a firm line and she avoided eye contact with the head healer, "I probably only spent about thirty minutes working on him altogether."

"In my years of experience, I've found that the amount of time I spent with a patient doesn't actually equivalently correspond with the guilt I felt when they died," Healer Rhee said softly.

Victoire looked down at her hands, "But that's why healers have to learn to compartmentalize their emotions. They can't let their guilt and anxiety take over when they need to keep working."

"The point of compartmentalization is to keep away overwhelming feelings until you can go home and are ready to address them on your own time. Not to lock them away forever and let them fester," Healer Rhee clarified.

Victoire wasn't sure how to respond to Healer Rhee's words, but thankfully he didn't intend for her to reply. Instead he told her that because she was now involved in a case that was under review with the ethics board, she had the rest of the day off and that she would later be owled her work schedule in the Emergency Medical ward for the rest of the week.

Even though she'd effectively been kicked out of the hospital, she still didn't want to go straight home to her empty flat. Or even worse, to her flat that may _not_ be empty.

Instead, she disapparated away from the hospital, and when her feet re-materialized and landed on hard concrete she found herself standing in front of a building that had a sign that read _'Cunningham and Knott Law Office and Associates_ '. She hadn't actually been thinking of a particular place when she disapparated from work (not that she'd ever tell her apparation teacher from sixth-year that) but since she went to Colton the last time she got into trouble with St. Mungo's board of ethics, it must have been instinct that led her to apparate there.

Victoire paced hastily into the office building and took the lift up to the floor Colton and Dom had their offices on.

As it usually seemed to happen, she ran into Colton almost as soon as she stepped foot onto the office floor. They narrowly avoided physically colliding with each other, but while Victoire jumped at the almost-accidental-impact, Colton's expression barely registered surprise at encountering her.

"Victoire! Here to see Dominique?" Colton asked her, deciding to stay and chat with her instead of continuing on to wherever he had been heading when they met each other.

"Actually, my main intention was to see you."

Colton raised a blonde brow at her, "What for?"

"I need a favour."

His lips pursed, and even though she thought it would take him a while to make a decision about whether or not he'd help her, it only took him about twenty seconds to reply, "Alright, but I need a favour first."

This was the point where Victoire would make some joke about making a deal with the devil, but she'd already done that the past few times Colton did a favour for her, so she figured that he'd be tired of it by that time.

"What favour?"

He gave her a speculative once-over and started nodding to himself, "We could do it right now actually. Those mannish pinstripe trousers and starched-collard blouse will really just push my point home. Do you think you could transfigure your shoes into some sort of garish trainer?"

Victoire eyed him warily and for a minute she honestly contemplated telling Colton to forget about it and just walking away. It was a fleeting thought, and it only lasted the amount of time it took her to pull out her wand and point it at her blue flats to do as he asked.

"Do I even want to know what this is about?"

Colton turned to walk down a corridor, and Victoire followed him as he responded in a lofty tone, "Probably not."

She always appreciated honesty, so even though she found his words a tad worrisome, she shrugged it off and traipsed down the hallway after him.

Oddly enough, they came to a stop before the door of the largest office Victoire had ever seen in the building. Written in neat lettering on the brass plaque on the closed door were the words ' _Creighton Knott, Senior Partner_ '. Upon reading those words, Victoire sent Colton a confused look, which only made Colton smile and tell her that she should just say whatever she felt like saying.

The words caused an even more perplexed expression to cross her face, an expression that was still in place when Colton immediately ushered her into his father's office.

"Hello Dad, you do remember Victoire Weasley don't you?" Colton enquired in lieu of a greeting as he and Victoire pushed their way into the thankfully empty office.

Creighton Knott, who had hastily looked up from a report he was reading, narrowed his eyes suspiciously at his son, "What are you doing here with her Colton?"

"I ran into her at the elevators and figured that she could give us some more insight into that discussion we were having earlier in the day."

"Colton-"

"Victoire," Colton addressed her as he ignored his father and spoke over his last reproach, "Would you honestly answer some questions for me?"

Victoire's eyes quickly moved back and forth between father and son, but she only felt the need to be loyal to one of them.

"Yes."

"Great!" Colton exclaimed with a bright smile, "Now, could you tell me what type of blood you have?"

She raised an eyebrow at her sort-of-friend, " _A_ positive."

Creighton Knott rolled his eyes, and Colton smirked and held in a snicker and rephrased, "My apologies, I should be more specific. What is your blood status?"

"Reluctantly pure-blooded," Victoire mumbled.

"That's right!" Colton exclaimed in a tone of faux-surprise as he gave his father a specific look, "You are a pure-blood, aren't you? Now, would you be so kind to tell me what kind of connections you have in the present Ministry of Magic?"

Victoire gave him another baffled glance but answered his question honestly, "Um, my Godfather was Minister of Magic for several years and is now Head of the Auror department, two of my uncles are aurors, one of my aunts is in the Department of Magical Transportation, another one of my aunts has worked for the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, and the Department of Mysteries before, and one of my Uncle's is the Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation-"

"I get the point Colton," Creighton interrupted Victoire with a glare. For the first time that she could remember, Creighton's harsh glare was meant for Colton and not actually her.

"But I haven't quite thrown the quaffle all the way through the hoop yet," Colton argued, a huge smirk blooming across his face. He turned to Victoire, "What's your opinion on the saying that a 'witch's place is in the home?'"

"I'd say that if you say something like that one more time it'll be _this_ witch's place to give you a swift kick in the arse."

Colton smiled broadly at her, "Thank you Victoire." He then gave his father a look that said 'I-told-you-so' and shepherded both himself and Victoire out of the room without another word.

"What exactly was that about?" Victoire asked Colton once they were on their way to _his_ office.

"Just reminding my father that the world doesn't always work the way he wants it to."

Victoire raised an eyebrow at Colton as they came to a stop in front of his office, "That's a very cryptic explanation."

He opened the door to his office, gestured for Victoire to go in first, and then entered behind her, closing the door behind himself.

"He said something today that pissed me off, so I decided to piss him off," Colton expounded.

"And you chose me to help you do this?" Victoire questioned as she sat down in a chair across from his desk.

He sat down in his comfy chair behind his desk, "It was chance running into you, but since you piss my father off just by being in his vicinity, I thought using you to push my point would piss him off even more."

"What exactly was your point about?" She asked. She knew that there were more important things she should be talking to Colton about, but she preferred to procrastinate that by talking about his problems with his father.

"My father made the mistake of trying to sympathize with me earlier this morning."

"Sympathize about what?"

"About the fact that my wife has yet to give me children."

Colton's tone was completely flat and Victoire automatically felt pity for her ex-Slytherin classmate.

Victoire's eyebrows pinched together, "What does that have to do with me?"

"My dear dad told me this morning that if Anastasia is not meeting my needs or fulfilling her wifely duties, then it would be easy to divorce her and marry another pure-blooded woman with wealth and connections that could give me the heir I need," Colton explained, anger starting to colour his tone even though he had attempted to deliver the words with the same flat and dispassionate tone his father had used.

"I'm still not entirely sure what this has to do with me. It's not like you father was going to try to arrange a marriage between the two of _us_."

Colton sighed, his cheeks red from his anger at his father, and explained, "I just wanted to point out to my father that it may be harder to find me a replacement wife with blood status, wealth, and connections than he thinks it will be."

"Because on paper I have all of that and I'm the least suitable person for a pure-blood to marry?"

He nodded, "Something like that. Obviously I'd never even consider divorcing Stasia even if we don't ever . . . if we can't . . . if we never have children. My father's heard that argument before though, so I thought I'd get a little more in his face about it this time."

"Did I give off the right impression then?" Victoire asked him in an attempt to change the topic just slightly from his and Anastasia's past problems with pregnancy.

Colton smiled slightly, "You were perfect. I think it'll be a while until my dad tries to bring the topic back up again."

He still sounded pretty morose, so Victoire tried to lighten the mood further.

"Well since I've done you your favour, it's time for you to do mine. You'll probably be glad to hear that my career as a healer might be over."

Colton forced a grim smile to his face, "Don't tell me you're using unapproved spells again."

"Nope. I actually used proper spells this time," Victoire announced.

"So what did you do?"

She took a deep breath, "I killed someone."

"Well that's surprising. I always thought I'd have the honour of being the first person you'd try to kill," He mused.

"You still could, I didn't _try_ to kill this one."

Colton nodded primly, "So you're just an over-achiever then?" He didn't wait for a response, instead he went on to ask her exactly what happened.

"Another resident healer and I treated a patient last night. The patient ended up dying from something that we missed, and his parents are understandably upset about it and have brought it up to St. Mungo's board of ethics for review," She described in an emotionless tone.

He nodded his head along with her words, "Sadly, this sounds standard enough. You shouldn't be too worried though, usually in cases like this the ethics board rules in favour of the healers. Accidents happen."

"Yes, that's what I was told. However, it was also suggested by Healer Rhee that they may go harder on me because the parents think that Fabius and I didn't heal their son properly because we knew that he was involved in an incident where _he_ used dark magic."

"And they think because you're a righteous Gryffindor and engaged to an auror and that all that might have coloured your judgement when you were healing him?"

"Apparently."

Colton stroked his fingers across his chin, "That would make declaring you innocence of any wrongdoing a little more difficult. I take it that you want to give me all of the details of this patient's case in case you end up needing some legal representation in your dealings with the ethics board?"

"I figured it would be best to cover my bases, just in case," Victoire explained.

The Slytherin alumnus nodded his head approvingly, "That's some rather sound thinking considering that you're still reeling from the loss of a patient."

"I'm not reeling," Victoire argued automatically.

"That's even worse," Colton concluded as he pulled out a quill and legal pad so that he could write down notes on their conversation, "A normal person _would_ be reeling."

* * *

 **4:46 PM**

As a general rule, Teddy always tried his best _not_ to disappoint either his godfather or his boss. However, sometimes it was hard to keep up with Harry and Kingsley's expectations, after all, both of them had come to rely very heavily on him to always do the right thing. The difficult part was that they sometimes had differing opinions on what 'the right thing' was.

If you asked Harry –which Teddy for the life of him couldn't actually remember asking him– he believed that Teddy should make sure to give Victoire lots of space in concerns to 'what happened' to her patient the evening before. It was his opinion that Victoire was of the pensive and introspective disposition that would greatly need an abundance of quiet alone time to sort through the multitude of thoughts and emotions she was no doubt dealing with.

While a small part of Teddy was impressed with the articulate –if not overly elaborate– words his godfather had spoken, the main part of him sighed internally. Harry's advice was kindly meant, but it was a little confusing when he took into consideration the counsel that his _fiancée's_ godfather had given him only an hour before Harry's advice.

Kingsley had called Teddy into his office, and then unpretentiously began asking after his goddaughter's mental state. He had not been happy to hear that Teddy was only able to give him a slight description of Victoire's emotional state after the commotion of the night before, and as such his advice to Teddy was in complete contrast to what Harry would eventually tell him.

Like Harry, Victoire's godfather also knew about her tendency to withdraw into herself in situations where she was feeling too much emotion. However, unlike Harry, it was Kingsley's opinion that Teddy should try to pull Victoire out of her quiet introspection instead of letting her stew in it. He knew his goddaughter, and he knew that the longer she entertained whatever negative thoughts were in her head, the worse off she would be.

It was Kingsley's counsel that Teddy needed to make sure that he spoke to Victoire, in depth, about what had happened and the emotions she was feeling. He knew how stubborn his goddaughter was, so he repeated several times that Teddy needed to ensure that Victoire talk to him. It was implied that Teddy should be very vocal around Victoire even if _she_ did not want to be in return; especially if she didn't want to speak about it.

Teddy spent the last few hours of his work day distracted. He thought on both Harry and Kingsley's words, and even though he knew they meant well, he also knew he couldn't employ either of their advice by itself. Both Harry and Kingsley made good points, but Teddy felt that to really get through to Victoire he needed to mix their advice together. He knew that he shouldn't let Victoire stew forever in her thoughts, but he also knew that he needed to figure out when the right time would be to push her into talking. If he did it too early she would shut down completely and not speak to him again, but if he left her too long, it would most likely cause way too much damage to her confidence and self-esteem.

He was still debating exactly how he should go about bringing up the subject of losing her first patient, when he walked through the front door of their flat later that afternoon.

His contemplation stopped mid-thought when he saw that their living room had turned into a maze of furniture piled off to the sides of the room as to leave space for the mess of books and papers stacked everywhere on the hardwood floor around his fiancée's sprawled out form.

Victoire's preferred position to study in was one in which she was spread across a flat surface –usually the ground– with a haphazard mountain range of materials spread out around her in a precise system that only she really understood. It was how she worked best, for whatever reason. She used the same position when she studied for her O. W. L.s –even in the middle of Hogwarts's library, to Madam Pince's chagrin– and she would have done the same when studying for her N. E. W. T.s in her seventh-year if she hadn't been Head Girl and in charge of presenting a good example for the other students. As it was, he was sure that she utilized the same position when she was studying in the common room or her dorm room.

It was a pose that Victoire used many times throughout her years in healing school, and most recently, she had adopted the habit for whenever she was at home and working on the research project she was doing with Healer McDavid. He assumed that that was what she was doing when he walked into the room; going through the case files she had most recently collected.

In all honesty, Teddy was unsurprised to see her studiously and determinedly working on her research. When she chose to avoid something she didn't want to do, she always tried to hide her motives by seeming even busier with something else.

If she didn't want to answer prying questions asked by Dom at family dinners, she'd continuously shovel food into her mouth. If she didn't want to get drawn into a debate about Ministry politics by Lucy and Austin, she'd over-loudly volunteer to wash all of the dinner dishes by hand. And while he was gone last year on his undercover auror mission to Peru and she wanted to avoid all of her nosey relatives asking her about 'how she was holding up', she took up her Aunt Angelina's offer to read her new research on magically creating programmable bacteriophages with gusto.

What did surprise Teddy was the fact that he had found her in their apartment at all. He had assumed that she would still be at work, either because her shift had run long, or because she was working on extra paperwork to put off heading home, he wasn't sure.

Victoire hadn't looked up when he entered, even though _he_ knew that she heard him come in.

"Home already?" He asked her, deciding on a light tone and a slightly cheeky grin as he casually slipped out of his auror robes.

"It's what happens when the parents of a deceased patient complains to St. Mungo's board of ethics because they believed that you didn't do all you could in your capacity as a resident healer to heal their son," She replied almost offhandedly as she used a highlighter quill to colour a few specific lines on the piece of parchment paper she was currently perusing.

Teddy froze where he was in shock. He wasn't sure what was more startling, the content of Victoire's little speech or the fact that she was actually talking to him without him needing to beg and/or coerce her into it.

"Would you like me to pull that cryptic statement apart piece by piece, or would you like to explain it a little more for me?" He asked her with a bravado that he really hoped she didn't' recognize as false.

She exhaled slowly, switched to a different coloured highlighter quill, flipped her piece of parchment over to the other side, and then began to decode her own words for him.

Once she had started talking it all spilled out in a rush. Teddy was so busy trying to make sure that he caught every word that he didn't even have the time to stop and think about the emotional tone of her words; or more specifically, the emotion _less_ parts.

By the time she finally took a breath, Teddy had heard the main bits of her story. He understood that the parents of her deceased patient –Mr. and Mrs. Abbott were the names that Hayden had originally uncovered and contacted– had asked the hospital's ethics board to look not only into _her_ actions as she tried to heal Jason Abbott, but also into Fabius's.

Teddy was also made aware of the fact that both Healers Seward and Rhee were convinced that even though the ethics board's investigation would be a major inconvenience, they didn't believe that it would actually amount to much in the long run; they believed that Victoire and Fabius did all that they could. He _was_ worried to hear that Healer Rhee believed that Victoire might have a harder time during the ethics board's investigation because of her history with the ethics board, but he was upset that her relationship with him might cause her more trouble and make it harder to clear everything up.

He was given the perfect opening to ask her the questions he'd been dying to ask her about how she was handling her first patient's death, but then she quickly started flipping through an ancient looking textbook as she described a meeting she had with Colton that afternoon at his work office. Her words flew out as quickly as the pages she was flicking through, and she was most likely only taking in one out of every hundred words she saw.

At the end of her explanation, he grasped that she had acted very responsibly in trying to make sure that she was legally covered in case the ethics board found something they didn't like. He appreciated her forethought, but was also a little worried about how matter-of-factly and emotionlessly she sounded when she explained it.

"So . . ." Teddy slowly began once Victoire had finished speaking and was back to intently looking through the old book, "I figured we've danced around the topic enough-"

"Teddy-" Victoire whispered his name in a weary tone, not taking her eyes off of the textbook in front of her, "I'm just really behind in all of this research and-"

"And once we get this conversation over with you'll be able to go back to work-"

"Or we could stop going over everything and you could just let me get back to work _now_ -"

"But we haven't actually _gone over_ what we need to talk about-"

"Well I beg to differ."

There was a heated pause. Victoire still hadn't looked up from her books, but she _was_ gripping her highlighter quill very tightly in her left hand.

Teddy noted that there was still almost the whole living room of space between them, so he delicately navigated his way through the disorganized and haphazardly moved furniture and sat down on the floor between two large stacks of unbound manuscripts.

Once he was closer to her, he began to speak to her in a soft voice, "Sweetheart, I don't want to push you, but I think it would be best if you talked to me about what happened."

"Well I'm really busy right now, so _I_ don't think that it would be 'best' at all," Victoire answered back snappily.

The tone of her words stung a little, but he was pleased to hear some sort of emotion in her voice, even if it was anger.

He'd tried Kingsley's approach, and it didn't work. He would try Harry's next, but he was worried that she'd already been alone with her thoughts for too long. The new developments she found out at work about the ethics board's investigation into her only added to the guilt that she must already have felt about her first patient death, he knew that it would be unhealthy for her to bottle up even more of her emotions.

In the past less stress had made her vulnerable to ulcers, and from what he had heard from Xavier and Ally, he knew that that time was something that no one wanted to see a repeat of.

What Victoire needed was for him to give her some more space, but what Teddy needed was for her to talk about how she felt about Jason Abbott's death.

As he watched her furiously scribble on a scrap piece of parchment, he came up with an idea that would hopefully give both of them what they needed.

"If you've got so much work to do with your research, why don't you go to Healer McDavid's and work there? I'm sure he'd be happy to lend you his study so you can do some more work without getting distracted by my presence."

Victoire pressed her lips together into a thin line, but nodded her head. To Healer McDavid's she would go.

* * *

 **A/N:** Okay, so I hope you enjoyed this chapter even if it didn't have everything I'd originally promised. I did give you some surprise Colton though, so I hope that was some comic relief.

You will get the Teddy/Vic conversation that we're waiting for in the next chapter, I promise. I just got caught up in writing this chapter and realized that I needed to lay more groundwork before moving on to the other sections I had planned to write.

However, this is a reminder that since I may not be updating on a regular schedule, that you should all add me to your story alerts if you don't want to have to keep coming back and checking to see if it's been updated.

Don't forget to let me know what you thought of this chapter! I love feedback, it helps motivate me to write.

 **Thank you to everyone who suggested dark arts spells in their reviews from the last chapter, and I'm still open to any more that you can think of :)**

 **Next Update:** I have started writing the chapter, but I'm not going to make any promises on when it will be finished since the chapters are usually between 7,000-10,000 words.

 **Next Chapter:** We will see Vic talk to both Healer McD and Teddy, and we'll get some Eliza and Benjamin interaction. There will most likely be some of our other favourite characters as well, but I don't want to make too many promises.

Teaser for Next Chapter: (I've written about a third of it, but enough to be able to give you one :)

 **"Have you ever killed someone?" Victoire asked him almost offhandedly.**

 **While his hair did turn a surprised shade of bright yellow, Teddy didn't miss a beat in his response, "Never deliberately."**

I want to thank everyone who has followed, favourited, read, and especially reviewed because, yay! We've reached over 900 reviews!

Big Thank-Yous as always to:

 **shortstuff2127, lumiere100, ntlpurpolia, Revliledpembroke, carbo21, Guest (1), jilyshippingforever, cmorehart, TIGERSAGE, kawaiiotaku0405, rosesnlilies, AngelTwins527, jeremiah123, rumbadumba, Katia0203, GinevraFangirl, zvc56, Jennifer Jules, Seher Syed, livelovelaugh7,** and **Guest (2)**.

 **jilyshippingforever** : Thank you, my cousin is doing much better.

 **TIGERSAGE** : Last chapter wasn't the end of Vic and Teddy's discussion on children, but I think it's important to note that just because Victoire thinks that she's ready for kids, it doesn't actually mean that she's right, she's not always right. Second, I'm sorry if you feel that the Cecilia-Oliver situation is so drawn out, but I have my own plans for when everything is going to come to a head in that, and I'm not going to do it any sooner than what I've planned chronologically.

 **rumbadumba** : You'll see more how Victoire feels in the next chapter, but to address one of your questions, Victoire is in trouble because she over-looked something. Sometimes not catching something can be just as bad as actually doing something wrong.

 **Katia0203** : Thank you for the very specific suggestion :)

 **livelovelaugh7** : Thank you for leaving a review, and welcome to my wizarding world. Buckle up and enjoy the ride!

 **Again, I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter!**

 **Please leave me your thoughts or questions in a review or PM,**

 **Also, I'm still open to suggestions about dark arts spells that I can have Vic heal,**

 **Until Next time, DFTBA!**


	39. Emotional Baggage

**A/N:** Hi everyone, I know it's been forever since I've updated and I'm really sorry about that. I did just finish this chapter, so here it is for you guys. I hope you enjoy.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own _Harry Potter_. Or Scooby and the gang.

* * *

 **Previously:** So in the last few chapters, one of Vic's patients' died, and the parents of the deceased want St. Mungo's board of ethics to look into Victoire (and Fabius's) process as they tried to heal the man. Teddy tried to get Victoire to talk about how she felt about having her first patient die on her, and she wouldn't talk to him about it. He then suggested that she go see Healer McDavid, which is where we pick this chapter up.

* * *

 **Emotional Baggage**

 **Tuesday, November 1** **st** **2022**

 **7: 55 PM**

Even though all of the words Victoire was reading had started to blur together, she didn't stop. She tried to keep her mind focused on the case studies in front of her so that other, less welcome, thoughts would stay away.

She knew that Teddy was only trying to do what he thought was best, trying to get her to share her thoughts and feelings with him; so she felt bad that she snapped at him.

That she had acted so cold.

She just couldn't help herself though.

After Healer Rhee and Colton both tried to get her to speak with them, she just didn't have the energy to be polite in refusals anymore.

All she wanted to do was to make more headway with her research. She couldn't go back to the D. A. R. ward and see her patients from the night before, and if she made one wrong move the rest of the week she'd probably be taken off her rotation in the Emergency Medical ward as well.

All she wanted to do now was to help.

If she wasn't allowed to do help out in her full capacity at the hospital, then she would do all she could to further her research with Healer McDavid. Even though they were far from the stages where they would start to work on building the actual spell, it seemed to Victoire as though this might be the only place for a while in which she'd be able to use her full magical potential and abilities.

When she arrived on Healer McDavid's doorstep he kindly let her in, and it only took about two minutes before they got into an in-depth conversation about the separate strides each of them had made in their combined research project.

Healer McDavid allowed her a few hours to get blissfully lost in her research before he too eventually brought up the topic of her last emergency evening shift in the D. A. R. ward.

"So I heard that you had an exciting shift last night," The older healer addressed her informally.

Even though he was technically one of her supervisors, she narrowed her eyes at him, "And who did you hear that from? Teddy?"

"No, I heard if from Andromeda. Where _she_ heard it from I'm not sure. It could have been from Teddy, but it also just as likely could have been from some other source. That woman's always been almost omniscient in finding out information. It's rather bloody annoying if you ask me," Healer McDavid's statement turned to mutters near the end, and Victoire was almost certain that he had started speaking just to himself.

"Anyway, _how_ I came about the information isn't important. I'd like to talk to you about what happened, if you're open to that, that is" Healer McDavid added onto the end of his statement.

"I don't _need_ to talk about it," Victoire replied automatically.

Healer McDavid smiled softly at her, "I can understand if you don't feel comfortable yet talking to _me_ about it. But Victoire, from what you've told me this is the first time you've lost a patient. I want to make sure that you've spoken to _someone_ about it."

"Why?"

He looked slightly taken aback by her question.

"Why what?"

"Why do I need to speak to _someone_ about this?"

"Because dealing with the death of a patient is a necessary evil that all healers have to go through. It's difficult on all of us, in our own ways. It's natural to feel guilt and doubt, normal," Healer McDavid consoled her in that calm non-judgemental tone that only a true Hufflepuff could pull off. If she hadn't already known that he was one of Hufflepuff house's most illustrious alumni, the tone of his voice and the look on his face would have given him away.

Victoire swallowed thickly and looked down at her hands. She fiddled with a self-inking quill, "And what if I don't feel guilty? Does that mean that I'm not normal?"

She couldn't actually believe that she said those words. That that fear she had been holding in had actually slipped between her lips.

"I don't believe that you don't feel guilty. You're feeling a lot of emotions and they are all jumbled up, but I don't believe that guilt isn't one of them," Healer McDavid told her.

"I-I felt guilty when Teddy was battling meningitis in Peru, and I felt guilty when I treated those two boys in the tunnels and I thought that my rudimentary bacteriophage treatment might be too late. But last night . . . when I found out that my patient died . . . it didn't feel like those times at all," Victoire admitted.

She had had all day to think about her emotions, but she still couldn't make sense of them.

Healer McDavid gave her a sympathetic look, "Well it's unfair to yourself to compare those three cases. Of course you're going to feel differently about your fiancé and two young children almost dying than about a patient you knew for thirty minutes."

"But what if that's the problem? What if I was able to keep Teddy and those two boys alive because I was trying harder to heal them than I did with my patient from last night?"

"What makes you think that?"

Victoire felt her eyes widen and she said a little hysterically, "What makes me think that? All of the research we've done these past two months points to the conclusion that a person's intent can affect the power and accuracy of their magic. What if my preconceived notions about my patient from last night ended up effecting my treatment of my patient?"

Ever since she started looking deeper into the effect of intent and emotion on a person's healing magic she had had these doubts. The fact that Mr. and Mrs. Abbott had inadvertently brought up the same issues in their request to the ethics board had been perturbing her.

"Victoire," Healer McDavid began in a calming tone, "Did you know that your patient that died last night had used dark magic when he was brought in?"

"No . . . but I knew that he was suffering from wounds created by dark magic, so it's not too farfetched that I assumed that he could have also cast dark spells," Victoire argued.

He nodded thoughtfully, "How many patients did you treat last night?"

"I had a hand if treating twelve different cases."

"Did all twelve of your other patients die?"

"No-"

"Did any of the other patients you treated on your own or with another resident healer die?"

"No, just the one patient."

"Was he the most injured patient that you treated last night?"

"No-"

"How is the patient that you treated that was damaged the most?"

"Last I checked he was recovering fine-"

"Then I think that it's impossible to assume that you had preconceived notions about your patient that made your magic less effective. If that was the case then not only would every person you treated most likely still be ill or injured, but none of the other healers' magic would be effective either. As long as you preformed the magical spells correctly, which I'm certain you did, they should have worked how they were supposed to work. Not even magical theory is one-hundred percent fool-proof," Healer McDavid reminded her.

Victoire pinched the bridge of her nose and looked down at the parchment paper filled with notes in front of her, "Then why am I still researching this if magical intent doesn't matter?"

"As you've already proven through all of your hard research, magical intent does matter. You're a healer Victoire, you're unlikely to know all of the patients you'll get in the future –not counting of course the people from the Auror Department that you're familiar with– but the intent behind your magic will still be there. When you chose to study to become a healer you did so because you wanted to help people, to heal people. Whether you can feel it or not, when you're in the middle of an insane shift filled with injured patients that intent is what drives your magic. Your duty as a healer will lead your magical intent in those situations. As long as your intention in becoming a healer is to help heal people, it will be reflected in your magical abilities, consciously or not."

She wasn't still entirely sure if she believed his words, but she could tell that _he_ believed them.

"Now," Healer McDavid continued, not waiting for a response from her, "Even though you are technically here to discuss theory, I'm going to assume that you've had enough of that. I know that you probably don't want to talk to me about your emotional state, but I'd be remiss not to emphasize how important it is to talk to _someone_ about it."

Victoire's feet started to tap against the floor, "I know I should talk to someone about it. Teddy's already tried to get me to talk to him a few times."

"But you haven't?"

She swallowed thickly, "I-I don't think he'd be able to understand."

"Forgive my intrusion Victoire, but outside of another healer, I think Teddy would be the perfect candidate to understand what you're going through. Even though he's only been a fully-fledged auror for four years in an era of relative peace for the wizarding world, I'm sure he's had to deal with death before," Healer McDavid assured her.

Victoire's feet on the floor started tapping faster, "It's not the death part that he won't understand . . . it's the guilt, the uncertainty . . . the self-consciousness. I've started to triple-guess every medical decision I've ever made. He won't understand that . . . he can't. He's never made a wrong decision before in his life when it comes to being an auror. He's too careful, too cautious. He'd never make a mistake like I did. If he were in my shoes he wouldn't have overlooked what I did."

Healer McDavid smirked a little at her, "Does Teddy know that you have him up on such a pedestal? Even if he's not afraid of heights he may not like the distance he'd have to cover if he falls."

She understood his metaphor, but she preferred to be practical and speak in facts instead.

"Teddy's not afraid of heights. It's needles that he has a fear of."

"Then there would be no way for us to be able to imagine what he would have done in your shoes. He probably wouldn't have been able to make it through healing school with a phobia like that."

She smiled a little at the image she conjured up of Teddy fainting in the middle of the healing class they took that taught them how to give an injection.

Healer McDavid spoke again, "You should talk to Teddy about how you've been feeling about this. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised with how understanding he will be."

Victoire wasn't worried about whether or not Teddy would be understanding. She knew that he would be, no matter what. She was worried about how she would _feel_ after admitting her feelings to Teddy; after admitting her doubts.

He wouldn't judge her, but it wouldn't stop her from judging herself once her thoughts were out.

Once they became audible words instead of silent emotions.

Healer McDavid had one more piece of advice for her.

"I've never been married before Victoire, but I did ruin my fair share of relationships throughout the years. Usually they fell apart because I refused to discuss with them the emotions I was feeling after a hard day's work: the worries, the stresses, and the uncertainties. I kept them all of those emotions locked up and away, and in doing that I was locking up a part of myself that those women would never be able to reach. It wasn't really conducive to establishing a trusting relationship."

* * *

 **8:12 PM**

Eliza's head was pounding so badly that she was having trouble thinking. She knew that she could take muggle acetaminophen, ibuprofen, or naproxen while she was breastfeeding, but that the acetylsalicylic acid in _Aspirin_ was to be avoided. While all of that knowledge was helpful in a sense, she couldn't for the life of her figure out if she could take a headache curing potion or not. She didn't know what the active ingredient in it was, which was pathetic considering that she had an O in N. E. W. T. level potions. They'd never made a headache curing potion in school, so she didn't know if the one she had in her bathroom cabinet was safe to take.

She knew that if she wanted to find out what was safe to take to clear her headache that she should call Victoire or Ally Weasley. Either the resident healer or potioneer would be happy to tell her what potion she could take safely, but Eliza was stalling for some reason. She missed the days where she could find the answers to any questions she had on her own; when she could pop down to the school library and quickly discover anything she chose to learn.

It was very odd, not being able to do that anymore.

While she debated which witch she should call and ask about potions, she heard a brisk knock on her flat's front door.

Eliza glanced at herself in the bathroom mirror and rolled her eyes; she knew who it would be.

As she walked to the front door she waved her wand and summoned over to her the large black blazer that was neatly folded on the arm of the chair near the fireplace. Benjamin had shed it almost the minute he had entered her apartment earlier that day, and when he left only a few hours ago he had exited her flat without it.

She opened the door, a ready quip about losing items so easily on the tip of her tongue, only to freeze once she recognized who was at her door.

It wasn't Benjamin.

It _was_ however, a blonde pureblood that she was grudgingly familiar with.

"Elora."

Eliza clenched her teeth together and her fingers clenched around the fabric of the black blazer still in her hand, "It's _Eliza_."

Winnie Harris –A.K.A. Benjamin's fiancée (or as Cecilia liked to call her Air-headed Heiress)– just wrinkled her nose at hearing Eliza correct her.

"Whatever, I'm not here to talk about your name."

With that she unceremoniously let herself into Eliza's flat, glaring at the folded black fabric the dark haired woman was holding.

"Does Benjamin usually strip his clothes off when he's here?" Winnie asked her in an offhand voice, her tone not matching the severe look she was giving the blazer.

Eliza put the hand that wasn't holding the jacket on her hip, and raised a dark eyebrow, "Only when he decides that he'd rather not sit next to his daughter on the floor in a three-piece suit."

Winnie's face pinched in confusion, "Why would he need to be on the floor?"

"For Rowan's tummy time."

"Tummy what?"

Eliza rolled her eyes and muttered 'never mind' before addressing Winnie, "So what brings you here to my humble abode? I don't think Benjamin asked you to drop by and pick up his blazer because you were in the neighbourhood."

"No, he doesn't actually know that I'm here," Winnie explained.

"I'm certain this is the last place he'd look for you," Eliza retorted.

Winnie glanced around the room and the expression on her face told Eliza that she wasn't impressed with what she saw, "The reason why I'm here is because I need to talk to you about Benjamin, _my_ fiancé."

"What about him?" Eliza asked, already tired of the conversation before it had even really started.

Her uninvited guest frowned, "You need to let him alone."

Eliza pursed her lips and looked thoughtful for a moment, "Nope. I may be a Ravenclaw, but not even I could understand what that dramatic yet unilluminated sentence was supposed to mean."

"Listen Elmira, I know that Benjamin feels some sort of misplaced sense of obligation to that baby of yours, but how much time does he really need to spend with her? She's pretty much just a pasty blob that cries and spits up all the time," Winnie reasoned.

Eliza's green eyes sparked with anger at hearing her daughter described as a pasty blob, but Winnie continued with her monologue, "So, I think you'll agree with me that Benjamin really doesn't need to be here as often as he is."

"I'm not entirely sure what you're referring to when you say that he's here all of the time, but Benjamin's a grown man and if he wants to be around Rowan –feelings of obligation or not– I'm not going to tell him that he can't see her," Eliza argued.

Winnie narrowed her eyes at the dark haired woman, "That spawn of yours may be his daughter, but _I'm_ Benjamin's fiancée. Between the two of us I'm the one who really needs him the most right now. Every time I try to sit down with him and talk about planning our wedding he always says that he can't because he has to see Rowan."

Eliza wasn't sure if Winnie was exaggerating, or if Benjamin was lying to her about how often he spent time with Rowan. Either way, there was no way she was going to let her baby girl take the blame for this.

"Winnie, I don't really know what you're doing here. What exactly do you want me to do?"

"I want you to give Benjamin some space and to stop being so demanding. There are other people who need Benjamin's time and attention, not just your drooly blob."

Eliza pinched the bridge of her nose, she wasn't going make a habit out of catering to Benjamin's fiancée's wishes, but she really just wanted to get her out of her flat as soon as possible. With Winnie's sudden appearance her headache had gotten much worse.

"Trust me Winnie, I have no interest in having myself or my daughter come between whatever you and Benjamin have together. I'll tell Benjamin that he doesn't need to keep canceling plans with you to see Rowan and that I'm fine with him rescheduling if something comes up, but between you and me, he doesn't always do what I tell him to."

Winnie pouted but eventually agreed that Eliza speaking with Benjamin was 'a start'. Once Eliza showed her baby's father's fiancée out, she shut the front door of her flat tightly and leaned against it tiredly.

Her head was still pounding, but she tossed Benjamin's forgotten blazer toward the coat rack and summoned her mobile phone to herself. She found Benjamin's number and sent him a quick text message about leaving his blazer in her living room.

He quickly sent her a message back that he'd stop by after his classes the next day and pick it up.

She read the message and then sent him another one.

 _Also, Winnie just stopped by._

She counted to forty-three before she got a response.

 _Why?_

Eliza typed out a hasty response, but before sending it, she deleted everything she wrote and composed a different message to send.

 _I'll tell you about it tomorrow._

* * *

 **8:46 PM**

"Did you get all of your work done?" Teddy asked Victoire conversationally when she finally arrived back home after her work session with Healer McDavid.

Victoire glanced at Teddy. He was comfortably lounging on their bed in his pyjamas with an Auror Department file in one hand and a quill in the other.

She took her watch off and set it and her wand on her bedside table.

"Have you ever killed someone?"

While his hair did turn a surprised shade of bright yellow, Teddy didn't miss a beat in his response, "Never deliberately."

Victoire's blonde brows furrowed in confusion, "Has it happened accidentally then?"

Teddy's hair faded from bright yellow to a shade of bleak grey and he swallowed thickly. He closed the folder he was looking through and patted the empty part of the bed beside him.

She bit the inside of her cheek and pulled off the button up shirt she wore, leaving her in a plain white tank-top, before taking a seat on the bedspread beside him.

"I've seen someone die as a consequence of a decision I made, so yes, in a sense I have killed someone."

She didn't really believe that that explanation on its own qualified as killing someone, but she wasn't about to tell him that he was wrong, "What happened?"

Victoire knew that she didn't have the security clearance to get all of the details (although if someone had come right out and told her that she would have argued it until she was blue in the face) so she didn't expect Teddy to tell her _everything_ about the incident.

"My partners and I were chasing a suspect through an abandoned broom making factory-"

"Were your partners named Shaggy and Scooby?" Victoire sarcastically asked before she could stop herself.

Instead of being insulted, Teddy smirked and continued, "We split up to find the suspect. I took the ladder that led to a metal catwalk that was suspended near the roof of the factory's production room. I found the suspect, and as I chased after him we traded spells back and forth. The suspect kept dodging and blocking my spells, so I sent one ahead of him and destroyed a section of the bridge. I figured he'd stop running when he ran out of runway."

"Did he?" Victoire asked, encouraging him to finish his story. She noticed that Teddy's pause was longer than just the normal gap of silence that was needed for him to take a breath in between sentences.

Her fiancé's face turned stony for a moment before it slowly relaxed enough for him to move his mouth, "No. He didn't. I don't know if he just didn't realize that I'd destroyed the next section of the bridge or-or if he thought he could make it. It all just happened so fast. One minute he was running across the catwalk, and the next he was plummeting to the floor."

She mouthed the words 'Oh my Merlin' and waited for Teddy to continue.

If she hadn't been lying on their bed, her feet would be busy tapping out a harsh rhythm on the floor.

Teddy swallowed thickly, "We tried to heal his injuries . . . but there was too much damage to his body . . . especially his head. He died before the emergency magical medical responders were able to get to us."

"How come you never told me about this?" Victoire asked him softly.

He reached over to her, picked up her hand, and then squeezed it tightly, "It happened during my first year as a fully-fledged auror, your first year of healing school. We weren't living together yet so you didn't see me come home the day it happened."

"You still could have told me."

He shrugged, "You didn't have the security clearance to know about the incident . . . besides, it was around the time of Ally's eighteenth birthday. You and Sandra were so busy planning the evening and how you were going to break her out of Hogwarts so you could celebrate together, that you didn't notice my distraction."

"Godric what kind of awful girlfriend was I? How could I not have noticed that you were dealing with something so emotionally difficult?"

Teddy used his grip on Victoire's hand to pull her closer and to his side. She settled into his chest and rested her head under his chin.

"You weren't awful. You were busy with school work and trying to do something nice for your cousin. Besides, neither Harry nor Grandmum let me suffer much emotionally from the incident for very long. They both badgered me into talking about it the day after it happened. They had . . . different perspectives on what happened, but they both helped me come to terms fairly quickly with it," He told her calmly.

Victoire snuggled closer into her fiancé's hard chest, "What advice did Uncle Harry and Andromeda give you?"

"Harry told me that it was normal to feel grief and guilt after being involved in the death of a suspect. He said that even though the person may have used dark magic and done something horrible, it's still okay to feel bad about that person dying. The loss of a life, any person's life, is difficult," Teddy told her, it sounded as though he had repeated the last sentence verbatim.

Hearing him repeat her uncle's words made her stomach twist uncomfortably –almost to the point of pain.

She spoke quickly, hoping that it would help take her mind off of the sudden ache in her stomach, "That sounds like something Uncle Harry would say."

Teddy smiled lightly.

"I knew that he was just trying to help, but to be honest, Harry's words only made me feel worse."

Victoire's eyebrows pinched together, "How so?"

"Because I _didn't_ actually feel bad about being involved with that suspect's death. Or it just hadn't hit me yet. Either way, I didn't feel guilty until Harry said those words, and afterward, I only felt guilty because I _didn't_ feel guilty about being involved in the man's death."

"Oh."

Teddy nodded his head and looked pensive, "Yeah, so while I was feeling all that guilt I was ordered by Grandmum to come for tea when I finished my shift. While I was there she gave me _her_ two sickles worth and she told me that it's okay _not_ to feel guilty over being involved in a man's death, especially if said man was someone who habitually used dark magic and who had harmed innocent people in the past."

And _that_ sounded like Andromeda Black.

Teddy's grandmother may have been the 'black sheep' of the Black family, but it's very difficult to shake off principals that people learn as solid facts when they're young children. Andromeda, as a Slytherin, had as firm a sense of right and wrong as any Gryffindor, the only difference was that her definition of right and wrong was different from that of most Gryffindors; and different from that of the rest of the Black family. She may have believed that muggles and muggleborns were worthy of the same respect as other witches and wizards, but she still had strong and polarizing opinions on those that _she_ considered 'good' or 'bad'.

"Who's advice did you go with?" Victoire asked interestedly.

"Well since I was raised by them both, I took a bit of advice from both of them. That's one of the perks of being raised by a Slytherin _and_ a Gryffindor, you get to see both, sometimes opposing, sides of issues," He replied with a grin.

It was such a Teddy thing to say. For someone who was raised by a Slytherin _and_ a Gryffindor, he did a good impression of a Hufflepuff every once in a while.

Victoire decided to try to keep the atmosphere light, "Too bad we won't be able to give our future children the same polarizing opinions as they grow."

"I don't think it'll be a problem for us . . . you probably _should_ have been sorted into Slytherin after all," Teddy retorted with a cheeky smirk.

Even though she punched him in the arm there wasn't much power behind it.

"So . . ." Teddy began slowly, "Now that I've showed you mine, I only think it's fair for you to show me yours."

A hundred different cheeky repartees entered her mind in that moment, but she knew what Teddy meant. He wanted her to show him her emotional baggage now that he had told her about his.

"What if I _did_ do something wrong?"

His arm tightened around her, "I'm not a medical expert Sweetheart . . . but it sounds like you did everything you needed to do. Everything you were supposed to do, and everything you were obligated and expected to do. If Healers Rhee and Seward don't think the ethics board will be able to find substantiated proof of wrongdoing on your end, then I think you should trust their judgement."

Victoire was quiet for a spell, and Teddy spoke again.

"What did Healer McDavid say?"

She exhaled slowly, "He said that he thinks that I did everything I could considering the situation."

"Then it seems like we're all in agreement."

Her stomach started to tighten again, "How am I supposed to go on and continue to try to heal people if I've always got to worry about the ethics board watching me and trying to undermine all of my work?"

She felt Teddy's hand settle under her chin and gently move her head until she was facing him. She opened her eyelids, allowing ocean blue to lock onto dark, sparkling sapphire.

"I think you'll be just fine as long as _you_ remember how absolutely brilliant you are. You, my love, are more than capable of handling anything that is thrown your way . . . and if there's some bureaucratic tosspot at the hospital who wants to intimidate you by investigating your every move, well I feel sorry for him because he has _no_ idea who he's dealing with. I'm pretty sure the last person who tried to unfairly intimidate you ended up in Azkaban."

Victoire couldn't stop the corners of her lips from twisting up into an approximate of a smile, "Have I drove you crazy yet?"

Teddy pressed a kiss to her temple, "Not quite yet. Anyway, it's only fair of me to pass on the advice that Harry and Grandmum gave me. I've made my peace with my first suspect's death, now it's time for you to deal with your first patient death."

She took a deep breath.

"I knew it was going to happen of course. I'm not conceited enough to believe that I'm going to make it through a whole career as a healer without losing a patient . . . I'm just upset that I lost one to an injury that could have so easily been healed. I had the knowledge and ability to heal a slice in an artery caused by that bone fragment. I'm angry at myself for not finding it. I should have looked closer at his injuries-" Victoire started to rant, her words started to mush together as her anxiety made her speak faster.

"Why didn't you?"

She turned to Teddy, her mouth and eyes wide, "Pardon?"

"Why didn't you look closer at your patient's injuries while you were treating him the first time?" He expanded on his question.

"Fabius and I agreed that there wasn't enough time. He was losing so much blood that we had to take the glass out and heal his injuries as quickly as we could," She explained.

He nodded approvingly at her, "See, you thought out your options and did what you thought you needed to do to keep your patient alive. You just need to have a little more confidence in yourself."

"There are probably a lot of people out there who think that more confidence is the last thing I need," Victoire observed.

"Well I don't see Colton or Xavier here, so I think we can keep that as our little secret."

A short silence slipped into the room after Teddy spoke, and the two lowered themselves down on the bed so that she could rest on top of his chest. As he began to run his fingers through her blonde hair he asked her if talking about it had made her feel any better. She grudgingly agreed that 'maybe-talking-just-a-teeny-tiny-itty-bity-little-bit-about-it' had helped. Her chest felt lighter, her stomach was no longer in a knot, and the sense of anxiety that she had been carrying around since her patient's death had finally dissipated.

Victoire was just about to finally relax into her fiancé when another thought popped into her mind.

"I guess I'm way too much of a mess to even consider having a baby in the near future aren't I?"

She was studiously looking up at the ceiling instead of at his face, so when he answered her she had no idea what expression he was wearing.

"Well there _was_ a reason why you originally wanted to wait two years to get married and have kids . . ."

Victoire sighed heavily, "It wouldn't be fair to a baby. I thought I was getting a hang on being a healing resident, but I just keep getting curve-quaffles thrown at me. And I'm only a resident! Can you imagine how much more stressful it will be when I'm a fully qualified healer?"

"You won't have to do it on your own," Teddy reminded her.

She frowned, "No I won't. But I'd like to only be overwhelmed by one thing at a time if I can help it. Having a baby's going to be overwhelming enough; trying to navigate a new career at the same time would be awful. The smart thing to do would be to wait two years like we originally planned."

"It would be."

"Then why do I still _really_ want a baby even when it's not the smart thing to do right now?"

Teddy heard the tears in her voice and he twisted his position around a little so that they could see each other, "Because even though your brain's saying one thing, your heart is saying another. And your ovaries."

Victoire sniffed and rubbed at her eyes before any water could escape, "Ugh, I should probably just get it removed if it's going to cause me all of this trouble."

"Your ovaries?"

"No, my heart."

He ignored her dramatic tone, "Do you _really_ think you need to have it removed?"

"If it keeps causing me all of this trouble, yes."

He smirked at her and framed her face with his hands, "How about you just give me your heart for safe-keeping and I'll give it back to you in two years when both of us are ready to get married and try to have a baby?"

A thoughtful expression slipped onto her face and she considered his words for a moment, "That could work."

His hand trailed down her back and rested at her tailbone, "As for your ovaries, I'll try my best to dial back the sexy so that they stop pressuring you so much."

She rolled her eyes, noting that she could feel his hand slowly sliding lower, "You'd do that for me would you?"

"It's a sacrifice I'm willing to make if it helps stop them from turning your heart and your brain against each other."

"You're quite the martyr."

"I know."

* * *

 **Wednesday, November 2** **nd** **2022**

 **5:07 PM**

"Look at that arm and leg coordination! She's definitely advanced for her age."

Eliza rolled her eyes but couldn't help but smile at the scene on her living room floor. Since the two were lying side by side, he made Rowan look even tinier in comparison, "She's not even three months old yet, it's impossible to tell if she's _advanced_ or not."

"Oh she definitely is advanced," He argued in a tone of voice that was more charming than confrontational, "But how could she not be with a Mum like you? She's definitely a chip off the old block."

Normally Eliza would have rolled her eyes once more and waved off his words of praise. Instead, she felt her cheeks heat up and her right hand automatically moved up to her shoulder so she could twirl a lock of her dark hair around her finger.

"How about we hold off the talk about how advanced she is until she can do something really amazing like reciting the twelve uses for dragons' blood, or sleeping through the night."

He smiled brightly at her cheeky response, and his grin made her breath catch in her throat.

 _Knock. Knock. Knock._

Eliza jumped when she heard the sudden knock against her flat's door. She looked down at her watch, her eyes widened a little when she saw what time it was, and then she quickly went to answer the door.

Her face was flushed when she finally pulled it open, but on the opposite side of the threshold Benjamin only noticed how bright the green of her eyes were.

"Hey."

"Hi."

"Are you going to let me in?" Benjamin asked her after a brief, slightly awkward pause. He smirked at Eliza as he asked her, in an attempt to do away with some of the awkwardness between them.

Eliza's face went redder and she stepped to the side so that he could come in.

Even though she gave him lots of room to enter her flat, he ended up _just_ pressing against her as he stepped into the foyer and shut the front door behind him.

"So where's Rowan? Still sleeping?" Benjamin asked conversationally as he made to step towards the direction of Rowan's nursery.

Eliza's hands crumpled into fists and she hastily stopped him, "No-She's in the living room, getting a head start on tummy-time."

Benjamin's eyebrows pressed down over his eyes in confusion, "You left her in the living room doing tummy-time alone?"

He automatically began walking towards the living room, and Eliza trailed behind him as she hurriedly answered, "She's not alone-"

Her words became rather obvious to Benjamin once he had stepped into the living room.

Lying on the floor next to Rowan –supervising her tummy-time while Eliza had left the room– was Baxter.

"You didn't tell me that you'd invited Baxter over," Benjamin stated tersely as he turned to face Eliza.

Eliza crossed her arms over her chest, "Baxter stopped by for an unplanned visit. A _very welcome_ unplanned visit."

Her tone was very specific as she reminded Benjamin to play nice with one of the few friends she had left.

"And here I was thinking that you disliked uninvited visitors," Benjamin told her with a raised eyebrow.

Eliza's hands moved from being crossed around her chest to resting on her hips, "Only when they come into my home and insult my almost three-month-old."

Benjamin's eyes widened and his lips twisted into a firm line, "I didn't know about that. I'm sorry."

She shrugged, "I figured."

He shifted his gaze from Eliza and they drifted to the floor where Rowan was lying next to Baxter. A part of him wanted to grab his daughter up and not let her go, while the more rational part of him decided that he and Eliza had some things that they needed to talk about.

A conversation that would be easier to have if Baxter were there to watch Rowan while they stepped into another room.

He looked back at Eliza and asked her if they could speak in private. He frowned when he saw her glance back at Baxter before turning back to face him and nodding her head. She gestured towards the hallway that led to the bedrooms, and she directed him towards her bedroom.

Once they were inside, with the door shut just in case one of them raised their voice, Benjamin asked her, "What exactly happened when Winnie stopped by last night?"

Eliza exhaled heavily, "She called me by two different names –both of which were wrong–, invited herself into my flat, looked around it disdainfully, continuously referred to Rowan as a pasty blob, and then told me that as _your_ fiancée she deserves to spend the most time with you and I should stop trying to use Rowan to monopolize your attention."

Benjamin opened his mouth, but no sound came out. He didn't seem to know what to say.

The tension in Eliza's body released slightly when she realized that Benjamin was literally speechless, and she let out a heavy exhale as she waited for him to come up with a response.

Finally he said, "I am _so_ sorry Eliza. I had no idea that Winnie planned to intrude on you and say those things."

"I know Benjamin, I don't blame you . . . yet."

"Yet?"

Eliza locked gazes with him, "Winnie said that she's angry with you because you spend so much time here, and that every time she wants to discuss wedding planning you're always busy. I however, don't think that coming over here a few times a week counts as being here all the time."

"Well . . ." Benjamin began with a guilty expression on his face, "I _may_ tell Winnie that I need to see Rowan more often than I actually end up coming over."

"And _why_ would you tell your fiancée that?"

Benjamin sighed heavily, "Because Winnie's really clingy and I rather spend as little amount of time with her as possible. Especially if it involves wedding planning."

"I'd rather you didn't use our daughter as an excuse to avoid spending time with your fiancée-"

"I understand, I won't do it again," Benjamin replied contritely.

Eliza pinched the bridge of her nose, and even though she knew that she'd regret continuing the discussion, she couldn't seem to help herself, "And if you dislike spending time with your fiancée so much, what are you going to do when you end up marrying her?"

He crossed his arms over his chest and pursed his lips, "I'm presently trying to figure out how to get out of the engagement actually."

"Oh," she responded.

Eliza felt her face heat up with embarrassment. She and Benjamin had never spoken in detail about his engagement before, and this was one of the reasons why. She wasn't sure how to feel when they spoke about his personal life.

"Neither of us are emotionally invested in the engagement as it is an arrangement chiefly made by our fathers, so I'm just trying to figure out how to convince my father that it would be good for us to break with the Harrises," Benjamin explained.

"O-kay," Eliza said slowly, "Um . . . uh . . . So I won't have to worry about Winnie barging into my flat anymore?"

He shook his head emphatically, "I will make it very clear to her that her behaviour towards you and Rowan has been abominable and that it needs to stop."

"Or," She replied, giving him another suggestion, "You could _not_ tell her that because she'll hate us even more because it seems like I'm making you choose _my_ side of this argument-"

"This isn't about sides-"

"So instead you could just stop lying to her about needing to see Rowan when you don't, and you could actually start helping her with wedding business."

Benjamin's face took on a thoughtful expression, "Hmmm, how about I just stop using you and Rowan as an excuse to get out of wedding planning until I can convince my father that it's a good idea to break off my engagement?"

Eliza rolled her eyes and then shrugged, "Whatever, it's your life. Just don't keep giving her reasons to hate Rowan, please."

"I'll do my best."

There was a pause in their conversation at that point, and Benjamin took a few steps closer to Eliza as he said, "So . . . has Baxter been here long?"

"Does it matter?" She asked suspiciously.

"Forgive me if I'd like to know for how long strange men having been hanging around my daughter," He attempted to lighten the heaviness of his words by giving her a slight smile.

It didn't work.

She was definitely offended by his words. She put her hands on her hips and stood up as tall as she could as she stared him down, "One, Baxter's not some strange man, he's my _friend_. Two, I can't believe we're having this discussion _again_. And three, unlike _your_ fiancée and _your_ parents, _my_ friends care about my daughter and don't insult her."

" _Our_ daughter," Benjamin corrected her, taking a step closer to her. His body was only about a foot away from her at that point.

Eliza knew what he was trying to do. It was what he always did when they were having an argument. He was trying to use his height and his physical proximity to try to intimidate her.

"My friends care about _our_ daughter, but that's not really the issue here is it?"

"What would the issue be if it's not that?" Benjamin asked her as he haughtily tried to play dumb.

She gritted her teeth, "Well it's rather obvious that you somehow feel threatened by Baxter-"

Her words had the unintended effect of almost immediately angering him.

"And why would I feel threatened by Baxter? _Should_ I feel threatened by him?" He rounded on her, taking another step towards her so that their bodies just pressed against each other.

Eliza pressed her lips into a firm line and her green eyes sparked with her own anger, "How am I supposed to know why you feel threatened by him? You have no reason to. Not only is it painfully obvious that no one's going to take your place in Rowan's life, but you also have what seems to be a whole other life with your _lovely_ fiancée-"

"I _just_ told you that I don't want to marry Winnie-"

"But you will," Eliza interrupted him, "Marry someone, someday. If it's not Winnie it's going to be some other pureblooded society chit. So I don't see why I can't . . . why I can't have a friend."

Benjamin rolled his eyes at hearing her refer to Baxter as her _friend_ , but didn't touch the subject again, instead his next response was surprisingly sincere.

"But what if I don't want to?"

"What if you don't want to get married?"

"Yes! No. I mean . . . what if I don't want to marry some pureblooded socialite? What if I want to marry someone else . . . eventually?"

Eliza narrowed her eyes at him in confusion, "That's what I mean. You have no right to judge my relationships when you're planning on being in one yourself."

"Oh so you and Baxter have a _relationship_ now?"

"Whether we do or do not, it is _none_ of your concern!" Eliza whisper shouted at him.

Benjamin's eyes flashed, "What if I _do_ want it to be of my concern?"

"What?" Eliza asked him, anger switching back again to confusion.

He groaned in frustration, pinched the bridge of his nose, and muttered something under his breath.

She only caught the words 'It's' 'coming' and 'wrong', before he suddenly leaned forward and pressed his lips against hers.

In the history of their 'relationship' Eliza had been caught by surprise by Benjamin giving her a kiss several times. Each time that it happened, Eliza promised herself that she wouldn't get caught up in the passion of the kiss and that she'd push him away.

Each time she failed.

This time was both the same, and different.

This time she didn't see it coming.

This time, his kiss was soft and gentle.

The tenderness of his lips against hers took her by surprise, so much so that she wasn't sure how to respond. Pushing him away from her felt like too aggressive of a response to his gentleness.

While she was frozen in place, Benjamin figured that if she didn't want him to kiss her, that she would have hexed him already. Therefore, he tried to deepen the kiss, thinking that she was willing to go along.

Instinct took over when his tongue gently pressed against her bottom lip, and she threw her arms around his neck and opened her mouth up for him.

He stumbled a little at first, surprised by the power of her embrace, but he quickly collected himself and wrapped his hands around her; one at the small of her back and one on the back of her head, wrapped in her long hair.

Eliza quickly got lost in the kiss, and before she knew what was going on, Benjamin had somehow spun her around and was backing her up in the direction of her bed. Their mouths stayed connected even as Benjamin lowered her, and himself, down on top the bedspread.

She gasped when his body pressed tightly against hers, and he moved his mouth down to her neck and he began to kiss downwards. Her head was spinning, and in that moment the only thing that could have broken through her haze would have been the sound of Rowan crying.

Which was exactly what happened not two second later as Benjamin's mouth began to suck on her collar bone.

Eliza's eyes popped open wide at hearing the muffled cry through her closed bedroom door, and she immediately began pushing Benjamin off of her.

He seemed almost punch-drunk as he slowly moved off of her. She jumped to her feet and didn't look at him as she hastily tried to straighten her hair and her clothes.

"Rowan's probably hungry by now."

It was the only thing she said to him before she hurriedly quit the room.

* * *

 **7:23 PM**

"Thank you _so_ much for coming over," Eliza sincerely said to Cecilia as she ushered her friend into her apartment.

Eliza had called Cecilia not ten minutes ago and had asked her in a desperate tone if she would come over. She needed someone to talk to.

She had been alone with her thoughts for almost an hour –it had been that long since both Benjamin and Baxter had left– and an hour was really forty-five minutes too long to go without telling someone about what had happened.

"It's no problem," Cecilia shrugged as she sat down on the couch in Eliza's living room, "You sounded like you really needed to talk."

Eliza exhaled heavily and almost collapsed onto the cushion next to Cecilia, "I really do. It's just-"

She stopped talking and narrowed her eyes at her friend, "When I called you I asked you if were busy at the moment and you told me no."

"I know," Cecilia replied more than a little confusedly at the change of topic.

Eliza put her hands on her hips, "Were you lying to me?"

"No."

"Then why is your shirt on inside out?"

Cecilia automatically looked down at her shirt –which it seemed she did put on inside out– and blushed, "I might have been getting close to 'the middle of something', but I wasn't exactly _in_ the middle of it yet."

"Cecilia-"

"Honest," Cecilia replied, hand over her heart, "I wasn't in the middle of something. I still had my pants on when you called me and everything."

Eliza rolled her eyes and Cecilia continued, "Anyway, you sounded like you really needed me. So what's up?"

"I kissed Benjamin."

Cecilia curiously tilted her head to the side, ". . . are you referring to a recent kiss, or are we discussing a past kiss that happened like a year ago?"

"A recent kiss."

"How recent?"

"In the past few hours."

"That is rather recent."

There was a pause of silence in the two women's conversation.

"And?" Eliza asked Cecilia.

Cecilia blinked in surprise, "And what? You haven't asked me anything yet."

"Do you think it was a stupid decision on my part?"

"To quote you from a few months ago 'being near Benjamin makes me do stupid things'."

Eliza pulled at her hair, "So it _was_ a stupid decision."

"Does it feel like a stupid decision?" Cecilia asked softly.

"Yes. No. I don't know," Eliza replied in a broken-hearted tone, "Kissing an engaged man –one who I actually know is engaged– was stupid. Kissing _Benjamin_ was stupid because I know that it's just going to make things weird between us. But being kissed in general . . . I don't know. That kind of felt right. It felt nice."

Cecilia nodded understandingly, "I think I get where this is heading. You're freaking out because you enjoyed being kissed by Benjamin, and you're worried about _why_ you liked it."

"Benjamin's a good kisser. I know that. It's just . . . it's been a while since I kissed anyone, let alone Benjamin, and it stirred up all of these feelings and . . . urges that I put away a long time ago when I found out I was pregnant with Rowan."

"When was the last time you kissed someone who wasn't Benjamin?" Cecilia asked curiously.

Eliza was quiet as she searched through her memory, "A year? Probably more."

"So Benjamin's kind of had a monopoly on your kisses, and anything else, for a while then, huh?"

"Yeah."

"Do you want it to be that way?"

"Excuse me?"

"Do you want to go on having Benjamin be the last guy you kissed?"

Eliza's eyes widened, "Of course not! We don't even really like each other, the only reason we're civil is for Rowan's sake."

"Are you sure about that?" Cecilia asked her gently.

Eliza's mouth opened incredulously, but she took the time to think about her friend's question before replying, "Yes I'm sure. You were right earlier about Benjamin having a monopoly. The only reason he's rousing these urges in me is because he's the only guy I've kissed in the past little while."

Cecilia eyed her worriedly and chose her next words carefully, "Eliza . . . it's okay to admit that Benjamin's the only guy who instigates these kinds of feelings, you know, at all."

"But he's not," Eliza argued immediately, "Benjamin gets all up in my face and kisses me and-and touches me and makes me feel these physical _urges_ , but he's not the only person who instigates _feelings_."

"Then who else does?" The shorter of the two women asked.

The taller woman blushed and her pale skin went bright red, "Baxter."

Cecilia felt her own heart ache at hearing her friend's confession, "Eliza-"

"I know, I'm a horrible person for feeling this way about two men at the same time . . . but there's just something about him that won't allow me to let him go. Believe me. I've tried to warn him and tell him that he should probably just move on, but I can never get the words out. The more I think about breaking it to him, the more the idea hurts," She stopped and looked at Cecilia, "You probably think that I'm insane though. For having feelings for two men at once."

"Of course I don't think you're insane."

"Well that makes _one_ of us at least."

Cecilia watched Eliza carefully, "So what are you going to do?"

"I spent the rest of Benjamin's visit here ignoring the kiss, but after Baxter left, Benjamin kept trying to get me to talk about it. I might have asked him to leave at that point."

"Are you planning to continue this strategy of ignoring the situation?"

Eliza shook her head, "No . . . I think I've figured out what I need to do about this actually."

Cecilia inclined her head interestedly.

"I know that I've never given Baxter a _real_ chance, not like Benjamin –not that I ever actually gave Benjamin a chance, he kind of just pushed himself into my business and I let him– but that's not the point. I haven't given Baxter a chance . . . so maybe that's what I need to do. Give him a _real_ chance at something more than friendship."

Cecilia's black eyebrows narrowed over her dark eyes, "Let me get this straight . . . you kissed Benjamin and were taken by surprise by the strength of the feelings and urges he triggered in you, so to fix this issue you have with the engaged-to-another father of your child, you're going to start dating your male friend who you admit that you also have some sort of romantic feelings for?"

"Essentially, yes."

"O-kay . . ."

Eliza bit her lip and watched Cecilia closely, "So . . . what do you think?"

* * *

 **A/N:** Okay, even though I don't really deserve it because I've been such a bad author, I'd love to hear your thoughts on this chapter. I think Eliza's last question in this chapter is not just directed at Cecilia, but at you guys as well. Again, I'm sorry I've made you wait so long.

 **Next Update:** Gah. I promise you that I will try to get it out as quickly as possible. I swear I will not give up on this story.

 **Next Chapter:** We're jumping ahead a few days and we are going back to Hogwarts to see the kids. There's going to be a quidditch game, so we will see their other relatives as well as they will be there to watch it.

Thank you to everyone who has stuck with this story, and to everyone who has followed, favourited, read, and reviewed.

Biggest thank yous to:

 **Guest (1), rosesnlilies, ntlpurpolia, cjaben1, HPsea, TheProphetBVB, no cure for crazy, fangirl5300, zvc56, jilyshippingforever, xxTheMadHatterCharmedxx, Guest (2), jeremiah123,** and **Guest (3)**.

 **rosesnlilies** : The Abbotts that are the family members of Victoire's deceased patient were not meant to be related Hannah Abbott. Just imagine that it's a common last name, which I think it is, they may be very distantly related, who knows, but it wasn't intentional for them to be related.

 **TheProphetBVB** : I don't think she exactly told Benjamin to stuff it . . . ;)

 **xxTheMadHatterCharmedxx** : It's Cunningham and Knott because those are the last names of the two people who started the firm. Knott is Colton's family, and the Cunninghams are their business partners.

 **Thanks again for reading everyone,**

 **I hope you enjoyed this chapter,**

 **I promise I'll work very hard to get the next one ready after a more moderate length of time,**

 **Until next time, DFTBA!**


	40. Of Quidditch and Games

**A/N:** Hi everyone. Um, so this is the part where I apologize and say that I'm super sorry that it's taken so long to get this next chapter written.

I literally just finished writing this chapter, so there might be some spelling and grammar mistakes. Either way, I hope that you enjoy this chapter, even though it is long overdue.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own _Harry Potter_.

* * *

 **Recap:** So, This chapter is mainly about the Hogwarts kids. Some things to remember are that Norah Summers' third cousin is Hayden Summers, Teddy's auror partner. In addition, James had a discussion with Selene Spiros a few chapters back where she admitted that she wants to become a professional quidditch player when she graduates from Hogwarts, instead of a healer like her parents are pushing for. Also, the last time we saw the Hogwarts kids, Rose and Scorpius were ignoring the fact that they almost kissed in the library.

* * *

 **Of Quidditch and Games**

 **Saturday, November 5** **th** **2022**

 **8:23 AM**

James felt a very sharp twisting in his gut as he slipped on some track pants and his game-day jersey. It was the morning of the first quidditch match for Hogwarts' House League season, and Gryffindor was going to be playing against Slytherin in a few short hours' time. He knew that he needed to go down to breakfast and try to eat something, to try to be a good role model for the rest of his teammates, but the nerves that were twisting his gut made the idea of food unappetizing.

He dragged his feet a little as he followed Freddie down to the Great Hall for breakfast, but the sight of his teammates gathered near one another at the Gryffindor table did bring a slight smile to his face. Freddie squeezed himself in between Norah Summers and Selene Spiros, while James sat down next to his younger brother Albus.

Simon Darwin, Gryffindor's keeper –the same bloke Selene had told James she thought might be sneaking a peek into the girls' changing room– and Robbie Preston, Gryffindor's third chaser, were already sat on the other side of Al. Therefore, with James and Freddie's manifestation at the table the entire quidditch team was now complete.

"Make sure to eat a hearty breakfast today," James instructed everyone as he pulled a bowl of oatmeal towards himself.

Simon Darwin and Robbie Preston nodded their heads vigorously at their captain's instruction, both Al and Norah rolled their eyes at James's order, Freddie was so busy stuffing his face with sausage that he didn't even hear James, and Selene just raised an eyebrow at James before staring meaningfully at the small portion of oatmeal in his bowl.

James flushed at being caught not following his own suggestion, "I have rather a fondness for oatmeal."

"Wha?" Freddie asked, his mouth half full of sausage, "You haven't eaten oatmeal since Dom made you eat that half burnt stuff she made us on a camping trip six years ago."

"Well I thought I'd give it another chance," James retorted.

Selene rolled her eyes, and pushed a plate of toast and some raspberry jam towards James in an attempt to stop the cousins from arguing.

James was surprised that the jar Selene had passed him ended up being his favourite flavour, but then he remembered that it _was_ the closest pot to her at the time.

"So, what's the plan for today?" Norah asked the team in general once she'd finished swallowing a forkful of fruit salad.

"To win," Freddie immediately answered her in a tone of voice that made it sound as though that goal should be obvious.

Norah scoffed, "I meant the game plan. Are we supposed to play a little differently than normal? I mean we are playing Slytherin after all, they're a lot more physical on their brooms than either Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff would be."

"We chasers are more likely to be body checked by a Slytherin chaser as well. However, the reason why they mostly rely heavily on physical contact is because their beaters are rubbish," Selene added.

"Good points ladies," James commended then in between bites of toast, he didn't even attempt to eat the oatmeal, "So Norah, you and Freddie need to work like a well-oiled machine today. If you can control the bludgers you should be able to keep their chasers busy, and give ours the chance to score."

Freddie nodded at James's words, but then he cast a sly look in Al's direction, "I think we all know that this game is going to end up being played out between Al and Malfoy."

Al shrugged, "That's what happens when the two best seekers in the school play against each other."

The players went back to eating in relative silence (relative meaning that the only sounds were Darwin's rather loud chewing, and the odd murmur as Freddie tried to get in some last minute flirting with Norah). James had just finished his fourth piece of toast –his appetite having finally been found– when he watched Selene suddenly scoop her long black hair up and tie it up into a ponytail.

"Your hair's red?"

More appropriately, part of her hair was red. It seemed that she had dyed strips of it a bright scarlet red, and James had only just noticed it when she manipulated her hair.

"Yes, Norah and I did it last night," Selene explained easily.

James's head twisted towards Norah and noticed that her lighter coloured hair had been dyed with strips of both scarlet and gold.

"We thought it would get us in the spirit for the game today," Norah added in a bright tone.

" _I_ think it looks great," Freddie said, jumping into the conversation since it now included Norah.

Selene smirked, "Thanks Freddie, I wasn't sure about the red, but if you like it _that_ much-"

Freddie groaned, "I was talking to _Norah_."

"We know," Selene, Norah, James, Al, and even Darwin and Preston said.

Freddie turned to Norah and smiled charmingly at her, "I especially like the gold, it brings out the ring of gold in your eyes."

Norah, along with everyone else within hearing distance, were surprised to hear a real and proper compliment fall out of Freddie's mouth.

"And I like the red in your hair Selene," Darwin piped up as he, wrongly, thought that he'd follow Freddie's lead.

"Yeah, it brings out your impertinence," James added, winking cheekily at her.

"Everyone ready for the big game today?" Lily Potter asked brightly, popping up from out of nowhere with Rose, Hugo, and Alice Longbottom in tow.

The Gryffindor quidditch team muttered a range of replies –from James and Selene's confident affirmative to the rookies', Darwin and Preston's, nervous gulps. The newly arrived Gryffindors slipped into the table in the few open spots that were available, and then Lily immediately began to jabber on about all of their family members that promised to attend the game that day. James did his best to ignore her as he mentally ran through plays in his head, which was made harder by Al actually asking Lily questions, leading to a conversation between the two with the eldest brother in the middle.

James swallowed one last piece of toast (he would have ate more if he hadn't used up all of the raspberry jam) and was about to get up from his seat at the table when Mélanie came up to him. She looked impeccable in a Gryffindor practice quidditch jersey (which James had lent her the day before) with a black long-sleeve t-shirt underneath and in tight blue jeans.

Mélanie smiled brightly at her boyfriend, wrapped her arms around his neck, and leaned forward to give him a short but ardent kiss.

"Excited for t'e game?" Mélanie asked James cheerily once she had separated her mouth from his.

James nodded and gave her a smile in response. He would have voiced his answer aloud, but he was starting to get a little annoyed with everyone asking him if he was ready for the game. If they kept asking him that, then there was a reason _why_.

Maybe _they_ thought that he wasn't ready for the game.

Selene was finished with her breakfast, so she unceremoniously stood up from the table so that she could leave, as it was the benches were getting a little crowded.

Darwin noticed her movement first, and he asked her what she was doing. She replied that she felt the need to go for a short jog before the game, and quietly turned away from the table. James almost said that he'd join her –he felt the urge to go for a mind clearing jog himself, but then he remembered that his girlfriend was practically sitting on his lap and that she was probably expecting him to spend at least a few more moments with her before he had to get ready for the game.

The Gryffindor quidditch team began to assemble in the changing rooms in earnest an hour before the game was supposed to start. James was there first of course –trying to be a good role model as he was the captain– and by default of having followed James around all morning (much to Mélanie's, not very well-hidden, annoyance), Freddie ended up arriving second.

Simon Darwin and Robbie Preston arrived tied for third, and James noted that while Preston started slipping on his quidditch robes, Darwin did not. Instead, the Gryffindor keeper sat down on one of the benches and slowly began putting his quidditch padding on, an expression on his face that told James that he was daydreaming about something.

A few seconds later James heard Selene and Norah's voices echoing from the Gryffindor team room that sat in between the male and female change rooms, and Freddie and Preston went to join them as they were already dressed. Darwin sped up his pace so that he could join the group, and James followed him into the team room where all of the players were gathered except Al.

It was only about seven minutes later –which actually felt like an hour to the captain– when the Gryffindor seeker finally skidded into the team room. Al had his basic black quidditch tights and long-sleeve tee on; with his padding, quidditch jersey, and robes in a pile in his arms. He sat down on a bench next to Freddie and began to slip the rest of his gear on. He didn't even lift his head up to give anyone, let alone his quidditch captain (and older brother), a look of acknowledgement.

"Glad that you finally decided to grace us with your presence Albus," James addressed his brother, his low voice, cutting through the background din that consisted of Norah giggling at something Freddie said, and an anxious sounding conversation between Darwin and Preston.

The reprimand was light, and James didn't mean to be too harsh, which was a good thing because Al didn't seem to take it harshly in the least. James would wait until after the game to see if Al coming in late (-er than everyone else) would affect his ability to play his position in the game, and then act accordingly.

Once Al had his robes and jersey on he glanced around the room before finally making eye-contact with his brother, "So, are we going to talk strategy, or go right into some sort of pep talk?"

"From the way Selene seems to be studying that notebook in her hands, I think she'd vote for some discussion about strategy," Freddie said, having exhausted the topic of conversation he and Norah had previously been discussing.

James's head turned towards the area of the room where Selene was standing up and intently studying a battered looking play book. Her head was titled down and even though her long hair was pulled back in a ponytail, a black lock of hair with a newly dyed red tip had somehow escaped its hold and was hanging in front of her right eye. It must have been irritating her because she determinedly brushed it back behind her ear before flipping a page in her book and continuing her studying.

"Oi, Selene!" Norah called out her, startling her teammate enough to make the other girl's head snap up, "I don't think you can study for this game like you did for O. W. L. s."

Selene rolled her eyes, but she did close her book, "There's nothing wrong with being prepared."

"You're a regular wizard scout Spiros," Freddie told her with a smirk.

The dark haired chaser rolled her eyes again, with the expression aimed at Freddie this time.

"So . . ." Darwin piped up a little hesitantly, "Do we usually have a big strategy meeting before the games, or is it more of a pep talk?"

It was both Darwin and Preston's first time playing quidditch for their Hogwarts house team, so both were feeling a level of anxiety above that of the more seasoned Gryffindor team members.

James saw that he had everyone's attention, so he opened his mouth to say something, but was distracted by the door to the team room suddenly opening.

A very familiar blonde head poked through the slight opening, and James felt his eyes widen in both recognition and shock.

"Mind if we pop in for a quick minute?"

"Victoire!"

"Victoire?"

The first was called out by a surprised Freddie, while the second was asked in more of an inquisitive tone by Al.

"Hey guys," Victoire nodded at them, opening the door more so that she could step into the room, "We just wanted to stop in for a little bit before you have to get in the zone for the game."

"We?" James asked. He briefly leaned forward so that Victoire could bestow a quick hug on him, and he asked the question once their embrace was over.

She had already taken a few more steps into the room and had forced Freddie into a quick hug before she answered the question, "Yes 'we'. Me and–"

Victoire dropped her arms, giving Freddie the chance to side-step away from her, and looked back to the team room door that she had entered through.

"He _was_ right behind me. Darn. And I promised Caleb that if we were allowed to come back here that I wouldn't let him wander off by himself in the castle. I'm definitely not gonna be allowed to come back here if I lose him," The blonde muttered as she walked back to the door.

She glanced out into the hall and called someone into the room.

"Sorry, I just had to stop to catch up with one of the portraits," A distinctly male voice apologized to Victoire as he strolled into the room.

Victoire rolled her eyes at the tall man, but before James could voice his confusion as to exactly who the newcomer was, Norah squeaked out a name in surprise.

"Hayden!"

The tall man turned to his third-cousin and smiled brightly at her, "Hey there Norah."

"What are you doing here?" Norah asked him confusedly, putting her hands on her hips.

"I heard Ted and Victoire say that they were going to the game today, and since I had nothing to do I thought I'd tag along and finally get the chance to see my little cousin play quidditch," Hayden explained in a cheery tone as he pulled Norah into a hug, completely ignoring the stiff set of her body.

She rolled her eyes, "Better late than never I guess."

"Ah Cuz, you know you're excited to see me," Hayden replied, releasing her from his hug and giving her a light tap on the shoulder.

Freddie's eyes widened as he took in the scene in front of him, "Wait, how do you know Norah's cousin, Vic?"

Surprisingly for Freddie, it was James that answered his question, "Hayden works with Teddy in the Auror department."

"How do you know that?" The redhead asked his best friend and partner-in-crime.

The black-haired cousin rolled his eyes, "Teddy and I were talking about it months ago when he got back from Peru."

"And where was I during this conversation?"

"Standing right next to me."

James wanted to add that Freddie's eyes had glazed over when James had mentioned Norah Summers' name, so that was most likely why Freddie didn't remember the conversation. He had been more focused on thinking about Norah than about her elder auror cousin.

Hayden had started inquiring about Norah's parents while James and Freddie had their conversation, and Victoire turned to the slightly familiar looking black haired girl who was standing against a bank of lockers and skimming through a notebook.

"How are you doing Selene? Catch any communicable muggle childhood diseases lately?"

Victoire's comment harkened back to a year ago when she was in charge of Hogwarts' hospital wing, and Selene showed up with a rather contagious case of chickenpox.

Selene chuckled at Victoire's greeting, "Thankfully no. My little brother did come down with a case of hand, foot, and mouth about a week before I left to come back to Hogwarts though, so I did my best to avoid his bodily fluids, and his presence in general."

"Little siblings are always good for that, sharing infectious diseases," Victoire replied.

"It's a good thing they're usually cute."

"I know."

James and Freddie had finished their conversation, so Victoire turned to address them, and Al, so that she could do what she had come there to do.

"So Al, ever heard of Devon Bagley?" Victoire asked the seeker specifically.

She was answered with a roll of Al's green eyes, "Of course I know who Devon Bagley is. Only one of the most ingenious inventors of quidditch equipment in this modern era."

"Yes, well, she gave me these," Victoire explained as she pulled a medium sized bag out of the much-too-small-to-have-been-able-to-hold-it pocket of her pants, and tossed it to Al.

Al speedily opened the bag and pulled out a simple looking pair of lightly padded black quidditch gloves, "These look brand new."

"They are, they're a prototype that she just finished working on –or at least that's what Devon told me– they have special anti-gravity spells on them that help stabilize a person's hands," Victoire explained.

Freddie pursed his lips, "What's the use of gloves that only help stabilize hands?"

"They're designed especially for seekers. To help stabilize us when we reach out to grab the snitch-"

"In short, these are going to be wicked cool," Al grinned as he started to slip the gloves on to see how they would fit.

James gave Victoire a considering look, "And how exactly did you get your hands on a prototype pair of seeker gloves designed by Devon Bagley?"

"She was a patient of mine about a month ago in the Emergency Medical ward. I was in the Emergency Medical ward again this week and she came back in to have a minor injury dealt with. We were discussing her work, and she came back the next day with these gloves and asked me if I knew anyone who could take them on a test run for her," Victoire enlightened her cousins.

The smile on Al's face made it seem as though Christmas had come two months early, but James seemed more hesitant, "Do you think Al will be allowed to use them though? Or would it be considered cheating?"

Victoire waved off his concern, "I've already cleared it with Madam Hooch. She said using some gloves that would help increase Al's balance wouldn't be much different than using a Firebolt brand racing broom during a game."

"Wicked."

Victoire glanced down at her watch and noted that game time was creeping closer, so she and Hayden quickly offered up their good luck wishes to their respective cousins, and the rest of the Gryffindor team, before leaving to find their seats in the stands.

The rest of Victoire's family had already made themselves comfortable in the sections of the quidditch stands that were reserved for professors and visiting family members. George, Angelina, Harry, Ginny, and Hermione and Ron had all made it to watch the game that day, and Rose, Hugo, and Lily sat with their parents as they prepared to watch their cousins and siblings, respectively. Victoire took a seat in between Teddy and Ally, with Xavier on Ally's other side. Hayden sat on Teddy's free side, and in front of the group were Louis, Cecilia, and Baxter. They were the members of the family that were able to clear their schedules to watch the Gryffindor-Slytherin game, and they were also the members of the family who enjoyed watching quidditch the most, so all in all it seemed to work out.

While they waited for the teams to come to the pitch and start the game, Victoire shared small talk with her cousins and friends.

At one point, Cecilia began explaining how excited she was to have a meeting with Elijah Martell in three days. She was going to travel to meet Elijah in between two games in an upcoming Appleby Arrows-Pride of Portree series in Scotland, and they were going to hunker down for the better part of a day and work out the details on the charity for underprivileged kids that they were starting.

Cecilia was in the middle of her giddy description of the charity's details when she saw something out of the corner of her eye, causing her to suddenly switched topics altogether, "Xavier, isn't that one of Puddlemere's scouts over there? That's Morton Scrivener isn't it?"

Xavier half stood up to get a better look at where Cecilia was pointing, and then he sat right back down, "Yeah, that looks like him."

"What's he doing here?" Baxter asked curiously.

Xavier shrugged, "He's probably here to scout some talent. He asked me earlier in the week if I knew anything about this year's graduating quidditch players, and I had to tell him that I didn't really know much about any of the house teams besides Gryffindor. Most likely he's here to see for himself."

"There's a scout here from the Holyhead Harpies too," Lily chirped as she appeared in flash, sticking her head in the area between Victoire and Teddy's seats.

"Godric Lily!" Victoire gasped in surprise as she placed a hand over her suddenly beating heart.

Lily ignored her eldest cousin and continued, "James asked Mum to contact a scout from the Harpies specifically."

"James does know that he can't play for the Harpies, right?" Louis asked with a raised eyebrow.

Even though he was being sarcastic, Lily nodded emphatically, "Of course he knows that. That's why his request is weird, not to mention very unselfish. He doesn't want a scout to see himself, obviously, but he seems to want the scout to see a certain _someone_ play."

That someone, was rather obvious as there was only _one_ female quidditch player on the Gryffindor quidditch team that would graduate that year. Although Victoire did reason that there could have been a seventh-year female on the Slytherin quidditch team that she didn't know about, and that that player could be the reason why James had asked Ginny to contact a scout. However, she knew how very unlikely that situation was, and that it made much more sense for James to have contacted his mother about the one female seventh-year player on his team: namely Selene Spiros.

Both the Gryffindor and the Slytherin quidditch teams slipped onto the pitch a few moments later in their colour contrasting robes.

James, who was very visible in the centre of the pitch, shook hands with Slytherin's quidditch captain, Scorpius Malfoy. Madam Hooch nodded at both captains and then announced that all the players were to take their positions.

After the shrill sound of Madam Hooch's whistle blowing, all fourteen players zoomed into action and the game started off at a break-neck speed.

Despite having seen several professional quidditch games in the past few months, there was something about watching Hogwarts students play that Victoire found specifically interesting. The fact that the players were less polished and made more rudimentary mistakes even added to the charm of the game. As did the rather entertaining sound of Nolan Finnegan narrating that day's game.

"-And a bludger has come by and has just blind-sided Slytherin's centre chaser Thorley! That perfectly aimed bludger coming from none other than other than Gryffindor's fittest beater Norah Summers-"

Nolan wasn't able to finish his comment because Freddie had the other bludger within his range and had accidentally-on-purpose aimed it towards the section of the stands where Nolan was sitting with his magic microphone.

Luckily, Nolan ducked in time not to get hit by the oncoming bludger, and he ignored the fact that his friend had aimed a potentially-deadly magical ball at him and continued on with his commentating.

Even from Victoire's place in the stands she could see that James had flown a little closer to Freddie than necessary and berated him for his misuse of the bludgers. The reprimand was quick as they _were_ in the middle of a fast-paced quidditch game with their house rivals, and James and Freddie quickly went back to their respective positions. The game continued for another twenty minutes of normal-ish sounding quidditch commentary before Nolan slipped in another remark about Norah's appearance. James sent Freddie a sideways look to make sure that he didn't try to jealously injure Nolan again, but let out a sigh of relief when he realized that Freddie was more concerned with aiming a bludger at Slytherin's keeper.

Hayden however, did not let it go as easily, "Why does that little punk keep hitting on my cousin?"

Next to Hayden, Teddy shrugged his shoulders in confusion while Victoire pursed her lips, "Because he thinks Norah's pretty?"

"She's not pretty, she's my little cousin," Hayden pouted.

Victoire tried to hide her smirk, "She's sixteen, so she's allowed to be _both_ pretty _and_ your younger cousin."

"I still don't like this," Hayden grimaced.

Teddy clapped his auror partner on his shoulder, "It's difficult to see someone you think of as a sibling grow older and blossom into a lovely young woman."

"Yeah, when that happened to Teddy and he started seeing Victoire differently, he started snogging her," Xavier added.

"Well Hayden's actually related to Norah by blood, so I don't think he has to worry about that," Teddy retorted.

Nolan Finnegan chose that moment to make another comment about Norah –this time about her arse– but hardly had the chance to finish his compliment before he had to sadly announce that Slytherin had scored the first goal of the game.

"Okay," Hayden began in an enraged tone of voice, "What's the name of the little git who's commentating and would you cover for me if I were to hex him?"

Almost directly after Slytherin scored their goal, Norah swung her bat and hit a bludger with a sharp _crack_ ing sound, and sent it to the centre Slytherin chaser who had somehow recovered the quaffle after scoring the last goal. Nolan complimented Norah again, this one also having more to do with her appearance than her skill, and even Norah was now fed up with Nolan's particular brand of commentating. The next time a bluger came flying towards her she aimed it at Nolan and sent it off with a _whack_.

The seventh-year Gryffindor commentator made another lucky duck just in time, and decided that he should probably hold off on publically hitting on Norah via the magical microphone when he was supposed to be narrating the quidditch game.

Victoire laughed loudly when she saw Nolan's red face quickly dodge the fast-flying bludger, and she smirked at Hayden, "I don't think you have to worry about hexing the poor kid. It seems like Norah can handle herself just fine."

After Slytherin team's first lucky goal, the game slowly started to go downhill for the Gryffindor team.

The Slytherin chasers were able to slip three more goals passed Gryffindor's keeper Darwin, before any of the Gryffindor chasers were able to finally throw the quaffle through one of the hoops on Slytherin's side of the pitch. James ended up being the person to finally score Gryffindor's first goal –admittedly only because Selene Spiros had completed a beautiful pass to him after she traversed half the pitch, all the while dodging Slytherin's most brutal chaser along with two bludgers– but then the Slytherin team came back and scored four more goals within fifteen minutes.

Despite the fact that they were losing 80-10, James felt the need to hold back for a few moments near the hoops to try to give Darwin a quick pep talk in hopes of boosting his confidence and maybe enabling him to actually make a save for the first time in the game. Darwin had played much better in the keeper try-outs and the past several practices than he was playing at present, so James really didn't know what was happening with his young keeper, unless of course he had just come down with a case of stage fright.

While James was having his short conversation with Darwin, Preston –the other rookie– accidentally gave over the quaffle to one of the Slytherin chasers who came flying quickly towards the other end of the pitch, and tossed the quaffle to one of the other Slytherin chasers despite Selene's best attempt to snag it back in between throws.

One of the Slytherin chasers' made it to the front of the hoops and let the quaffle loose. Darwin went far too wide as he tried to catch the quaffle, and James hastily flew in front of the incoming quaffle so he could swat it with the tail end of his broom.

Thankfully, the chaser/captain of the Gryffindor team was able to save the goal even though the keeper wasn't, and Selene hastily flew into position so she could catch the rebounded quaffle. Once the scarlet ball was within her grasp, Selene sped down the length of the pitch towards the Slytherin hoops. She dodged as many bludgers and players as she could, but eventually two of the Slytherin players caught up to her and blocked her path. Before she could fly straight into their ambush she deliberately dropped the quaffle right into the waiting hands of James Potter who shot forward from where he was flying five feet underneath her and just off to the side, where the two big Slytherin chasers couldn't see him.

With the quaffle in James' hands, the other Slytherin players turned from Selene and went after James, allowing Selene to get into position so that James could throw the quaffle over to her after feigning a toss at the far left hoop. His feint worked perfectly and once Selene had the quaffle in her possession she chucked it into the far right hoop, smiling widely when it flew right past the Slytherin keeper's out-stretched hands.

James was able to quickly share an air-born high-five with Selene before the both of them got to work on trying to score more goals.

Even though everyone on the Gryffindor team was trying their best –James sadly had to believe that both rookies Preston and Darwin were giving it their all– after an hour and twenty-five minutes of game play Slytherin was beating Gryffindor 180-30.

James scored Gryffindor's third goal, but it didn't help stop the heavy tide of Slytherin goals that were flying through Gryffindor end's quaffle hoops.

The more experienced players of the Gryffindor team did the mental math and calculated that they'd need at least one more quaffle goal _and_ the snitch to win a game that was quickly falling apart.

Al was doing his best to spot the snitch, but it was giving him a bit of a run for his money. Thankfully, it didn't seem as though Scorpius Malfoy was having any more luck than he was.

Just when Al was beginning to wonder whether Madam Hooch had _actually_ remembered to let the golden snitch out, he spotted it glittering near the ground around the middle of the pitch, and he sped towards the middle of the pitch as fast as his Firebolt brand broom would take him. In the back of his mind he knew that he should have watched the snitch for a little longer to give his team's chasers a chance to get another goal, but he was –rightfully– worried that Scorpius would spot the snitch as quickly as he did and scoop it up even quicker.

Al catching the snitch wouldn't make their team win, but they would tie the game, which at that point seemed to be the best option. Scorpius was right on Al's tail, and the pair dove headlong towards the snitch.

When Al stretched his arm out once he was getting within reaching distance of the snitch, he saw Scorpius do the same thing and noted that they were neck and neck, and arm and arm. Out of the corner of Al's eye he could see Scorpius's hand waver and quiver as he tried to stretch it out as straight as it would go. The Gryffindor seeker smiled a little when he realized that his out-stretched hand was completely steady, no doubt thanks to the prototype gloves Victoire had given him before the game.

"-And Gryffindor's seeker Albus Potter and Slytherin's seeker Scorpius Malfoy are neck and neck in their search for the snitch. Potter's hand seems to be in the lead though by an inch – AND ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE PITCH SELENE SPIROS HAS THE QUAFFLE IN FRONT OF THE CENTRE HOOP! SHE THROWS IT AND SHE SCORES! SELENE SPIROS HAS SCORED ONE MORE GOAL FOR GRYFFINDOR MAKING THE SCORE 180 TO–

"POTTER HAS GRABBED THE SNITCH! ALBUS POTTER OF GRYFFINDOR HAS GRABBED THE SNITCH AND EARNED 150 POINTS FOR GRYFFINDOR! WITH SPIROS' PREVIOUS GOAL GRYFFINDOR NOW HAS 190 POINTS TO SLYTHERIN'S 180. GRYFFINDOR WINS THE GAME!"

The stands –or at least the sections of the stands that were cheering for Gryffindor– broke out in roaring cheers and all of the Gryffindor landed exhaustedly on the ground of the pitch as soon as Madam Hooch's final whistle blew.

When Selene touched down on the ground she was immediately swept up in a tight hug by her team's captain James Potter. He had lifted her off the ground and even swung her around in a circle in his enthusiasm. He had already started talking a mile a minute about her 'bloody brilliant' last minute goal, before he even set her back down on her feet.

Norah, Freddie, and Al ran over to the pair a few seconds later and all five veteran players shared hugs and high-fives as they congratulated and spoke over each other. Al and Norah praised Selene for her quick work in scoring her last minute goal –slipping the quaffle right past the Slytherin keeper who was too busy watching the action going on between the two seekers– and the dark haired chaser blushed and then commended Al for his superb snitch-catching-skills.

Away from the group of celebrating Gryffindors were the last two members of their team. Preston and Darwin stood off to the side looking dejectedly down at their shoes. Al noticed them first and convinced Norah to join him in going over to them and trying to bring the pair into the team's celebration –despite the fact that neither of them had really contributed to the team's win. Freddie followed them a moment later, mostly because he just didn't want to let Norah too far out of his line of sight.

James and Selene watched them go, and James's bright smile slowly slipped as he looked at the two rookies.

Selene watched James's expression carefully, "Preston tried his best today."

James nodded.

"But Darwin-"

"Darwin couldn't have saved a goal if he had been allowed to use _accio_ charms," James finished as he crossed his arms over his chest.

Selene levelled him with a stern look, "It _was_ his first game though, and the Slytherin's _are_ intimidating."

"But if he can't handle the pressure of playing in a real game format against a hostile team-"

"Then we definitely don't have the time to wait until he can," Selene completed his thought.

James shook his head sadly, "Not when there's only a handful of games left in the regular season."

"Well I for one am glad that I'm not captain of the team right now," Selene told him with the ghost of a smile.

He rolled his eyes but allowed a small smile to twist around his lips. He was going to say something else, but he heard his name called from a small distance behind him and momentarily looked away from his fellow chaser to see who had yelled out his name. Standing a few metres away from him, standing with a bloke who looked like he was a scout for Puddlemere United, were both of James's parents _and_ his youngest sibling.

James glanced back to Selene, and immediately noticed the sly smile she had on her face.

"It looks like your parents are waiting for you so you can talk quidditch with a scout."

"After such an awful game I don't think there's much I'll be able to talk to him about," James replied self-deprecatingly.

Selene gave him a specific look, "If you don't go over and talk to that scout you're going to regret it."

"I know," James responded. His eyes drifted to something over her shoulder, and he suddenly grinned at her, "Well I think I'll go now. You don't need me for this."

Selene's eyebrows narrowed in confusion, "Wha-"

Before she could finish her question James had jogged away. She wasn't alone for long though, because soon an unknown woman came up behind Selene and introduced herself as a scout for the Holyhead Harpies. Selene's eyes had widened in surprise, and while she tried to put a polite expression on her face so that she could talk to the lady, all she could think about was that she was going to kill James Potter.

Several metres away, an unsuspecting James –who didn't know that his female chaser was presently plotting his murder– was having a pleasant chat with Morton Scrivener.

"You played very well today Mr. Potter," Morton Scrivener told him with a genial smile, "I can't wait to come back for Gryffindor's next game to see more of your playing and captaining skills."

James smiled charmingly back and told the Puddlemere United scout that he would look forward to seeing him again at another one of their games.

Once Morton Scrivener was gone, both Ginny and Harry started talking a mile a minute about what James needed to do next –or keep doing– to ensure that he would continue to be of interest to quidditch scouts.

James half listened to their words at the start, but when he saw Mélanie slowly coming up to him he got tunnel vision and didn't notice anything going on around him but her. His French girlfriend closed the last bit of distance between them by running towards him, and James scooped her up and gave her a hug.

Mélanie leaned her face closer to James's to give him a congratulatory kiss, and he eagerly accepted it while also momentarily forgetting that his parents were standing right beside him.

* * *

 **7:48 PM**

"I can't believe that you haven't kicked Darwin off the team yet," Freddie complained to James as they stood just off to the side of the refreshment table that was set up in the Gryffindor common room.

Since the Gryffindor quidditch team _had_ been able to scrape out a win, for the first game of the season and against their house's arch rival, a victory party had been planned for that evening. The party had already started at seven-thirty on the dot, despite the fact that some of the Gryffindor quidditch players hadn't even made it down to the common room yet. Some of the younger students, and most of the older seventh and sixth years, had started partying the minute the music had turned on the beverages were offered. It seemed that some of them had forgotten about –or didn't care about– the specific reason for why they were having the party. They just wanted to party.

"It would have been a real plank move to kick him off the team just before the victory party though," Al added, defending James's decision not to speak with Darwin about resigning from the team until the next day.

James sighed heavily, his choices in regards to the team's keeper were not resting lightly on his shoulders, "It's not _just_ because I didn't want to humiliate the kid. I need to arrange for another keeper to come in before I fire the one we do have."

Freddie narrowed his eyes at James, "I thought you already spoke with her about it after the game?"

"I did, she didn't give me an answer one way or another though. She said she'd have to think about it," James explained.

The red-headed beater rolled his eyes, "What's there for her to think about? Gryffindor house needs a new keeper, and she's the best keeper presently in the house."

"Not everybody's time at Hogwarts revolves around quidditch you know," Al berated Freddie, "She does have other important things to consider like actual school work."

Freddie waved off Al's defense, "Lots of people juggle quidditch and school work and still excel at both. Besides, you should be on our side _Albus_. You know if you ask her to join the team that she'll listen to you."

"It's an important decision that she needs to make," James said, coming in as the voice of reason before Al and Freddie could get into an argument, "Which is why when she asked me to give her a bit of time I told her I'd wait until tomorrow to hear her decision."

"Still-"

Unfortunately for both Potter boys they were not to know what Freddie's next argument would have been, because at that moment Alice Longbottom came gliding by them to congratulate them on their game.

"Brilliant job guys!" Alice informed them cheerily as she high-fived Freddie, gave Al a quick hug, and then for some inexplicable reason slapped James on the arse.

The dark haired sixth-year ran away giggling right after accosting Gryffindor's quidditch captain, and James's face had a look of complete and utter shock and confusion on it.

"What in the name of Merlin's pants was that about?"

Al shrugged as he watched Alice sashay away –a little unsteadily– into the crowd of Gryffindors that had decided that the middle of the common room was a perfect spot for a make-shift dance floor.

"She's probably had more than a little too much to drink already. I'm going to go follow her to make sure that she doesn't imbibe in too much more."

James and Freddie gave Al a quick wave of the hand goodbye, and the youngest Potter son loped off into the gyrating crowd to catch up to his classmate.

The boys then heard the sound of feet coming down the wooden steps of the staircase they were standing near (which just so happened to be the staircase that led to the girls' dormitories because James was patiently waiting for his girlfriend to make her entrance), and they both turned to see who was coming down the stairs.

Freddie let out a low whistle and smirked, "I wouldn't mind it if _she_ had a little too much to drink and then got frisky with me."

James frowned at his best mate and was about to remind him that he needed to be respectful towards his fellow quidditch team mates (if not toward all of his female classmates at the school) when Norah Summers hoped off the last step of the staircase and gave both James _and_ Freddie a cheeky wink.

"I heard a rumour that there's butterbeer around here somewhere," Norah proclaimed archly, only really looking at Freddie.

It took the red-headed seventh-year a second to reply, because he'd been a little busy at looking at how short the skirt of Norah's black dress was, and when he did Freddie was able to respond with a witty comment about how he would find her something even stronger if that was what she fancied.

Norah replied back that she would like something a bit more _fiery_ , and the two beaters walked away without even taking a moment to look at the aghast expression on their quidditch captain's face.

"She definitely must have been pre-drinking up in her dorm room," A familiar voice mused from the middle of the staircase.

James looked up in time to see Selene Spiros gracefully descend the last few steps of the staircase with a contemplative expression on her face.

"Did you hear all of that?"

"I wish I could un-hear all of it," Selene told James seriously, a disgusted looking expression blooming across her face.

The quidditch captain shrugged in response, "It looks like tonight's as favourable for Freddie as it's ever going to be. Norah's ready to lower her inhibitions, and her cousin Hayden went all scary auror on Nolan before he left today and made sure that Nolan wouldn't even think about touching Norah anytime in the near or distant future. So Freddie doesn't have any competition at present."

Selene rolled her eyes and pointed to a not-so-dark corner near the large tower windows where Nolan Finnegan was snogging a platinum-blonde haired girl, "It doesn't seem as though Nolan's mourning Norah's loss much."

James narrowed his eyes as he tried to get a better look at the blonde girl's features, "Who even is that?"

"My friend Teagan."

"Oh."

The short silence that followed their conversation was interrupted when Selene suddenly decked James on his left bicep.

" _Ouch_!"

"Oh don't be such a baby."

James frowned at his dark haired chaser as he rubbed the _now_ sore spot on his arm, "What was that for?"

" _That_ was for arranging to have a Holyhead Harpies' scout come to the game today to watch me play."

"What makes you think I had something to do with it?" He asked defensively, trying a little too hard to play it cool.

Selene put one hand on her hip and another on her lips as she adopted a sarcastic contemplative facial expression, "Hmmm, let me think about that . . . One, your Mum used to play for the Holyhead Harpies. Two, I told you that the Holyhead Harpies are one of my favourite teams. Three, I'm the only female quidditch player on both the Gryffindor and Slytherin teams who is graduating this year, and therefore the only one eligible to be looked at by scouts. And four, besides my parents you are the _only_ other person that I've told about my dream to become a professional quidditch player."

Even though there was a bit of anger behind Selene's words, James's brain picked up on the last part of what she said. That _he_ was one of the only people she had ever trusted that information to.

He was sincerely contrite when he replied, "I'm sorry Selene. I thought you'd be happy to hear that there was a scout from the Holyhead Harpies at our game to watch you play."

"I would have been a lot happier about it if you _told_ me about it in advance," Selene muttered before taking a deep breath and asking, "If you thought I was going to be happy about it then why didn't you tell me before hand?"

James's black eyebrows lowered over his brown eyes as he considered her words. The obvious answer to her question was that he didn't tell her about it because a part of him knew that she would react that way when she found out that he had pulled strings just for her. However, a very loud voice in his brain told him that voicing that thought would probably take the conversation up to a level that he didn't want to go to, so he tried to diffuse the situation instead.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you beforehand. I know that I wouldn't have liked to find out that the Puddlemere scout's reason for coming today was because my Mum and Dad pulled strings for me."

Selene nodded her head, "Exactly."

She took another deep breath, and then she leaned forward and gave James a quick peck on the cheek.

James held his breath and his mind froze for a second while Selene spoke.

"I do want to thank you though, even though I'm still a little mad at you. The Harpies' scout said that she would definitely come again to see me play in our next game, and I know that she probably wouldn't have come in the first place if it wasn't for your meddling, so thank you."

James nodded his head mechanically, but before he could say anything, his cousin Rose Weasley came up to them and asked the pair if they had seen Alice Longbottom recently.

"Uh, yeah. She slapped my arse and then teetered off into the crowd. Al followed after her and said something about keeping an eye on her," James explained readily. He knew the correct response to _Rose's_ question at least.

Rose let out a sigh of relief, and then glanced at Selene in surprised.

"You're patrolling tonight Selene?"

Gryffindor's Head Girl nodded her dark head emphatically and, for the first time since she had come down the stairs, James took a second to actually look at Selene.

Her long black hair –which still had random streaks and sections of scarlet red– was tied back in a neat ponytail, and she was wearing casual black jeans and a plain looking cream-coloured cardigan which her shiny Head Girl's badge was affixed to. James thought that she looked nice enough, but he did realize that all of the other girls in the common room –besides Rose– were dressed in more party-appropriate attire.

"You're not going to stay and celebrate?" James blurted out in confusion.

Selene shook her head, "No, Will Dyson informed me yesterday morning that he needed to switch shifts with me for tonight."

James frowned, "What a git, he knew you'd be celebrating our win tonight."

The Head Girl shrugged, "Yeah, well he's still angry that I made him look like a fool _and_ got you and Freddie off last month so that you weren't banned from playing quidditch during today's game."

" _Prat_."

"You shouldn't have to patrol tonight," Rose continued in a serious tone, "You played hard today, even if you weren't going to celebrate you at least deserve a rest."

"I appreciate the concern Rose, but my patrol starts right now, so it's a little too late to get someone else to swap shifts with me-"

"I'll cover you."

Selene eyed Rose thoughtfully while she mulled over the younger Gryffindor's offer, "I'm sure you have plans for tonight-"

"Nope," Rose corrected her, "I have no plans whatsoever. I'm not really in a partying mood tonight anyway. The only reason I was going to stay down here was because I wanted to look after Alice, but if Al's already doing that then I'm not really needed."

"Are you sure Rose?" Selene inquired kindly.

"Absolutely."

Selene looked like she was going to argue, so before she could get a word out James placed his hands on her shoulders and started to steer her towards the refreshment table. All the while firmly explaining to her that since he was her quidditch captain, he was ordering her to stay and celebrate with the team. He told her to think of it as a team bonding experience.

The female chaser rolled her eyes at the male one, but allowed James to direct them towards the drink table. Before they disappeared through the crowd, Selene _was_ able to shout some last minute instructions over her shoulder to Rose.

 _You're to meet Malfoy by the portrait of the monks near the Astronomy Tower for an eight o'clock patrol._

* * *

 **8:07 PM**

Even though Rose was only five minutes late by the time she made it to the slightly sinister looking portrait of the monks near the Astronomy Tower, she still felt the need to apologize profusely to her impromptu patrol partner for being tardy.

Scorpius Malfoy accepted her apologies without comment, and once she finally paused to take a breath, he sent her a slightly confused look.

"So why exactly are you here instead of Spiros?"

Rose folded her hands together, "Oh. Well I told Selene that I'd take her patrol shift for her so that she could stay in the common room and celebrate the team's win."

Her face fell a little when she explained the last part, and her cheeks went a little red when she reminded Scorpius of Gryffindor's win –or more accurately, Slytherin's loss.

If Scorpius felt awkward about the reminder of losing that afternoon's quidditch game, he didn't show it.

"Fair enough, Spiros does deserve a chance to celebrate. Between her and James I think they stopped more goals by stealing possession of the quaffle, than Darwin did in his position as keeper."

Rose nodded sadly, "Yes, well I think James has decided that Darwin's not exactly the right fit for the team right now."

Scorpius raised a blonde brow at her and they slowly started walking down the corridor so that they could start their patrol, "That was very diplomatic. In reality, the only reasons why Gryffindor won the game today were because of Spiros's last ditch effort to score another goal, and because Al had some fancy new gloves on."

The red-headed Gryffindor's cheeks went red, "Al told you about the gloves then?"

The blonde Slytherin nodded, "We shook hands after the game and I noticed that they were different from his regular gloves. I asked him about them and he told me that they were a special prototype glove that your cousin somehow got her hands on and gave to him."

"Victoire does do everything in her power to help out her cousins," Rose explained to him with a slightly apologetic shrug.

He nodded, "I understand. Sometimes I just wish that I had cousins like that. Ones who would go out of their way to help me without me even asking."

"You will have cousins like that in the future though," Rose blurted out.

Scorpius's grey eyes narrowed intensely at her, "What makes you say that?"

Rose felt her cheeks heating up as her brown eyes stared into his, "I-I just meant that you will literally have a cousin like Victoire. When she marries Teddy in a few years. Because Teddy is your second cousin."

She had started rambling near the end and had to force herself to shut up before she said something that would make the conversation even more awkward.

"That's . . . accurate. I guess."

The pair of sixth-years then traversed the distance of three corridors in silence before either of them found the courage to speak again.

"So . . . um . . . what's James going to do about your house's keeper situation?" Scorpius finally asked, remembering that that had been the topic they were on before Rose brought up Scorpius's estranged family members.

Rose placed a teasing smile on her face and gave Scorpius a look complete with a raised eyebrow, "Are you trying to get some top secret quidditch information out of me?"

He smirked back at her, "So you _do_ know some top secret quidditch information then?"

"M _a_ ybe," She replied in a faux innocent tone, "If I _did_ have some secret information though, how exactly would you plan on getting it out of me?"

Scorpius smirked even wider at her and chuckled, "I could probably think of a couple things I could try."

The audacious and brave part of the red-headed Gryffindor said, "And what would those things be?"

Their footsteps had gradually slowed in pace until the two prefects were standing still, facing each other with only about two feet between them.

"I could try blackmail."

Rose snorted and rolled her eyes, "Blackmail? You think you have something even close to resembling blackmail on me?"

"Okay," Scorpius admitted in defeat, "I could try bribery."

"Bribery only works if you have something to offer me that I want," Rose pointed out.

Scorpius tilted his head to the side a little as he studied her, "I'm pretty confident that I _do_ have something to offer you that you may want."

Rose's brown eyes sparked with curiosity and she leaned a little closer to him, "And what would that be?"

He smiled charmingly at her and took an undetectably small step forward to decrease the little space that was between them.

When he answered her question, his voice dropped to an intimate sounding whisper, "How about a kiss?"

Her stomach erupted in hippogriff-sized butterflies, and her brain must have been on auto-pilot because even though she didn't remember responding, her mouth suddenly said the words, "It's worth a try."

It seemed that her brain's auto-pilot was braver and bolder than she was on a daily basis. It must have been why the Sorting Hat sorted her into Gryffindor, it could see the courage in her even if she couldn't.

Scorpius's expression seemed almost taken aback at her positive response, but he quickly got over the surprise of her reply and he leaned closer to her, bending his head a little so that his face was _very_ near to hers.

"Really?" He asked her, his voice a little high-pitched with his sudden excitement.

She bit her lip and folded her hands behind her back, "Yeah."

Scorpius closed the small distance between them and pressed a very soft kiss against her lips. Rose's breath caught in her throat and her lips started to tingle where his touched hers. The kiss only lasted a few seconds, and Rose only had the opportunity to kiss him back with the slightest bit of pressure before he removed his lips from hers altogether.

He pulled his face far enough away from hers so that he could get a good look at her expression. Her brown eyes were wide, and they seemed both surprised and a little glassy. He was a little lost in her innocent brown eyes, so he noticed immediately when the emotion in her eyes quickly changed to fear.

"Ro-"

"It's me."

Scorpius looked at her in bewilderment, "Pardon?"

Rose looked down at her feet, her cheeks red, "It's me . . . James's plan to deal with Gryffindor's quidditch keeper situation is me. He–he asked me to play keeper for the team."

Scorpius's eyebrows pinched in confusion, only to smooth out when he realized that she was keeping up her end of the deal.

"You don't actually have to tell me the team's quidditch secrets," He told her in a low tone.

She forced her eyes to make eye-contact with Scorpius's, "I – I – I-"

"Weasley? What are you doing here? Where's Spiros?"

Rose and Scorpius turned their heads to see Ravenclaw's Head Boy Will Dyson coming down the hall towards them.

"I told Selene that I'd take her shift so she could celebrate the win with the rest of the team," Rose explained to Will mechanically, her voice going a little hard as she hoped that he hadn't seen what had just happened between her and Scorpius.

Will Dyson frowned and crossed his arms over his chest, "She got out of it then."

Rose let out a silent sigh of relief, if Dyson was still talking about Selene, then he must not have seen the other two prefects' _interaction_.

Scorpius rolled his eyes at the Ravenclaw, "Yes, she got out of it with no thanks to you. It's a good thing that Rose is such a kind and caring person."

Rose put her hands on her hips and eyed Will Dyson a little disdainfully, "And what are you doing tonight Dyson? I assumed that you made Selene switch patrols with you because you were _very_ busy with something that just _couldn't_ wait."

Dyson's face changed to an ugly shade of red, and he quickly did an about-face and left the same why he had come.

Once he was gone, Scorpius turned back to Rose, "Rose about what just happened-"

"We should go back to patrolling, we've been lagging behind," Rose told him as she suddenly began pacing faster down the hall.

Scorpius ran a hand tiredly down his face before jogging a little to keep up with Rose's new quick pace.

When he had caught up to her, he tried again, "Rose, can we please discuss-"

"What is there to discuss?" Rose interrupted him, still avoiding his gaze, "I told you that James asked me to be keeper on the team. That's the end of it."

He sighed heavily and tried again, "I meant that we should talk about the _other_ thing."

"There is no _other_ thing to talk about."

Scorpius reached out and grabbed Rose's hand, mostly so he could force her to stop moving so fast and finally face him, "Rose, we should talk about _us_."

Her gaze rested on his hand, where it was holding hers, "There isn't an 'us'."

He frowned, "Why not?"

"Because Al's your best friend-"

"He already knows that I fancy you."

Rose's eyes snapped up to his and she inspected his face closely to see if he was telling the truth. The earnestness of his expression was too much for her to handle, so she continued her argument.

"And if I accept James's offer to play keeper on the team we will be playing on opposing quidditch teams-"

Scorpius actually rolled his eyes at that excuse, "Yes, because everyone knows that opposing keepers and seekers specifically play against each other. Even more so than keepers and chasers."

She pouted at his stupid flawless reasoning, "I–My family would be shocked-"

"They'll get over it. Eventually."

Rose swallowed thickly and looked back at where her hand was still clasped in his. His grip wasn't tight, and she was perfectly able to pull her hand away at any time.

"You're my _friend_ Scorpius-"

He actually laughed at her last attempted excuse, "You're not actually going to try that one, are you? I'm sorry but I believe that you have seen more than your fair share of romantic relationships start out as platonic friendships."

His words caused images of Victoire and Teddy, Ally and Xavier, and even her own parents to flash before her mind. He was maddeningly correct in that point.

"And is that all of your excuses? Because all of them seemed to deal with other people and not yourself. What matters is what _you_ think Rose. I like you, and I want to know if you like me back," Scorpius told her softly, giving her hand a gentle squeeze as he spoke.

Rose pressed her lips together, "I do like you Scorpius, but we're friends so of course I _like_ you-"

Scorpius exhaled loudly and pinched the bridge of his nose, "I see we're going to have to go step by step here."

"Excuse me?"

"Do you like spending time with me?"

"Yes."

"Do you think I'm attractive?"

Her cheeks went red, but she answered honestly, "Objectively speaking, yes."

"Did you like it when I kissed you?"

Rose felt her stomach clench and she squeaked out her embarrassingly truthful response, "Yes."

He smirked a little when he heard that, but he pressed on when he saw that she was starting to crack, "And would you like to do it again?"

She felt like she wanted to sink into the floor, so she tried to make herself as small as possible as she mumbled out her answer. She couldn't even understand what she said, so she wasn't surprised that he couldn't either.

"What was that?"

Scorpius leaned closer to her and she would have avoided his gaze if his grey eyes hadn't been so intense, he whispered when he asked her again, "What did you say Rosie?"

Her mouth moved without her knowledge again and she whispered, "Yes."

His smirk stretched a mile wide, "Yes what?"

Her heart started hammering in chest, "Yes I'd like you to kiss me again."

Despite the softness of her tone, he heard her loud and clear since there was barely any space between them anymore.

"And would you like me to kiss you again right now?"

Rose's face was burning with embarrassment, "Maybe?"

Scorpius chuckled at her expression and shook his head at her, "Sorry, but 'maybe' isn't clear enough for me. I'm gonna need either a strong 'yes' or 'no'."

He moved as if he was going to pull away from her and give her her person space back.

Instead of letting him go, she reached her arms forward and placed her hands on either side of his shoulders.

"Wait."

A blonde brow rose up on his forehead, turning his face into a questioning expression.

"Yes."

"Yes what?"

She almost rolled her eyes at him, almost, "Yes I would like you to kiss me right now Scorpius."

The Slytherin's smile was blinding, "Your wish is my command Rose."

* * *

 **A/N:** Alright, I know that you guys have been waiting for forever for this chapter (for different reasons) but real life just really got in the way, and even when I did find time to write, it was really hard to find the inspiration to. There was a lot that I wanted to put into this chapter, so it took me a bit to figure out how I was going to write it. I do like the way this has ended up, so I hope that you liked it too, and that it's not a complete let down.

Let me know if you've read this new chapter, and if you're still hanging in there with me.

 **Next Chapter:** Once this is updated I'm going to start writing it. It should involve Cecilia doing her work with Elijah Martell, and I also plan on it containing a very special conversation between Louis and Oliver that I think we've all been waiting for.

 **Next Update:** As soon as I finish writing it, I pinky-promise.

Thank-you to everyone who has followed, favourited, read, and reviewed!

I do want to thank everyone who reviewed the last chapter even though it was so long ago, so a big thank you to:

 **carbo21, HPsea, pewpewpewpppp, Manydifferentfandoms, cjaben1, GinevraFangirl,TheProphetBVB, shraddhap, rosesnlilies, Guest (1), TheSlytherinQueenbee, Guest (2), B. arendes, Jennifer Jules, no cure for crazy, ChristyPooh, Jily71102, silverlover02, Guest (3), Guest (4), Padfoot1999, TheChosenOne789, SonOfHades123, Layla, zvc56, Olive7, kawaiiotaku0405, Guest (5),** and **fangirl5300**.

 **carbo21:** Thank you for taking the time to give me such a well thought-out review about Eliza, Benjamin, and Baxter's prospects.

 **Padfoot1999:** Okay, obviously this reply is a little late, but PM me if you still want to talk.

 **TheChosenOne789:** Um, I haven't read Cursed Child, so if any part of this resembles that, then it's a lucky accident. I also don't have plans to read Cursed Child anytime soon because I don't want it to affect how I plan to write these stories, so I'm sorry if that upsets you, but that's how it is.

 **Olive7:** This doesn't mean that in future they'll never have kids, it just means that right now they're not planning on having kids.

 **Okay everyone, I hope that you liked this chapter,**

 **Please leave me a review and let me know what you thought about it,**

 **If you have any questions, comments, or concerns you can leave those in a PM or a review as well,**

 **Until next time (which I hope will be sooner rather than later),**

 **DFTBA!**


	41. It's a Full Moon Tonight

**A/N:** So . . . um . . . I'm very, very sorry about this. Obviously this update is happening much later than sooner, and I don't blame you guys if you're angry with me and stop reading this story. All I can say in my defense is that Real Life kinda threw me a bit of a curve ball, and while everything is perfectly alright and myself and my family are healthy and happy, I did have a very hard time going back to any type of writing let alone this fanfic.

But enough about me, I'm sure you're all excited for a actual chapter update, so here it is.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Harry Potter.

 **Warning:** This chapter does contain some sensitive material, obviously I stand by the rating of 'T', or I would have changed it already.

* * *

 **Recap:** Obviously it's been awhile since I updated. You can go back and read the last chapter if you'd like, but the last chapter happened at Hogwarts, and we're back into the other adults' lives outside of Hogwarts in this chapter. So, previously one of Victoire's patients died and she's only allowed to work in the Emergency medical ward until they sort everything out. Cecilia's in Scotland for a meeting with Eli Martell about their charity endeavour. AND, we're finally going to have a scene about Oliver explaining why he's been so hard on Cecilia and Louis. That should be all we really need to remember.

* * *

 **It's a Full Moon Tonight**

 **Tuesday, November 8** **th** **2022**

 **6:42 AM**

Victoire woke up with a pounding headache and a slightly upset stomach, and if she wasn't already on thin ice at work because of her short-term banishment to the Emergency Medical ward (because her and Fabius's shared patient had died) she would have probably called in sick that morning. As it was, her shift in the Emergency Medical ward was to start at seven-thirty on the dot, but at least that meant that it would end earlier too, as she was only doing an eight-hour shift.

She groaned loudly when she realized that it was time to get out of bed, and the person next to her on the bed let out a mutual grunt of pain.

"Why does this have to happen each month?" Victoire muttered as she rubbed her temples in an attempt to make her headache go away.

Teddy sighed, "Well it happens every month because there's a full moon every month."

If she hadn't been certain that he also felt slightly nauseous, Victoire would have hit him in his conveniently located stomach for his sarcasm.

"Can you hold off on the sarcasm until I get some headache curing potion in me?"

As Victoire and Teddy got older, their reactions to the full moon got worse. Instead of most symptoms starting closer to sundown and moon rise, most of their symptoms started first thing in the morning and only grew in strength as they day progressed. Most full-moon days started off with Victoire and Teddy having matching headaches and nausea, the body aches and general pain usually started around noon.

Teddy sat up in the bed and rubbed his head, "You and I both know that a head-ache curing potion isn't the most effective cure you could take."

Victoire immediately made a disgusted face upon hearing his suggestion, "I am _not_ taking that potion unless I absolutely have to."

"We've been through this before Vic," Her fiancé told her in a cajoling tone, "And you always end up caving by the end of the day and taking it. If you take it at the beginning of the day it can help you earlier."

She pouted and crossed her arms over her chest.

He took that as a half-acquiescence and summoned two potion bottles to him. He took the lid off of both potions and handed one to the woman sitting next to him in bed.

She couldn't have given the bottle a darker look if it had actually held something more distasteful and dangerous like a poison.

"I don't trust it."

Teddy rolled his eyes, "Ally made it so you know that it's not going to harm you."

"It tastes awful."

"But it's good for you," He countered.

Victoire eyed the proffered potion bottle distrustfully, "Are we sure about that? Because with a name like Wolfsbane potion it doesn't exactly sound like it would be good for me."

"Alright, I'm going to claim that these full-moon symptoms are driving you temporarily insane, because as a certified dark arts healing resident you _know_ without a doubt that the Wolfsbane potion will make you feel better," Teddy reminded her.

She glowered again but accepted the potion bottle from him. After giving the bottle another side-eye, she glanced specifically at her fiancé, "I do believe that you owe me something sweet if I end up drinking this though."

"Well I'm all out of chocolate frogs," He told her with a wicked smirk, "But if you take this potion now, I can promise you something _very_ sweet later tonight when we're both home from work."

Victoire looked up at him from underneath her eyelashes, and then fluttered said eyelashes coquettishly, "Can I get that promise in writing?"

"I'd make an unbreakable vow if you wanted me to."

"Now let's not go _that_ far. I might be too tired after coming home from work to _want_ to do anything," She warned him.

He laughed and then they clinked potion bottles before quickly gulping them down. Victoire made a face afterwards as if she had just swallowed 2 cups of tequila in one go, while Teddy tried his best not to laugh at the hilarious expression on her face.

The Wolfsbane potion didn't do anything for the awful mood she was in, but it did take the edge off her headache and almost immediately made her nausea disappear. As for Teddy, the potion helped put a spring back in his step and he almost jumped out of bed in his haste to get to the bathroom and get ready for the day.

Victoire just groaned at his happy positivity, and glanced back at her clock to see if she had the time to catch a little bit more sleep. She figured if she skipped a shower –which she didn't really need to do considering that her hair was still alright enough to be thrown up in a messy bun– that she'd be able to squeeze out at least ten more minutes of sleep. She trusted that Teddy would wake her up in ten minutes when he got out of the bathroom, and without her headache she was able to close her eyes for a few more minutes and get some head-pounding-and-nausea-less rest.

* * *

 **Scotland**

 **9:00 AM**

Cecilia nervously shifted from foot to foot before taking a deep breath and knocking on the hotel room door in front of her. She wasn't entirely sure why she felt so nervous, it wasn't like it was the first time she'd ever spoken to Elijah Martell. It _was_ however the first time they were going to be spending several hours together, just the two of them, working on getting their new charity off the ground, and Cecilia wanted to make sure that everything went smoothly.

Elijah Martell was waiting for Cecilia's knock, as they pair had previously arranged to meet at nine o'clock sharp, and when he opened the door he gave her a charming smile and greeting. He ushered Cecilia into his hotel room, and she tried her best to hide her shocked look as she took in the Appleby Arrows player's room.

It wasn't the biggest hotel room she had ever seen, but there _was_ a rather large sitting room area off to the side of the open concept bedroom area. There were already some files and papers piled on the coffee table in the sitting room area, so Cecilia assumed that Elijah had already collected everything they needed to get down to business.

While they both settled down into chairs circling the coffee table, they exchanged pleasantries.

"You played fantastically last night Eli! That backwards-toss-feint you did before scoring your eighth goal was flawless," Cecilia gushed.

Eli smiled kindly at her, but he attempted to wave off her praise, "Oh that was nothing Cecilia, I even almost dropped the quaffle before circling back to the right hoop. "

"Oh you couldn't tell," She insisted courteously.

He gave her another warm smile that reminded her of her father, "That's nice of you to say, but I'm far from an expert on that particular move. In fact, the only person I've ever seen consistently and flawlessly pull it off is your mother. Backward passes were almost a specialty of Katie's."

Cecilia's mother Katie had retired from playing professional quidditch once Cecilia was born, so she never actually had the chance to watch her mother play quidditch in a real professional game like she had her father.

"I'll take your word for it then."

Eli's eyebrows scrunched up in confusion, "Are you trying to tell me that you've never seen your mother's repertoire of backwards passes?"

She shrugged, "Mum's showed me one or two backwards passes over the years, but Dad always cautioned me against using them. He says they're harder to correct if you do something wrong than a regular forward or side pass."

"Well that does sound like something Oliver would say," Eli agreed with a small chuckle, "He always did prefer his quidditch a little less on the daring side, and I do recall him berating Katie a few times when she used a backwards pass in Puddlemere practices."

He laughed again as he thought of a particular memory, and then continued reminiscing, "Katie though, she was always up for taking a risk if she thought it would pay off in the end. It was a trait that was a bone of contention between them for a while when they first started playing together."

Cecilia nodded, she had heard as much out of the mouths of her own parents.

"You remind me a lot of your mother though Cecilia," Eli told her with a bright smile, "You have that same determined drive and ability to be fearless as Katie does. You get the same spark in your eyes when you get excited that she does. Looking at you is like a window back in time to when Katie was your age and we were playing together."

She blushed and looked down at her hands, his compliments made her feel more than a little embarrassed, so she quickly tried to change to topic.

"So, do you have the final list of individual and corporation donations?" Cecilia asked Eli as she picked up the closest pile of papers to her.

Eli smiled congenially at her and picked up his own stack of papers, "We've heard back from most of the people and corporations we've contacted, but there are a few who seem to be waiting until the last minute. I told them that the deadline for their applications and paperwork is four o'clock this afternoon. Since some of them had only decided to donate to us rather recently, I told them they could have a bit more time to send their paperwork into us."

"That's fine, most of the paperwork for the donations and volunteers for the boards and outreach committees are in, so we should be able to go through all of that before the final applications come soaring in," Cecilia said as she grabbed a quill.

"Yes Ma'am," Eli replied with a both a smirk and a salute.

* * *

 **4:09 PM**

Victoire hastily peeled off of her healers robes and stuffed them into the locker assigned to her in the resident healers' changing room. She slammed the door to her locker the second the bright green robes had slipped from her fingers, and she rapidly shifted her head from side to side to make sure that she hadn't been noticed by anyone else in the room. While she normally wouldn't try to sneak out of work like a thief in the middle of the night, she did have an appointment to get to that she was already over twenty minutes late for.

Cassidy Hopewell and Wesley Hall, her fellow D. A. R. ward healing residents, had happened upon her just as she was exiting the Emergency Medical ward at the end of her shift. Even though they had _said_ that it was fortuitous that they encountered Victoire just before she was about to leave the floor, the relieved and expectant expressions they had on their faces told her that they had been hoping to accidentally-on-purpose run into her.

After a perfunctory greeting and inquisition about whether or not she was busy (a question to which Victoire wasn't actually allowed to answer), Cassidy and Wesley immediately began to explain a _hypothetical_ patient's case to her because they wanted her opinion on a treatment course.

If they weren't so darn adorkable as they spoke over each other and finished each other's sentences, she would have been a little ticked at them for making her late for her meeting. As it was, they just needed another point of view and opinion, and between the three of them they quickly decided on the best course of treatment for the completely hypothetical patient who had most definitely _not_ been admitted to the D. A. R. ward earlier that afternoon (as Victoire was barred from _both_ the ward and its patients for the time being, until the whole issue about her and Fabius _maybe_ killing a patient was over with).

Once her well-meaning fellow residents had left with her helpful suggestions, Victoire had booked it down a few hallways to the residents' changing room. Normally, Victoire wouldn't mind too much about being a little late to her appointment –especially since her appointment _was_ with Colton Knott– but since she knew that Colton was very busy today and had only _just_ squeezed her into his schedule at Dom's insistence, Victoire didn't want to be too much of an imposition on her sister's boss.

After finally escaping St. Mungo's without another time delay, Victoire apparated directly to the Law Offices of Cunningham and Knott. She took a minute to compose herself and rub her temples. The act of disapparating from the hospital had ensured that when she landed outside of Colton's place of work, with a major headache in tow.

Victoire mumbled something to herself about 'the stupid Wolfsbane potion not working', before entering the large office building and slipping onto the elevator. She got off at Colton's floor, ignored the _tsking_ of the secretary at the reception desk, and paced down the hall until she got to Colton's office. Victoire knocked a little embarrassedly on his door and plastered a look of contrition on her face for when he opened the door for her.

"Save the excuses and just get in here Victoire," Colton told her without even so much of a greeting.

Victoire followed his instructions and quickly sat down in the chair across from his desk, next to a chair that was already occupied by her sister.

"It wouldn't have been an excuse though, I was helping some colleagues," Victoire defended herself after she quietly greeted her sister.

Dom rolled her eyes and went back to flipping through a legal notepad she had been reviewing. The redhead had kicked off her dangerously high stiletto heeled shoes and was curled up in a large leather chair across from her boss's desk with a permanent looking disdainful expression on her beautiful face.

"Who urinated in your chocolate-marshmallow cereal this morning?" Victoire asked her sister bluntly.

Dom lifted her eyes up from her legal pad and gave her sister a stare so cold that Colton could have sworn that the office dropped ten degrees in temperature, "It was most likely the same person who convinced you to buy that ugly peter-pan collard blouse in that horrid shade of burnt-orange."

Victoire narrowed her eyes at her sister, and Colton decided to distract the two of them before they could really start fighting. He cast a few spells, and then handed each woman a large mug of tea.

"Who knew that the full moon could turn you both into bigger bitches than you already are," Colton mumbled as he finally sat down behind his desk.

"So," Colton began, hoping to get to the main reason why Victoire had asked to meet with him, "What can I do for you Victoire? I thought that we'd already covered everything we needed to until your next meeting with the St. Mungo's board about the Abbott incident."

Victoire took a big gulp of tea, allowed a sigh to escape her as the caffeine started to help her headache, and replied, "This isn't about the Abbott incident. I wanted your help with something else."

"With what?"

"With getting Teddy, Andromeda, and Narcissa Malfoy all in the same room."

Colton tilted his head to the side, "Why do you want that? Are you trying to hasten this world towards Armageddon?"

Victoire rolled her eyes and crossed her legs, "No. I want them to finally discuss why Teddy inherited everything he did. I think all of them probably have unresolved issues about the situation, and it's about time they discussed it together like adults."

"And you want me to arrange for all of them to meet here because you think they'd be less likely to walk out on each other?"

"Something like that," Victoire agreed, "I think having a mediator would be very useful in this situation."

Colton nodded in agreement, "I agree. So how do you propose I get them all down here at the same time?"

"I don't think it will be too hard to get Andromeda and Narcissa here at the same time, especially since I do believe that the Malfoy's have your father or one of his associates on retainer already. Teddy's going to be the holdout. I'll have to come up with some excuse to get him here," Victoire decided.

"So you're going to lie to your fiancée to convince him to come here and speak to an estranged family member about the fact that he was forced to inherit a fortune that is essentially blood money?" Colton summarized.

"Yes."

Colton pursed his lips, "I should probably help you with that. I doubt you'll be able to keep the lie straight without the guilt eating you alive."

He turned to Dom next, "Dominique, do you think you could go ahead and start my next meeting for me? My father's in conference room five with the client and I should have been there about five minutes ago. Tell them I'm running late and fill in for me until I get there would you?"

Dom nodded her head, slipped her high heels on, and sashayed out of Colton's office and down the hall.

On a good day, dealing with Creighton Knott could give Dom a migraine; on a day with a full moon, just hearing his name made her wish that she'd slipped a bit of Firewhisky into the tea Colton had recently given her.

Despite what some people (mainly Colton's father and his hoity-toity partners) thought, Dom was a professional while at work, so she slipped a polite and congenial smile onto her face as she pushed the door open to conference room five.

Inside the room she found Creighton Knott, Epiphanes Cunningham, and their client Roderick Ellsworth sitting down on either side of the large polished table.

Dom stood up straighter under the gaze of the three men who had turned their attention to her the minute she entered the room, "Good afternoon Mr. Knott, Mr. Cunningham, Mr. Ellsworth. Colton sends his apologies but his last meeting has run a little late. He's suggested that in the meantime we move ahead without him. I–"

"I'll take a Lapsang Souchong tea hold the milk and sugar," Creighton Knott immediately informed Dom before she could finish speaking, he turned to the other two men at the table, "How about you two? Would you like something to drink before we get down to business?"

Mr. Cunningham added an order of Earl Grey tea with a splash –not a dash– of milk and two slices of lemon (which Dom thought sounded just as pretentious as the man who ordered it), and the younger man at the table, Mr. Ellsworth, smirked at Dom before ordering a mug of black coffee, no sugar.

Dom was about to put her hands on her hips and remind Creighton that she wasn't a secretary, along with telling him where exactly he could stick his pompous Chinese tea, when Mr. Knott narrowed his eyes at her.

"Is there a problem Dominique? Do you need us to repeat that more slowly so you can write it down?"

"No, I think I can handle it Mr. Knott," Dom replied through her teeth before spinning on her heel and exiting the room.

She stomped down the hall and to the room that held the refreshments before wildly waving her wand and petulantly casting spells that would make the stupid tea and stupid coffee.

Colton found her in the room muttering to herself and with a terrifying expression on her face a few minutes later.

"Do I want to know what you must be thinking about to put that frightening expression on your face?" Colton asked her as he slowly approached her. He'd just gotten rid of one veela without having her bite his head off, it was a streak he'd prefer to continue.

"How would you feel if I told you that I'm plotting on which would be the most painful way to kill your father?"

He folded his arms over his chest, "If you did it around the time of your period and blamed it on PMS I could probably get you off on temporary insanity."

Dom grunted out something intelligible and then picked up two mugs. Colton followed her lead and picked up the other three mugs she had filled with their respective hot beverages.

"What has my father done now?"

"He still seems to think that I'm your secretary. He sent me out here to get tea and coffee, and belittled me in front of both Mr. Cunningham and your new client Mr. Ellsworth," Dom explained brusquely.

Colton sighed heavily and the two of them travelled back to the conference room.

"Who is this Mr. Ellsworth anyway, and why do you, your father, _and_ your father's partner need to be at this meeting?"

"Mr. Ellsworth is some British ex-pat who lives in Romania and is some sort of bigwig on their political scene. He wants our firm to handle his divorce proceedings," Colton explained.

Dom rolled her eyes, "Excellent, so the next two hours will be spent squabbling over every asset and every last knut."

Colton shrugged his shoulders just as they got to the door of conference room five, "That's why I suggest everyone get a pre-nup."

* * *

 **7:11 PM**

Louis groaned loudly as he opened the potions cabinet in the bathroom attached to his bedroom, and blearily scanned the tags on the bottles for the one labelled _Wolfsbane_ , written in Ally's neat handwriting.

Once he found it he uncorked the bottle and downed the silver potion. He made a face and wondered to himself whether he'd eventually get used to the taste; he'd only started taking the Wolfsbane potion a few months ago to help alleviate the symptoms he felt on the day of the full moon. Louis had never really been affected by the full moon when he was younger like Victoire had, but as he got older the symptoms got annoying enough that he finally came to the conclusion that he needed something stronger than just a headache-curing potion, even the extra-strength ones.

Ally and Dom had convinced him a few months ago to try the Wolfsbane potion, and he had to –very grudgingly– admit that the potion did help with the physical symptoms he felt. Cecilia may have even commented on how she found him a lot less cranky around 'his time of the month' than he used to be when he used the Wolfsbane potion.

Louis didn't enjoy the taste of the potion, but he didn't think it was quite as bad as Victoire made it out to be. The fact that it enabled him to make it through the day without feeling like something a Hungarian Horntail dragged in, was an added benefit.

He left the bathroom and his bedroom to go to the kitchen and see what he could scrounge up as a late dinner, and found Baxter already in their shared kitchen doing exactly what he had planned to do.

"I found a box of macaroni and cheese," Baxter told his cousin as he waved around a blue box.

Louis nodded, "I'll boil the water."

As the water worked its way to a boil, the pair exchanged stories about their days at work. When the water started to bubble, Louis poured the pre-measured noodles out of the cardboard box and picked up a spoon to stir every once in a while until they softened.

A ringing sound filled the small living room/kitchen area of their flat, and Baxter glanced at both of the mobile phones resting on the coffee table.

"It's your phone, Cecilia's calling you," Baxter informed his cousin as he picked up the phone that was ringing.

Louis switched places with Baxter and pressed 'answer' on the front screen on his phone, "Hi Cee-Cee."

" _Hey, Louis! I can't talk for long because Eli and I still have so much work to do, but I wanted to see how your day went and how you're feeling_ ," Cecilia's cheery voice filled the other end of the phone line.

"It sounds like your day's going well then," Louis commented.

" _It is. I miss you though Babe. How're you feeling?_ "

The sound of her voice brought a smile to his lips, "I took a potion about a half hour ago so I'm feeling better now."

" _That's good to hear. On my news front, I should be back home tomorrow, although I have to cover a Holyhead Harpies vs. Tutshill Tornados game tomorrow evening. But the Harpies should sweep the game fairly quickly, so I should have a good portion of the night free still. Dad will insist that I spend some time at home of course, but if I secretly feed Brogan some sugar he'll give Dad a run around and tire him out by ten o'clock at the latest. I should be able to sneak out of the house by ten-thirty at least."_

Louis nodded his head even though Cecilia couldn't see him, but his stomach started to twist for some reason as he listened to Cecilia continue to scheme over her end of the phone.

" _Anyway, we just got some more owls to deal with, so I need to go. Love you Babe_."

"Love you too Sweetheart, goodnight."

Louis hung-up the phone and turned to find Baxter making obnoxious kissy faces at him.

"Did you make sure to tell Cecilia that I love her too?" Baxter asked his cousin with a smirk.

Louis rolled his eyes, "'Course I did. In between her planning when she's next going to sneak out of the house to drop by here."

"Ah, so she still hasn't had it out with her father yet," Baxter said as he drained the water from the pot and added the dry cheese mix.

"If left up to her I don't think an adult conversation about their differences in opinion is ever going to happen," Louis admitted with a frown.

Baxter spooned the macaroni and cheese out into two bowls, "Then maybe you shouldn't leave it up to her then."

Louis took the proffered bowl from his roommate, "Are you suggesting that _I_ go talk to Oliver about why he's being so hostile about Cecilia and I dating?"

"Do you love Cecilia?"

"Yes, of course."

"Would you do anything for her?"

"Yes."

"Then scrounge up that Gryffindor courage of yours and go talk to her father. You're going to want to get back in his good graces if you want him to be your father-in-law in the distant future."

"Ugh," Louis moaned in between bites of macaroni and cheese, "Why do you have to make so much sense?"

"It's a gift," Baxter replied with a shrug, "Now you better get going, you're burning moonlight."

* * *

"Oh Louis! It's so nice to see you Sweetheart, come in come in," Katie greeted Louis a few moments later when he showed up on the doorstep of the Wood home.

"Hey Katie," Louis replied as he allowed her to pull him into a warm hug.

Katie smiled brightly at him and ushered him into the living room, "So what can I do for you? I assume that you know that Cecilia's _not_ here at the moment."

"Oddly enough I do know that," Louis responded with a warm smile. He sat down on the couch that Katie had indicated, and he'd barely been seated for a second before Brogan came running into the room from out of nowhere to tackle him in a hug.

Louis chuckled at the four-year-old's enthusiasm and gave the little boy a big hug.

"Hey there Bro."

Katie giggled as she watched the two boys, "So is there more to this social call than just you stopping by for an overdue visit?"

"Actually there is," Louis admitted with a bit of a nervous laugh, "I came here because I need to talk to Oliver if he's not busy."

Katie's face lit up, "Oh trust me; he's not busy." She stood up from the couch, walked over to the staircase, and yelled, "Ollie get down here now!"

Louis took a few deep breaths in the time it took Oliver to come down the stairs, but he froze a little when Oliver gave him a brief once over before addressing his wife.

"What's up Kates?"

"Louis here," Katie said with a flourish of her hand in the blonde man's direction, "Said that there's something he'd like to talk to you about."

Oliver's hazel eyes widened comically and he finally gave Louis a longer glance, "No."

Katie rolled her eyes, " _Yes_."

She then collected Brogan, told him that it was time for bed, and that she was going upstairs to tuck him in. As she escorted her youngest child up the staircase, she turned back to give Oliver a specific look that screamed 'be nice'."

"So," Louis began after awkwardly clearing his throat, "I'd like to talk to you about Cecilia-"

"Hold that thought," Oliver said suddenly turning on his heel and walking towards an armoire on the opposite side of the living room, "I'm gonna need a drink first."

Cecilia's father then pulled out a big bottle of Sapphire scotch and filled a glass tumbler with a generous amount of alcohol. He put the bottle away without asking Louis if he wanted a drink, and then he paced back over to the arrangement of couches, glass in hand.

Oliver sat down in a chair across from the couch Louis was sitting on, and he slowly sipped his scotch as he stared at Louis from across the coffee table.

Louis waited a few minutes to see if Oliver would say anything, but once they slipped into an awkward silence, he figured that he'd have to break the ice.

"So, um, I'd like to talk to you about Cecilia."

Oliver took a big gulp of his scotch and asked, "What about my baby girl?"

"Well, even though I'm sure that you already know this, I'd like to reiterate that I respect and love your daughter with all of my heart, and that I'd never do anything to hurt her-"

"Why does it sound like I won't like where this is going?"

Louis ignored the interruption and pressed on, "And since I care about Cecilia, it's impossible not to notice how this new tension in your relationship has taken a toll on her."

"Excuse me?" Oliver said, his tone suddenly very loud. He did not see their conversation going _this_ way, "Are you about to tell me how I should handle my relationship with my own daughter?"

"No of course not Sir. I just want to talk about how this sudden new tension between you is hurting her. I know that you've been less than enthused about my relationship with Cecilia as of late, and I want to finally hash it out with you so that Cecilia doesn't have to be in the middle of this anymore."

Oliver frowned at Louis, "Are you trying to imply that you care more about Cecilia than I do?"

"No Sir, I just thought that since we both love her we should try to fix a situation that obviously causes her distress," Louis said softly.

" _Hmf_ , and what do you think has been distressing her Louis?"

The younger man swallowed thickly and thought over his words carefully before replying, "I think what has been distressing Cecilia is the fact that she feels as though you get upset when she spends time with me, because she thinks that you don't like me."

The elder man took a calm sip of his scotch, a calculated look in his eye, "I see. And do you think that I should apologize for insisting that Cecilia spend time with her family, focus on her work, and not sneak out of her room late at night?"

"I think that your concerns should be taken into consideration, but that it's also important to consider what Cecilia wants. After all, she _is_ an intelligent adult and very capable of making her own decisions," Louis insisted.

Oliver actually snorted, "The fact that the both of you believe that you should be able to do anything you want because you're adults in the eyes of the law just goes to show how ignorant you both are to what it means to be an _actual_ adult."

Louis's lips turned twisted into something approximating a frown, "Aren't taking risks and making mistakes all a part of becoming an adult?"

The older man looked at him sharply, "Real adults wouldn't _want_ to make mistakes."

"Oliver-"

"Mr. Wood," Oliver insisted with a grimace.

Louis tried not to roll his eyes, " _Mr. Wood_ , I didn't come here to debate with you about what it means to be an adult. I want to know why you give Cecilia such a hard time about spending time with me when you _know_ that she isn't neglecting any of her duties by doing so."

Oliver sighed, glanced at his half drank glass of scotch, and sighed heavily again, "Cecilia is my little girl Louis, I want what's best for her, always."

"And you don't think that's me?" Louis asked quietly. Even though he thought that the conversation would lead down this path, it still hurt to say the words aloud.

"I would argue that no one will ever be good enough for her, but I think we both know that that would be a cop-out. Louis, you're a smart, charming, handsome young man who comes from a good family, you're arguably everything a father could want for their daughter."

"Everyone except you?"

Oliver took another sip of his drink, "All of your good attributes are only going to make things that much harder when you break my daughter's heart."

There was a pause in the conversation as Louis ran the words over in his head a few times.

There was no way that Oliver had actually said those words in that exact order.

There was no way that he could think that Louis would EVER . . .

"You-you think I'm going to break Cecilia's heart? I'd never do that! I love her, I-"

"Do you know what my first thought was when I found out that you and Cecilia had started dating when you were thirteen?" Oliver asked, completely interrupting Louis's impassioned defense of himself.

Louis was confused at the sudden change in conversation, but Oliver didn't actually need him to respond to continue his train of thought.

"The first thing I thought was that Cecilia was _way_ too young to date anyone, no matter who it was. Katie tried to be the voice of reason, as always, and convinced me that not only was my baby girl _not_ too young to start dating, but that it was _important_ for her to start dating around that age. Katie argued that Cecilia was going to have her fair share of heart break over the years, and that it would be best to happen when she was younger and when things were less serious. The only reason why I let Cecilia date you in the first place was because Katie told me, and I quote 'C'mon Oliver, it's not like she's going to marry the boy, it's one date'."

Louis looked down at his hands while Oliver continued.

"Obviously Katie didn't envision that your relationship would last quite as long as it has when she first convinced me to allow Cecilia to date you, but unfortunately she was right about one thing."

"About what?"

Oliver looked almost regrettably at Louis, "Everyone has to deal with heartbreak at some point in life-"

"But I haven't-"

"But you will, or Cecilia will. Because as much as I wish that my baby girl could be spared from this kind of heartbreak, I know it's too much to wish for. At some point in life she's going to get her heart broken, and since she seems determined to have you right now and in the foreseeable future, I'm afraid that it's going to have to be you who will break her heart."

Louis's facial expression hardened, "I'm never going to break her heart."

Oliver looked at him, but instead of Louis seeing anger or distrust in his eyes, the younger man only saw pity, "And what's worse Louis is that I believe you. As much as I hate to admit it, and I do, I don't think that you'd purposely break my daughter's heart."

"Then why-"

"Which means, unfortunately, that Cecilia's going to break your heart. And the act of breaking your heart is going to break her heart all over again."

The younger man shook his head vehemently, "No, it may happen to other people but it's not going to happen to us. We love each other, we're meant to be together."

Oliver gave the blonde man another piteous look, "Katie and I loved each other, and I believed that we were always meant to be together, but we broke each other's hearts more than a few times on our way to finding each other. However, I know that not everyone is as lucky as we were to find each other again and forgive each other after each heartbreak."

Louis wanted to argue with Oliver's assessment, but he found that he couldn't. He knew that everyone had to deal with a broken heart at some point in their life, and it was the height of hubris to believe that he'd never have to deal with one.

"So what?" Louis asked his voice tight, "You were trying to come between Cecilia and I because you what, wanted to hasten us along to this inevitable heartbreak?"

Oliver shook his head and then drank the rest of his drink in one long gulp, "No. I guess I'd hoped to keep your relationship from getting even more serious than it is now, so that it wouldn't hurt quite as much as it could when the time eventually comes."

"Hurt her now so that it will hurt less later?"

"Something like that."

Louis shook his head, "We could beat the odds."

"And I sincerely hope that you do," Oliver told him kindly, "I'd say that you're the last couple I would ever think to break-up, but I thought the same thing about Ally and Xavier a year ago and you know what happened there."

"But they're back together now. They're engaged even," Louis argued.

Oliver nodded, "And I'm overjoyed that it worked out for them, but I'd rather that they'd never had to go through the heartbreak in the first place. I know that they'd both say that it was worth it, but it doesn't always work out like that for everyone."

"What would you have me do then? Break up with Cecilia right now to get the inevitable out of the way?"

"No of course not," Oliver argued, "But I would like you both to realize that there are certain aspects of your relationship that could make the heartbreak a lot worse when it does come."

"Such as?" Louis asked expectantly.

Oliver put his empty glass tumbler down, "Such as if you were living together, spending all of your time together, alienating all of your friends and family because you were so caught up in your own relationship."

"We're–we're not doing that."

"Not yet," Oliver took a deep breath and then continued, "And of course, an unplanned pregnancy could always complicate things further."

"We're not planning on-"

Oliver shook his head, "No one _plans_ on an unplanned pregnancy Louis. But they happen, more often then you may think."

Louis couldn't look Oliver in the eye, "It's not going to happen with us."

"Nobody ever thinks it's going to happen to them. You especially don't think it's going to happen twice or even three times in a row, but it can and it does. Trust me on this," Oliver said, the last part of his statement mumbled more to himself.

Louis looked back up at him and Oliver continued, "And while I understand that this conversation probably hasn't gone the way you or I envisioned it would, I'd consider it a success if we both leave with a sense that we've at least addressed what's most concerning the both of us."

"You're worried that I'm going to break Cecilia's heart and/or impregnate her, got it," Louis muttered a little bitterly.

Oliver smirked a little at the frowning young man, "And you'd risk permanently getting on my bad side just to try to make Cecilia happy, all because you love her. Unconditionally it seems."

Louis straightened his shoulders and nodded his head stubbornly.

"As Cecilia's father, it's hard for me to accept that there's another man in her life that she loves. However, it does make me feel better to know that you care about her as much as you do. I will also admit that I have been hard on you, and while I don't promise to lighten up exactly, I will say that there is no one I trust more with her then you."

"Thank you. That's something at least."

Oliver stood up from his chair, walked over to Louis, and clapped him on the back, "Well I feel better now."

"That makes one of us," Louis muttered before slowly getting to his feet to take his leave.

He had just made it to the front door when Oliver called out to him, "Oh and Louis, I will try to be more lenient about how much time Cecilia spends with you in the future, but that's entirely dependent on how honest she is with me about when she visits you."

"I'll make sure to tell her."

"Tha'sa good lad."

* * *

 **9:03 PM**

"And that's the l _a_ st one!" Cecilia announced excitedly as she quickly penned a reply to the last owl message they received.

Eli laughed at her enthusiasm as he finished dividing a pile of paperwork into corporate donors and individual personal donors, "It looks like all of the donor packages we sent out were sent back, so we seem to be at a one-hundred percent success rate right now."

"I guess a lot of people have a lot of faith in this new charity of ours then," Cecilia remarked as she sent her reply back with the original sending owl.

"With good reason," Eli replied with a bright and confident smile.

Cecilia set the last application down on top of the corporate donors pile, and she began double-checking each section of paperwork to make sure that everything was in the proper pile. Eli smiled indulgently at her slightly-obsessive organization of the paperwork they'd been handling all day, and stood up from his seat to walk over to a mini-fridge in the corner of the room.

"And since we are finally making some solid headway on this charity endeavour," Eli said as he began rooting through the mini fridge and summoning glasses to him, "I think it's about time that we celebrate our hard work."

He turned his back on the mini fridge and walked back to the living room area, a glass in either hand.

Cecilia only looked up when Eli sat down on the couch next to her, and when she did she was surprised to see him offering her a glass of champagne.

"I see you came prepared," She told him with a raised eyebrow.

Eli smiled brightly at her and held the glass out to her, "I _was_ a wizard scout back in the day."

She laughed and accepted the champagne glass.

"However, it wasn't too hard to divine that we'd be fruitful in our little endeavour today, so I erred on the side of our inevitable success," He explained to her. He held his glass out to her, and she clinked hers against his while joining him in saying ' _cheers_ '.

Eli lifted his glass to his lips and drank half of the bubbly gold liquid, while Cecilia took a delicate sip of hers and then set the mostly-full glass down on the coffee table.

Eli watched her explicitly for a moment before steadily asking, "Not a fan of champagne?"

Cecilia blushed a little when she realized that Eli had been watching her so closely, "No – I – I just don't usually drink too much alcohol."

He nodded his head understandingly, and then gave her a charming smile, "A little glass of champagne doesn't actually have that much alcohol in it. We're celebrating! You deserve to relax a little after all of your very hard work. Besides, it's a very fine vintage of champagne, and you need more than one sip to really enjoy it."

She nodded her head and picked her glass back up. She had a few more sips under Eli's watchful gaze until she'd drank more than half the glass. She set her glass down again, and he picked his own glass up to take a few more sips of champagne.

"So since our next step will be putting together a board for the charity, we will have a lot more help for the next few stages of this process," Cecilia stated, a tinge of relief leaking into her tone.

Eli drained his glass and then nodded his head, "Indeed, it will be nice to have more people involved in this, to help us with all of the paperwork and legal work."

Cecilia nodded as well, and took another sip of her champagne.

"Not that I don't love spending time with you of course Cee-Cee," Eli added with a charming smile as he slid closer to Cecilia and casually threw an arm over her shoulder.

She rolled her eyes at him, but she couldn't hold her laugh, "Thanks for clearing that up Eli. I _am_ excited to get the board together though, because then I might be able to squeeze out just a little bit more personal time."

"Finding that you've got too much on your plate?" Eli asked in a sympathetic tone that reminded her of her father.

"A little. Between work, the inevitable travel involved with work, and this new project, it hasn't exactly left much time for being social," Cecilia admitted.

Eli squeezed her shoulder supportively, but then he gave her a faux-hurt look, "So what do you call this then? Does spending time with me not count as social time?"

Cecilia chuckled and patted Eli on the back, "Of course it does. But it's not exactly the same when all we do is discuss quidditch or the charity."

"Fair point," He acquiesced with a nod of his head, "Then perhaps we should change that, read any good books lately?"

Cecilia laughed again, this time accidentally snorting a little, and replied, "I'm actually rather ashamed to admit that I haven't read anything non-quidditch related since I graduated from Hogwarts last spring."

"Don't feel bad about that," Eli comforted her with another squeeze of her shoulder, "Besides quidditch related publications, I don't think I've read anything that wasn't a children's book in the last five years at least."

"Well I'm afraid then that you're just adding time onto that sentence, when is your wife due to have the baby again?"

"Candace is due in February," Eli stated succinctly. He then told Cecilia that if she finished her champagne, he'd top up her glass.

Cecilia didn't exactly want more champagne, but she figured it would be rude not to finish her first glass, and once the last drop of gold liquid had passed her lips, Eli collected her glass and walked over to the mini fridge before she could tell him not to worry about re-filling her.

"I _would_ like a glass of water if there is some please," Cecilia called to his back. He nodded non-committedly, and came back a few moments later with two re-filled champagne glasses, but with no water.

Eli handed Cecilia her champagne glass as he sat down right next to her again, but before she could ask him about her water request, he asked her another non-charity and non-quidditch related question.

"So how are things going with that boyfriend of yours?" Eli asked her conversationally before sipping some champagne.

"Things are great with Louis, same as they've always been really," Cecilia informed him with a soft smile.

Eli nodded his head, "That's good to hear. I will admit that the last time I spoke with your father I got a slightly different impression–but I'm sure that I just misinterpreted him or something."

Cecilia's mouth went dry, so she took a few sips of champagne to try to fix the problem, "And what exactly did my father say?"

"I'm sure I just heard him wrong," Eli waved off her concern. He took a swallow of his champagne, and Cecilia mirrored his action before repeating her inquisition.

Eli moved even closer to Cecilia, placed his hand on her knee, and patted the fabric of her jeans, "He just said something about how you and Louis were starting to grow apart or something like that."

"Only because Dad keeps getting in the middle of everything," Cecilia muttered bitterly. She eyed the champagne glass in her hand and had another swallow of the bubbly liquid.

Eli gave her leg another sympathetic squeeze, "All that matters is that you do what makes _you_ happy. If you really like a bloke, you shouldn't let your parents' opinion influence you. You _are_ an adult after all, and very capable of making your own decisions I might add."

" _Thank you_ ," Cecilia told him gratefully, "Now if only you could tell Dad that."

He chuckled warmly, "Well Oliver's my friend so I'd rather not get in the middle of this. But if you'd like me to remind him that you're an intelligent, capable, and beautiful young woman with a good head on your shoulders, I think I could manage that."

She blushed and gazed down at her glass.

"It is the truth after all," He finished, giving her a charming smile and another squeeze of the knee.

Cecilia looked away from him until she felt she was under control of her blush, and he calmly sat beside and finished his drink.

"Would you like more champagne?"

She jolted a little at the sudden question, and looked down at her still mostly-filled glass.

"No, I still have some."

Eli smirked at her and made a tutting sound, "Now come on, you'll have to go a little faster than that if you want to keep up with me."

"I didn't realize that this was a contest," She replied wryly and with a raised eyebrow.

He chuckled deeply, "Everything's a contest when you're as competitive as you and I are Cee-Cee. Now drink up."

Eli tapped the bottom on her glass for emphasis and lifted it up to Cecilia's lips. She rolled her eyes at him but opened her lips to take a sip. To Cecilia's surprise, Eli tipped the glass and held it to her lips until she'd finished draining the bubbly liquid in one swallow.

He took the glass from her hands when she'd finished, and carried them back over to the mini fridge.

Cecilia's fingers immediately dug into the cushions of the couch, as downing what was left of the champagne had given her a sudden head rush. She could feel her face heating up with an alcohol-induced flush, and when she blinked her eyes the images around the corners of her gaze went a little blurry.

"Here you are," Eli told her brightly, holding out yet another re-filled glass of champagne to her.

She blinked a little at his sudden reappearance beside her, and she accepted the glass from him before her slightly sluggish brain could catch up to her actions. Once he'd sat down next to her with his own re-filled glass, she placed her glass down on the coffee table.

"I think I'm going to throw in the towel. I'm rather a lightweight when it comes to alcohol and I'd prefer not to get to the point where everything I say will embarrass myself when I'm sober again," Cecilia told him in a tone of attempted nonchalance.

Eli nodded understandingly, and threw a careless arm across her shoulders, "That's alright, from what I recall Oliver was always a bit of a lightweight as well when it came to alcohol. Now your mother on the other hand, could pack it away if she needed to."

Cecilia nodded and then shifted her weight a little to ready herself to stand up, "Well, it's getting late and I have to leave early tomorrow morning for-"

"You can't leave yet," Eli interrupted her, using the pressure of his arm around her shoulders to keep her sitting down on the couch, "You haven't finished your last drink."

She narrowed her eyes at him and her head swam as she thought back to the conversation they _just_ had about her being a lightweight.

"I'd rather not drink anymore, I do have to work tomorrow and-"

He interrupted her again, "C'mon Cee-Cee, I bought this expensive champagne especially for you to enjoy."

"And while I appreciate the intention behind your effort Eli, I don't want anymore. I want to go to bed," Cecilia said in a voice that sounded firm in her head, but may have come out a little wobbly.

Eli smiled wolfishly at her last statement, "Well that's rather forward of you Darling, but alright."

Cecilia's sluggish brain had just started working on picking apart his puzzling statement when Eli suddenly leaned forward and pressed his lips against hers.

She was fairly certain that she let out a squeak of surprise when his lips touched hers, but he didn't seem to hear it as he continued to kiss her and press her backwards until she was lying down flat on the couch underneath him.

When Cecilia's brain finally worked through all of the sensations around her, she moved her shocked hands to push at Eli's chest.

He either didn't notice her movement, or didn't care because he quickly pushed his tongue into Cecilia's mouth while his hands explored her clothed body.

She started to panic, and gave one hard push at his chest while also trying to roll out from under his weight. The push forced Eli to lift his weight off of her long enough for Cecilia to roll out from underneath him and fall to the floor.

The hard landing on the floor jarred her already fuzzy thought process, and by the time she had picked herself up enough to sit up on the floor, Eli was looking down on her and offering to give her a hand up.

Cecilia refused to let him touch her, "What in the world was that?"

He chuckled at her shocked and confused expression and reached forward once more to help her up, "I think you fell off the couch Darling, c'mon, well take this to the bed."

Despite Cecilia's head telling her to turn away from him, her body didn't react fast enough and Eli was able to grasp her under her arm, and pull her petite body into a somewhat upright position. He immediately started to lead her toward the bed on the other side of the open concept bedroom/living room, but Cecilia was able to pull her arm out of his grasp before they made it to the large bed.

"What? No. I-I don't want to I-"

Eli laughed at her sluggish sounding rambling, "Yes you do Cee-Cee. You've been flirting with me for months, don't you think it's about time we do something about this sexual tension?"

His question was obviously rhetorical as he pulled her body up against his and started to run his hands up and down her back.

She tried to push him away again, "What are you doing? I _wasn't_ flirting with you-"

"Oh so you just smile and giggle and blush around every bloke you talk to?" Eli asked her knowingly.

"No-"

"Exactly," Eli interrupted her once more, not letting her continue, "Now I know that you're probably a little embarrassed and apprehensive –especially since from what I gather you've only ever been with that Hogwarts boyfriend of yours– but there's nothing to worry about. I'll take _very_ good care of you."

He punctuated his assertion by pressing his mouth against hers again, and forcing her mouth open almost immediately. His hands slid down to her arse, and Cecilia started pounding on his chest at the same tempo to the beat that had started to pound in her head.

She broke away from him and took a few hasty steps backwards, tripping over a side table and landing on the back of the couch as she did, "Wha–Why–You're married!"

"So?" He questioned as if the fact didn't change anything, he took a few steps closer to Cecilia, and she shrank back into the frame of the couch.

"And I'm with Louis. I love him! I don't love you," The declaration sounded very clear and defiant in her head, but she wasn't sure that all of the words were even strung together in the right order when they were said aloud.

Eli chuckled at her, momentarily stopping his advance towards her person, "Oh Darling, you have _a lot_ to learn if you think this is about love."

Cecilia backed away from the couch and closer to the door across the room, "I'm leaving."

She didn't turn her back on him until she made it to the door and went for the door knob.

It was a mistake.

Eli sprinted across the room and trapped her against the door before she could get it open, "And where do you think you're going? We're not done here yet."

"Well I am done here, and done with you."

He grinned at her, and even in her alcohol-slowed brain she was able to correctly identify the expression as skin-crawlingly sinister.

"That's too bad then, because _I'm_ not done with you. Now c'mon, stop being a tease and give me what I want."

Eli pressed his mouth against hers again, but this time Cecilia could feel his anger at her through the touch of his skin. She tried to pound at his chest again, but he had pressed himself so close to her that she couldn't move her hands let alone her arms.

She broke her mouth away from his, but it didn't deter him from attaching his mouth to her neck and kissing down to her collarbone.

Since she was so short and he was so tall, he had to bend down a little to keep his mouth on her.

Cecilia's fuzzy brain noticed his slight stoop, and instinctively she brought her knee up and was able to hit him right in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him.

She pushed him off of her the minute he started to falter, and she escaped from his room and out into the hallway.

He chose not to follow her.

* * *

 **Wednesday, November 9** **th** **2022**

 **7:45 AM**

Cecilia hadn't been able to sleep soundly the night before. She made it safely back to her room at the same hotel, and even though she had every intention of telling someone about what had happened between her and Eli, her conviction wavered when she entered her room and saw her assigned roommate, Charley Larson, sleeping peacefully in her bed.

Cecilia immediately went to their bathroom, stripped out of her clothes, and had a boiling hot shower. She turned the taps off after a half hour, not because she finally felt clean, but because her stomach had started to boil and she felt the need to vomit. She stepped out of the shower and made it to the toilet just in time to vomit up absolutely everything she had eaten and drank the entire day.

Once she was finished retching, she was too exhausted to do much more than slip on her pyjamas and crawl into bed. She never fully passed on into dreamland, so sometime around six the next morning she decided to give up on her fruitless hopes of sleep and go for a run. Her actions were mechanical as she dressed in the jogging clothes she had packed in her suitcase, and she let out a sigh of relief when she finally escaped the hotel and started to sprint down the streets.

When she got back to the hotel and hour and a half later, Cecilia met Charley fully dressed and exiting their room just as she was going back into it.

Charley had managed a bright smile and a quick, "I thought I'd give you some privacy." Before bolting down the hallway and to the elevator.

Cecilia wanted to question Charley about her odd statement, but she was honestly too tired at that moment to care. Instead she entered their room, the only thought on her mind was packing her bags and checking out of the hotel as soon as she could.

That particular single thought, flew right out of her mind the minute she saw Eli Martell sitting down on her bed in the room.

Cecilia gasped audibly and she pulled her wand out of the pocket of her jogging pants.

Eli just rolled his eyes at her and pushed himself off of her hotel bed, "Calm down Cecilia, I just want to talk to you."

"Unless it's an apology for how you treated me last night, I don't want to hear it."

He had the audacity to smirk at her as he continued to walk closer to her, obviously not worried about the wand she held in her hand.

"And here I thought we'd be able to have a nice conversation and come to an ending that would be beneficial for the both of us," Eli told her stopping only once he was two feet away from her.

Cecilia took a step back from him, and found herself with her back against the wall next to the doorway, "Well now that I know what's being going on in your mind, that's highly unlikely."

He smirked at her again, and then suddenly lunged at her, pressing her harder against the wall. He captured her wrists in either of his hands, and forced her arms against the wall. Even though he had invaded her personal space again, he was only touching her where his hands were restraining her wrists.

Her eyes sparked with fury, but he just chuckled at her.

"Oh Cecilia, you're quite adorable when you're angry. In fact, you look quite like your mother when you do that, like a tiny kitten who thinks she's a lion."

"Get off of me Martell."

He smirked again, " _Tsk_ , and here I thought we were on a first name basis Cee-Cee."

" _Do. Not_. Call me that. That nickname is not yours to use. It's reserved for people who actually care about me," Cecilia snapped at him.

Maddeningly, Eli was still smiling at her, "Ah, but that's where you're both wrong and right my Dear. I care about you very much." He looked down at her and slowly let his gaze glide down every inch of her body, "Or at least about some particular parts of you."

Cecilia's face went red with anger and she tried to shake him off of her, all to no avail.

"Just calm down for a minute Darling and at least listen to my proposal."

"There's no need, I already know what you're going to say. You're going to tell me that I should cheat on my boyfriend and help you cheat on your wife, just so I can have a fling with a man who's old enough to be my father," She spat at him.

Eli chuckled, "Well I'm not your father, thank goodness for that. And as for your assessment of my offer, you're somewhat right. I would only add that what would happen between us wouldn't just be some little fling."

He shifted his face close to the side of hers so that he could whisper into her ear, "After all, I am _much_ more experienced than what you're used to. I could make you feel things that you wouldn't even be able to fantasize about."

Both his words and his intimate tone made Cecilia's skin crawl, "Never gonna happen."

Eli let out a frustrated breath and his confident mask finally started to crack, "You know, I'm really starting to get tired of you playing hard to get."

Cecilia clenched her teeth together.

"I am _not_ playing at anything!"

She didn't let him reply, instead she slammed her head forward against his and head-butted him.

Reflexively he let go of her and moved his hands up to his pained head. She had been more prepared than him for the action, but the pain that the head-butt induced in her skull was also quite staggering. She did her best to ignore the pain as she slid away from Eli and opened the door to her hotel room.

Cecilia pressed one hand to the skin of her pounding skull, while the other firmly held her wand aimed directly at Martell.

"Get out of my room."

He attempted to look nonchalant, but couldn't quite pull the effect off as he was still holding his head in pain and warily eyeing her wand.

"Whatever."

He had to step closer to her to get to the door, and when he did he whispered his last piece of advice to her, "Oh, and Cecilia, I wouldn't bother telling anyone about this if I were you. Just save yourself the embarrassment and keep it to yourself. It's not as if anyone would believe your word over mine anyway."

She slammed the door shut when he had finally left the room, and then her legs started to shake. She fell to the carpeted floor of the hotel room, wrapped her arms around her knees, and started to cry.

The only thing that hurt more than her head did at that moment was her heart.

* * *

 **A/N:** So . . . yeah. I wrote that. Obviously, it's a lot more topical right now, but I'd been intending to write those specific scenes for like two years now, so here they are. If you're still here and reading my story, I'd like to know your thoughts on this chapter. Some parts were long-awaited, and some were most likely a shock, so how'd we like them?

 **Next Update:** Hopefully within the next month.

 **Next Chapter:** A little Eli/Cecilia confrontation aftermath, and Eliza asks Baxter and important question.

Thank you to everyone who is still reading and reviewing this story, I do really appreciate it.

 **Thank you also to everyone who reviewed the last chapter:**

 **Onlyinitforthestories2, Lafyet, Venz, blah345, Manydifferentfandoms, carbo21, NicoleTheSmith, HPsea, GinevraFangirl, the-cari-moose, Rainbow Lava Ninjas, cjabeben1, , MuggleCreator, rosesnlilies, lumiere100, fangirl5300, no cure for crazy, Lockheart96, Beckster384, kawaiiotaku0405, Jennifer Jules, xxTheMadHatterCharmedxx, Ntlpurpolia, Seher Syed, Bebe17, zvc56, emeraldeyes0731, RebekahGrace, silverlover02, Jily71102, Really-cool-cat**.

 **I hope that you enjoyed this chapter,**

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 **I hope everyone had happy and healthy holidays,**

 **I wish everyone a Happy New Year,**

 **Until next time, DFTBA!**


	42. New Beginnings and Dead Ends

**A/N:** Hello everyone, here's the next update, a few weeks earlier than planned!

I did update just before New Years, so if you did not see that update or read that chapter, you should definitely go back and read the next chapter.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own _Harry Potter_.

 **Warning:** There is nothing graphic in this chapter, however it does illustrate some certain potential thought processes that are a part of mental issues and disorders such as mood and anxiety disorders, some OCD and social anxiety disorders, and some eating disorders as well as many others.

* * *

 **Recap:** Eliza decided three chapters ago that she was going to ask Baxter out on a date. Last chapter Cecilia was assaulted by Martell. Several chapters ago a case came across to the auror department about an incident in a bog of people fighting with dark magic. Many of the injured ended up at St. Mungo's, and Victoire healed a few of them.

* * *

 **New Beginnings and Dead Ends**

 **Wednesday, November 9** **th** **2022**

 **11:40 AM**

"Baxter, there's someone here to see you!" Blair Ollivander called to him from the front of the store.

Baxter Weasley glanced down at the watch on his wrist. He had arranged to meet with his sister Molly at twelve for lunch, but it wouldn't have surprised him if she showed up early. He gently set down the cracked wand he had been inspecting in the back room, and walked out to the front to greet his sister.

Blair grinned at him as he stepped out into the larger front room, and patted him on the back as he walked by him to arrange a nearby wand display. Baxter shot his employer and odd look, but he figured out the intent behind Blair's odd actions when he realized that the person waiting for him at the front counter _wasn't_ Molly, or even Lucy.

Standing at the front counter with a shy smile of her face was Eliza Parker. Her long black hair was down and loose, and she was wearing a thick knitted sweater and a plaid scarf.

Baxter looked her up and down about three separate times in the time it took him to walk over to her, and he still didn't quite believe his eyes.

Eliza was by herself.

Completely alone.

There was no sign of Rowan in sight.

"Hi Baxter," Eliza greeted him cheerily, a slight blush darkening the pale skin of her cheeks.

He blushed a little also as he replied, "Hi Eliza."

"Um, you're not busy at the moment, are you?" She asked a little embarrassedly, twisting her head from side to side as she looked around the otherwise empty wand shop.

Baxter shook his head, "No, not at the moment. I'm off in twenty minutes anyway to make my lunch date."

Eliza's expression immediately fell, "Oh, well I-"

"With my sister," Baxter blurted out loudly once he realized how she had construed his reply, "I –ugh – I have a lunch date with my sister Molly. We planned to meet and discuss what we're going to get our parents for Christmas."

The dark haired woman's expression turned to understanding as she listened to the redhead's explanation. She smiled again, and even teasingly raised an eyebrow at him, "Christmas shopping already? It's only the first week of November."

Baxter chuckled, "I know, but compared to my eldest sister Lucy, Molly and I are already behind on the Christmas shopping game. Usually we go in together and get Mum and Dad something personalized, so it's better to start sooner rather than later."

"Understandable," Eliza nodded approvingly, "I like to start my Christmas shopping early as well, but I can't say that I've ever started quite this early."

"Well if it weren't for Molly taking charge I probably would have left this for a few more weeks," He admitted.

She smiled sweetly at him, "So . . . um, this won't take long. I-I just stopped by because I wanted to ask you something."

"Of course, go for it."

Eliza blushed again and pulled at a loose lock of her hair that had escaped from its temporary prison behind her ear, "Well, I wanted to know if you wanted to hang out with me on Friday night . . . together . . . just the two of us. Like a date."

It took Baxter a few seconds to respond as he wasn't quite sure that he had heard her right.

"Are-are you asking me out on a date?" He asked feeling like a plank. He didn't want her to think he was thick, but he definitely needed the clarification so that he could know if he was going round the bend or not.

Eliza's face went redder, "Yes. But that's only if you say 'yes'. If your answer is 'no' I might just have to _Obliviate_ this moment from both of our memories."

"You don't need to do that," Baxter told her hurriedly, "I – I'd love to go out with you. Just the two of us. On a date."

"Yeah?" She asked him, a bit of self-consciousness leaking into her tone.

"Yeah."

They smiled and gazed at each other in silence for a few moments before Baxter thought it best to further clarify another point, "Um . . . by just the two of us, you do mean-"

"Exactly that," Eliza quickly assured him, "Rowan's going to be spending the evening with her father. Once I tell him about it that is. I kinda didn't want to arrange anything too far in advance in case your answer was–well in case you replied to my question with something other than an affirmative."

Baxter nodded a little awkwardly, "If Benjamin doesn't agree to watch her, I don't mind just coming over to your place and spending time with the both of you-"

She quickly cut him off, "No, no. There's no need for that. Benjamin will take her. He owes me much more than a few hours on a Friday night." She pulled harder at the piece of black hair in her grasp, "Besides, we can't exactly have a proper date if I bring my four-month-old along with me."

"I wouldn't mind."

"I know you wouldn't," Eliza reassured him, "But I think I'd like to have you all to myself for one night at least . . . if you're still up for it?"

Baxter had begun nodding his head before she finished her question, "Yes of course I am, still up for it that is, er . . . uh . . . so what time do you want to meet on Friday?"

"How about you pick me up at my flat around six-thirty?"

"Perfect."

They got a little lost staring at each other again, so much so that Baxter hadn't even noticed the entrance of his sister Molly into the shop until she was right in front of him at the counter.

"Baxter?"

Both Baxter and Eliza jumped at hearing Molly's voice, and both of their faces went red.

"Uh, hey Molly?"

His second-oldest sister crossed her arms over her chest and raised an eyebrow at him, "Did you forget about our lunch date?"

"What? No, no, of course not! I was just-"

"I think I'd better go now," Eliza informed Baxter softly, mercifully interrupting his babbling reply to his sister.

Baxter glanced back at the brunette, "Okay then . . . so I'll see you Friday night?"

Eliza smiled sweetly and nodded her head, "Yes, Friday night. Goodbye."

"Bye."

Molly allowed her little brother the chance to watch Eliza leave the store before she began to pester him.

"What was that about?"

Baxter jumped a little, as though he'd momentarily forgotten that Molly was standing there, "Oh. That was Eliza-"

"Parker. I know," Molly reminded him with a roll of her eyes, "What I want to know is why you were mooning over her-"

"I _wasn't_ mooning over-"

Molly ignored him and spoke over his denial, "Yes you were. I want to know why _she_ was mooning over you in return though."

"She was?"

Molly rolled her eyes at the excitement in his tone, "Yes. She was. She seemed a few seconds away from her eyes glazing over. It was actually scarily similar to the way Victoire looks at Teddy sometimes now that I think about it. But that's irrelevant. What's this about Friday night?"

Baxter beamed, "We're going out on a date!"

"Congrats. Is she bringing the baby with her?"

"Molly!"

The elder sister stood firm, "What? It's a valid question. She's got a four-month-old, not many new mothers let their children out of their sight so they can go on dates with men who aren't their baby daddy.

"MOLLY!"

She put her hands up in the air, "Alright, alright, that one _was_ out of line. I'm sorry. I think I'm spending too much time with Dom lately."

Baxter frowned at her but accepted her half-arsed apology because her jibe didn't sound like Molly in the first place. Lucy maybe, but not Molly.

"Something up Mols?" He asked her gently.

Molly sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, "Nothing much, Dad's just starting to run me round the bend as well. I'm starting to seriously consider Dom's proposal that I move in with her once Ally and Xavier finally shack up."

"I'll back you up," Baxter offered sympathetically.

She smiled at him and stretched up so that she could reach high enough to ruffle his red hair, "Thanks Bax. And I am sorry about what I said about Eliza. I just want you to be happy."

He nodded understandingly at her, "Thank you. And for the record, I do believe that going on this date with Eliza _will_ make me happy."

Molly affectionately ruffled his hair again, "Then I'm going to wish you all the best luck for your date Friday night."

* * *

 **2:35 PM**

While at work, Teddy always tried his best to try to be a good role model for all of the younger aurors-in-training. He was always available to answer questions, give a second opinion on a case, or to freely offer valuable advice. He had more patience than most when it came to dealing with the aurors-in-training, and because of this his supervisors were always ready to pawn off one or two auror-trainees on him, no matter the size of the case he was working on. Teddy liked to think that all aurors-in-training had something to contribute, no matter how small, on each case. A belief held most likely because of his own experience as an auror-in-training, where he worked hard to do anything he could to help.

It was inevitable though, that one auror-in-training would come along to make Teddy seriously start to question the collective intelligence and usefulness of that particular year's class of auror trainees.

"What do you think you're doing O'Toole?" Teddy asked in as calm a voice as he could manage with the migraine that was suddenly taking place in his skull.

Trainee Auror O'Toole looked up from a stack of reports he was just about to toss into the nearest rubbish bin, "Auror Williamson told me to get rid of this stack of bystander reports. He said they were complete rubbish and that I needed to make them disappear from his desk."

Teddy sighed loudly and pinched the bridge of his nose, "I apologize for Auror Williamson's colourful language, but he most certainly did _not_ intend for you to toss those official reports into the garbage bin."

"Are you sure? He said they were useless and a waste of paper and ink," O'Toole added as if his insistence would change Teddy's mind.

The metamorphmagus had to take a moment to count to ten in his head before replying, "While that may very well be the truth, you cannot get rid of those reports. They need to be kept and properly filed like all of the other reports concerning this case. I'm sure you'd really kick yourself if you found out in a few weeks that there was a vital piece of information hidden in one of those waste of paper-and-ink reports that you were going to so carelessly throw out."

O'Toole nodded properly chastised, and then ran off in the direction of the file room to –Teddy hoped– properly file the stack of reports Kurt had given him.

Teddy rolled his eyes once more at O'Toole's retreating figure, and paced off towards the direction of his shared office. In spite of how he felt about the situation, it was lucky that he had just happened upon O'Toole before the trainee was able to break Auror Department policy and throw out active case information. Just thinking about the protocols O'Toole had been about to break made Teddy's relatively new headache increase about two-fold.

Usually Teddy felt pretty good the day after a full moon. Most of his symptoms would have disappeared with the rise of the morning sun, and he usually had the chance to deal with the extra tension that would build up in his muscles throughout the day of the full moon. Last night however, was an exception to the 'normal' routine of a night with a full moon. Teddy had been looking forward to spending the night with _just_ Victoire as they normally did on the night of a full moon, but someone just had to come along and ruin that plan.

Malcolm Wood had decided that he desperately needed to talk to Teddy about an immature and miniscule argument the other man had had with his girlfriend Nadia the day before. Even though Teddy helped convince Malcolm that all he needed to do was apologize, the interloper had ended up staying for another three hours and forty-five minutes. Teddy had gotten so desperate to get Malcolm to leave, that he even not so subtly hinted that he and Victoire had had plans for the evening that most certainly did _not_ include any other human being on earth besides each other. It took a few minutes for Malcolm to grasp Teddy's meaning, but when he did the trespasser did the exact opposite of what Teddy wanted him to do, choosing instead to plant his arse down on the couch with a slightly evil grin on his face.

By the time that Teddy was able to finally get rid of his pain-in-the-arse best mate (who _could_ read the cues of the room but had chosen to ignore them because he sincerely had been missing his metamorphosing best friend), Victoire had ensconced herself in their flat's office/study room and was elbows deep into her healing research for the project she was working on with Healer McDavid.

When Teddy explicitly told Victoire that he was going to bed, his obvious intentions flew right over the head of his only partially-listening fiancée. That was when Teddy finally decided to throw in the towel on _his_ plans for that evening to release some of his built up tension, and he couldn't even remember when Victoire had joined him in their bed that night, since he had already been asleep by the time she decided that she was done researching for the night.

As such, Teddy was a little bit more stressed that day than most days after a full moon, and his patience (which was still low from his encounter with Malcolm the evening before) had been very low when he came upon O'Toole.

Teddy made it back to his shared office, and he immediately went to his desk and opened up the middle drawer on the left hand side. The drawer held two Pepper-Up-Potions, some Dementor Depression Dessert chocolate bars, and one lone headache-curing potion. He grabbed the headache-curing potion and drank about a third of the otherwise full bottle. He re-corked the bottle and put it away once he began to feel the pain in his head gradually melt away.

With his headache gone, Teddy decided to tackle another headache inducing problem that was drawn on the far wall of the office. Hayden and Kurt jokingly referred to the far wall as ' _The Wall of Unanswered Questions_ ', but since Jilly and Teddy felt that the name made them all sound horribly incompetent at their jobs, they shorted the name and now generally referred to it as just ' _The Wall_ '. Printed in erasable ink on the far wall was everything the Auror Department knew about the incident in the bog that took place on Halloween night, and more importantly, everything they still needed to solve.

Auror Burton had given Teddy and Hayden, and Jilly and Kurt the reins to that particular investigation. Since it was specifically one of Teddy and Hayden's assigned suspects that ended up dying they got to keep the case, and Jilly and Kurt were assigned to it because one of their first suspects at the bog had been very helpful in answering questions. Since they were all working together on the case, they even got to keep their shared office space for the time being.

There were six main categories written on _The Wall_ that all had varying amounts of information and clues written under them. The categories were _Who, What, When, Where, Why_ , and _How_. The categories of _When_ and _Where_ were already filled in with the information 'October 31st' and 'smelly bog outside Leeds' respectively, written in Kurt's cramped scrawl. _Who_ had been a little bit more daunting, but after a week all four Aurors felt confident that they finally had all of the identities of everyone who had been involved in the incident, and that most of them had already made their statements.

 _What, Why,_ and _How_ were all still mostly blank much to the aurors chagrin, and the information that they did have written under those headings was not enough to make them feel any better. _What_ and _How_ had some clues written under them, no matter how disjointed they seemed, but _Why_ was still the biggest mystery.

That was the category Teddy was staring at when Hayden Summers joined him.

"I think I've got something that will go under _How_ in subsection _P. D. B._!" The other auror announced excitedly.

 _P. D. B._ stood for _Poor Dead Bloke_ , it was a moniker Kurt created for the suspect Jason Abbott. He was the only suspect to have died from the injuries he received that night, and despite Teddy's effort to be impartial, he still frowned a little every time the name Abbott was used. Hence, Kurt's _brilliant_ idea to create a nickname for the poor dead bloke.

Teddy had spoken with Kingsley about being taken off of the bog case and placed on another one while Victoire was still going through her issues with the board of ethics and Jason Abbott's family, but Kingsley wouldn't hear of moving him. The head of the department argued that Victoire did nothing wrong in her treatment of Jason Abbott, so there was no conflict of interest. He even added that moving Teddy may even imply that he (the head of the Auror Department) believed that there was a reason for there to be a conflict of interest, which would just give the Abbotts more fuel for their baseless claims against Victoire.

In the end, Teddy was to stay on the bog case and see it through, so everyone in their shared office referred to Jason Abbott as P. D. B. from then on.

Before Teddy could ask Hayden about his new findings, Jilly and Kurt came in, each of them carrying a thick file folder.

"We've scrounged up the latest witness statements from that night, hopefully they'll give us a clearer picture of what went down," Jilly explained as she dropped the hefty file on her desk.

Hayden picked up a pen filled with erasable ink, and wandered over to _The Wall_.

"Me first. Remember that bone fragment that was found in P. D. B.'s aorta that _caused_ him to become a P. D. B.?"

It was hard for Teddy to forget that little piece of bone fragment that ended up killing Jason Abbott, which _both_ Victoire and Fabius missed while treating him.

"Good, well do you remember that revised autopsy report Healer Mallard sent in to us on Monday?"

They all nodded. St. Mungo's lead medical examiner had finished P. D. B.'s autopsy on the weekend and they had received the report on Monday. In the report, Healer Mallard noted that he found eight other stray pieces of bone fragments in other areas of the deceased's body, similar to the one that had pierced through P. D. B.'s heart. None of them had injured any other vital organs, so it seemed P. D. B.'s cause of death was still blamed on the first bone fragment found in the heart.

"Well," Hayden continued his story, "While Healer Mallard was unable to identify what animal those bone fragments came from, one of the other aurors finally tracked down someone who could. The bone fragments found in P. D. B.'s body came from some sort of dragon bone."

"Dragon bone? Really?" Kurt asked with a tinge of excitement.

Hayden nodded, "Apparently so. I've contacted The Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures to see if they have any contacts that could perhaps narrow this down from general dragon to something more specific, but I also thought that you may want to put a word in with _your_ dragon contacts Ted."

"I'll owl Charlie Weasley a little later and see if he knows a guy who knows a guy," Teddy agreed.

"Excellent," Hayden exclaimed with a satisfied clap of his hands, "This concludes my portion of this show-and-tell presentation for the time being."

Before he went to sit down at his desk, he wrote _Dragon bone_ on _The Wall_ underneath subsection _P. D. B._ in category _How_.

Kurt picked up another erasable pen and walked over to the section of _The Wall_ that held a large map of the bog. On the map they had roughly mapped out where each suspect was found when the first of the aurors responded. Sticky notes represented the information they knew about certain suspects, and red ink was used to show a line if one suspect had moved from one section of the bog to another.

While they were able to get statements and information out of many of the suspects, none of them ever gave away the exact reason why they were all in the bog, or exactly what happened. This meant that Teddy and the others had spent the last week trying to piece together the different fragments of stories and statements to get an idea of what exactly went down. From what they'd puzzled together, it seemed as though everyone in the bog had been arranged in a loose circle near the centre of the bog when the fighting had broken out.

One specific witness, a Mr. Murry Whitmore, had placed Jason Abbott and a Mr. Chad Gerber in the middle of the circle, along with a handful of other people.

"Let's see if we can make any more headway in figuring out what exactly happened," Jilly proclaimed as she opened up the file folder on her desk.

What they had discovered so far was that roughly thirty wizards and witches ranging in age from eighteen to their mid-twenties, had purposely planned to meet at that specific bog around 11:30 PM on Hallowe'en night. From what they'd gathered, it seemed that those people had met for some sort of magical ceremony or ritual that they couldn't get anyone to spill secrets about. Obviously, the ceremony had gone wrong, and something caused a massive fight to break-out among the people assembled there.

The reasons for their initial gathering and why the dispute broke out were still unknown. As was the reason why most of the suspects had been found to have excessive amounts of artificial adrenalin in their systems. They already assumed that the amounts of adrenalin that they had in their systems could have contributed to the escalation of the fighting that broke out, but they didn't believe that the hormone was responsible for the initial dispute on its own.

Jilly and Kurt's additional information helped colour in a few missing spots on their boards, as well as verify some of the information they already had, but there were no new breakthroughs.

They all knew that what they really needed to do was speak to the suspect Chad Gerber, but their attempts to do so had been ineffective as of yet. Mr. Gerber had been the recipient of a rather nasty entrails-expelling curse on Halloween night, and he had been stuck in St. Mungo's hospital until his discharge a few days ago. They had gone easy on Mr. Gerber as he recuperated in the hospital, but closer to his discharge he decided that he was going to refuse to speak to anyone from the Auror Department or M. L. E., and in the half a dozen times they had tried to talk to him about the incident, he refused to give them any useful information.

The legal section of the Auror Department was looking into their rights to try to force Mr. Gerber to cooperate, but until they were able to work that out, Teddy and the others were stuck with a big question mark written on _The Wall_ next to Chad Gerber's name.

Once they had started talking in circles again concerning their theories about the bog case, Teddy pulled at the hair on his head in frustration.

"It's not like we're not making any headway on the case, it's just that each piece of information we uncover seems to add more questions than answers," He sighed exasperatedly.

Jilly nodded in agreement, "We still have a chance with Mr. Gerber, when we're finally able to get him to speak to us. And of course, once P. D. B.'s parents are done dealing with the board of ethics and settle down a little, we might be able to get some clues out of them about what their son was up to."

"You do have a point."

"Auror Lupin!" Trainee O'Toole yelled excitedly as he jogged into the office space without so much as knocking, "This was just sent to you from St. Mungo's."

Teddy took the large proffered envelope from the auror-in-training and then politely dismissed him. The metamorphmagus opened up the envelope and immediately recognized Cassidy Hopewell's writing. He took a minute to speed-read the papers in the envelope before summarizing them for his colleagues.

"This missive is from Healer Hopewell. She said that last week she noticed something odd about one of her patient's from the bog incident, and it made her run an extended toxicology test on the patient before she allowed him to be discharged. She found the adrenalin, alcohol, and several other illicit drugs in his system. Healer Hopewell discussed her findings with Healer Hall, and they both decided to run extended toxicology tests on samples from all of the suspects who had been admitted to St. Mungo's that night," Teddy explained.

Jilly's eyes sparked with curiosity, "What did Healers Hopewell and Hall find?"

"They discovered that all of the other patients had other drugs in their systems as well. Almost all of them had varying amounts of alcohol, along with other ingestible and inhalable drugs. They enclosed a complete list of patients, as well as what was found in their toxicology reports. However, Healer Hopewell has pointed out two patients that do not fit this pattern. Chad Gerber had some alcohol in his system, but he had no other drugs other than the excessive adrenalin. The other difference was found in Jason Abbott's extended toxicology report. Mr. Abbott had no adrenalin, alcohol, or any other drug in his system."

Hayden pursed his lips, "So how come P. D. B. refrained from every substance the others had in their systems, and how come Mr. Gerber had less of the other substances in his systems than the others?"

"It sounds like we've got some new questions to write on _The Wall_ ," Kurt muttered and he placed his pen to the wall and did just that.

* * *

 **7:11 PM**

Xavier jumped a little when he felt someone kick him from under the table. He momentarily stopped listening to the story Ally was telling his parents so that he could turn his head and stare at the person sitting to his right.

Brogan was wildly gesturing to his older brother to keep quiet, and then the four-year-old slowly and surreptitiously pushed a bundled up napkin towards the direction of Xavier's diner plate.

The older brother carefully unwrapped the diner napkin to find about a half-a-dozen pieces of steamed cauliflower. Xavier eyed the portion of vegetables that his little brother had transferred from his dinner plate to the thick linen, and then raised an eyebrow at Brogan.

The four-year-old pointed to the cauliflower and mimed vomiting, causing Xavier to have to bite the inside of his cheek so he wouldn't laugh aloud at his little brother's antics. He rolled his eyes, and then windlessly vanished the cauliflower from the linen napkin, bringing a bright smile to the younger brother's face.

Xavier slid the empty napkin back to Brogan, and then turned his attention back to his fiancée who was just finishing her conversation with his parents.

Ally and Xavier were at the Wood home for dinner that night, and the only occupant of the immediate family who seemed to be missing was Cecilia. She had to cover a Harpies game that started at six, so Xavier was unsurprised that she was still absent. He hoped that she would get back home soon though, because he was interested in how her meeting in Scotland with Eli Martell about the charity had gone the other day. According to Katie, Cecilia hadn't even come back home that morning, opting instead to go straight from her hotel in Scotland in to work that day. She hadn't even stopped by home before leaving to cover the Harpies game. She went straight from work to the stadium.

"So," Ally began in a bubbly tone of voice, capturing Xavier and Brogan's attention along with Katie and Oliver's, "Xavier and I have some news to share."

She punctuated her sentence by reaching for Xavier's hand that was resting on the tabletop. Xavier squeezed her hand in response, and broke the good news to his parents.

"Ally and I have narrowed down our house search to two places. We thought that over the next few weeks we'd show them both to our families, and once we have your opinions we will make our final decision and put an offer in on one."

Katie clapped her hands together, "Oh that's so exciting!"

"And relatively quick too," Oliver added, a bright smile on his own face, "Congratulations."

"Thank you," Ally replied sincerely.

Brogan frowned a little, "You're going to live somewhere else?"

Xavier patted his little brother on the head, "Remember we talked about this? Ally and I are going to move into a house together, because we're getting married."

Brogan nodded very seriously and then looked eager, "Are you going to have a room for me when I visit there too?"

For the past few years, Brogan had been under the impression that the extra bedroom in Xavier's flat was _his_ bedroom for when he stayed there. No one chose to correct his assumption, and Xavier even let Brogan put up pictures and posters on the walls of his spare bedroom when he was over.

Ally smiled sweetly at Brogan, "Well, both houses we're looking at do have several bedrooms, perhaps when you come see them you'll find one you like."

"Yeah!" Brogan cheered clapping his hands together excitedly in a way that made him look a _lot_ like his mother.

Oliver and Katie both mouthed 'thank you', to Ally and Xavier, and then the conversation moved into the particulars about each home they were considering.

By the end of dinner Brogan was thoroughly bored of the grownup talk about houses, and once he was excused from the table he immediately got up and ran into the living room to find a board game to play. Xavier and Ally had promised to play at least one round with him while Oliver and Katie cleaned up the kitchen.

Twenty minutes into the board game, Brogan offered to include his parents in the game now that they were finished tidying up. Katie took her youngest child up on his offer, but Oliver had to decline because he was due to go out and meet up with some friends for drinks. He kissed his wife goodbye, patted both of his sons on the head, gave Ally a hug, and wished them all a good night.

About a ten minutes after Oliver left –and about two minutes after Brogan won the board game– Cecilia finally arrived back home. She came into the house via the backdoor in the kitchen, and when she heard the commotion of Brogan's victory celebration in the living room she began to hope that she could sneak upstairs to her bedroom without anyone noticing her.

Unfortunately, luck did not seem to be on her side. She had just made it to the bottom step of the staircase when Ally wandered into the kitchen and greeted her in a loud enough voice as to ensure that everyone else in the living room was immediately aware that Cecilia was home.

"Hello Cecilia!"

Cecilia forced a smile onto her face and greeted her brother's fiancée just as Brogan, Xavier, and Katie joined the two women in the kitchen.

"Cee-Cee!" Brogan exclaimed excitedly as he ran over and hugged his big sister around the waist, "I won the game!"

It didn't occur to Brogan that Cecilia didn't know what game he was referring to, but he was content to hear her reply 'Good job' before he decided to do an encore of his victory dance.

Katie offered to make tea after she and Xavier traded greetings with Cecilia, and almost everyone moved to settle down at the kitchen table. Cecilia tried to escape the kitchen once more while everyone sat down at the table, but she was halted at the bottom of the stairs again, this time by Xavier specifically addressing her.

"Cee-Cee, come tell us about your past few days. From what I've heard you've been a busy bee," Xavier commented, gesturing to the empty seat at the table beside him.

Cecilia held in a sigh and quietly moved to the chair Xavier had indicated, "There's not much to say."

"Well I don't believe _that_ ," Xavier replied with an affectionate roll of his eyes, "From what Eli was saying today-"

If Cecilia had taken of sip of tea at that moment, she would have choked on it.

"Eli?" She asked Xavier, her voice a little hysterical as she interrupted him, "You spoke to Eli Martell today?"

Xavier nodded his head, obviously not picking up on the slight panic in his sister's tone, "Yeah, he stopped by the quidditch stadium today to speak to Garrick Tracey. He said he had the day off and was going to spend it going around and personally thanking some of the major donors who pledged money to your charity."

Cecilia clenched her teeth together, "Did he now? And you were talking to him at the stadium?"

"He stopped by to say hello, and to thank myself, Mark, Clark, and Nadia specifically for volunteering for different positions within the charity," Xavier explained.

Katie brought four mugs of tea over to the table and gave one to each adult, "Your father's out with Eli tonight actually."

"What!"

All gazes were startled as they turned to look at Cecilia, "I-I mean, I was wondering why I hadn't seen Dad around."

Katie eyed Cecilia suspiciously as she explained, "Your Dad's gone out to have a couple drinks with Eli and some other old teammates. Eli asked him if he wanted to go out when he stopped by the stadium today."

"Of course he did," Cecilia muttered darkly to herself.

"So how did your meeting go? Get a lot of things completed?" Ally asked unaffectedly.

Cecilia forced out a few sentences about the general things they had completed the day before, and even though she couldn't quite interject some false excitement into her recital, she tried her best to make her voice _not_ sound completely flat.

She could tell that her mother _had_ picked up on her less than enthusiastic recount of her meeting with Martell the day before, so Cecilia tried to end the conversation as quickly as she could.

"Well I am rather tired, so I think I'm going to go up to my room," Cecilia stated, standing up from her chair and already trying to slip across the kitchen to the staircase.

Katie frowned slightly, "Already? It's still rather early in the evening Cee-Cee. I would have thought that you'd be off to visit Louis."

Cecilia's face went pale at the mention of Louis, and the next words she said were with forced nonchalance, "I am very tired, besides I doubt Dad would want me out late when I have to work the next day."

Her mother's frown deepened and Katie got up from the table so that she could speak to Cecilia without her voice carrying to the others. They stood off to the side of the kitchen, directly at the foot of the staircase.

"Have you not spoken to Louis today?" Katie asked confusedly.

"Yes, just not for very long," Cecilia lied, "Why?"

Katie pursed her lips, "Well he came over last night and had a talk with your father. Just the two of them."

Cecilia's face went even whiter, "About what?"

"I don't know the exact details, but from what I gathered they came to a bit of an agreement over whatever has been bothering your father about your relationship the past few months. Dad even said that he was going to try to be more lenient about letting you go out, because he _does_ trust you to act like a responsible adult. He even told me I could pinch him the next time he's being unreasonable," Katie explained, a bit of a laugh in her voice at the end.

"Oh," Cecilia replied a little woodenly, "I didn't hear about that."

Katie smiled at her daughter and comfortingly ran a hand through Cecilia's long hair, "Well now you know that Dad won't mind you popping over to visit Louis tonight. Even though it's only been two days, I'm sure you miss him."

"Um, I still think I'm just going to stay in tonight. I–I didn't sleep well last night," Cecilia admitted quietly.

Katie's eyes narrowed suspiciously, "Did something keep you awake?"

"No–just my own thoughts."

Before Katie could question her further, Cecilia leaned over and gave her mother a swift peck on the cheek, "Night Mum."

She then hustled up the staircase as quickly as she could, slipped into her room, tightly closed the door behind her, and then sealed the door with a locking spell.

Cecilia sat down on the middle of her bed and pulled her Muggle mobile phone out of the pocket of her jumper.

The screen was filled with notifications of missed text messages and unanswered calls:

 ** _8:30 AM – Louis Weasley: Good morning Love. Safe travels back home. X._**

 ** _11:00 AM – Louis Weasley: Hey Cee-Cee, I found out that I actually get a REAL lunchbreak today. If you can take yours around 12:30 let me know and we can meet up somewhere. X._**

 ** _12:03 PM – Eliza Parker: Hey Cecilia I have some fantastic news! Let me know when I can give you a call to talk about it._**

 ** _12:45 PM – Louis Weasley: I see someone must have decided to work through her lunch today. Hopefully I'll be able to see you tonight. Love you._**

 ** _1:06 PM – Baxter Weasley: Hey, since you decided NOT to give me a heads up about Eliza stopping by my work today, you definitely owe me one. I'm going to collect in the form of you telling me what her favourite flowers are. Come tonight ready to pay up._**

 ** _4:30 PM – Eliza Parker: Wow, you must have been super busy today. Anyway, I was going to tell you in person, but I guess I'll text it to you. I asked Baxter out on a date today! We're going out Friday night and I'm REALLY going to need to talk to you about it before then. Give me a call when you're free. Also, Rowan says hi._**

 ** _5:37 PM – Louis Weasley: I've tried to call you a few times but there might be something up with your receiving end, so let me know if you get this. I wanted to try to talk to you before you cover the Harpies game so here goes, you can stop by my place after you finish work tonight, there's kinda something we should talk about anyway. And don't worry, I don't think your Dad will give you a hard time about coming over THIS time. Call or message me back when you can. X._**

Below the notifications about the unread messages were notifications about some missed calls. Louis tried to call her twice, and Eliza once.

Cecilia's phone was working perfectly fine. She had gotten a ring for each call, and a vibration notice for each text message a minute after they were sent to her during the day. She chose not to respond to any of them.

As she held the phone in her hand and debated over what to do about all of the messages, it began to ring. Louis's name flashed across the front screen, and Cecilia bit her lip as she considered it. She did not want to answer it, but she also knew that if she avoided his call one more time he'd probably physically come over to the house, and that was worse.

She pressed the talk button.

"Hello?"

 _"Oh hello Love! Your phone working now? Eliza texted me earlier in the day and wanted to know if it was working right. She said she tried to text you and call you about-"_

Cecilia brusquely, interrupted Louis's jovial tangent on the other line of the phone, "Louis. Can this wait until another time? I was actually about to go to bed."

There was a slight pause on the other end of the line as Louis tried to suss out the emotion in Cecilia's tone, " _Yeah. Of course. I just wanted to talk to you. Going to bed already? It's not even eight-thirty yet_."

"Well I've got some notes from tonight's Harpies game to re-write and a bag to unpack from yesterday, and then I was going to go to bed," Cecilia explained mechanically.

" _O-kay . . ._ " Louis replied not really sure how to react to the emotionlessness of her voice, " _I just thought we could talk about the conversation I had last night with Oliver. Did he mention it to you?_ "

"No, he was gone when I came home," She replied in a clipped tone.

" _Oh. Well I can still tell you what happened-_ "

"Louis," Cecilia interrupted him before he could get any farther, "I'm very tired and I'm starting to get a migraine. Can this not wait until later?"

There was a slight pause before she heard his reply, " _Okay, I'll talk to you tomorrow then. Hope you feel better. Goodnight . . . I love you._ "

Cecilia's heart pounded in her chest as she listened to his sad tone. She swallowed thickly and replied, "Goodnight."

She pressed a button to end the call, and then she immediately turned her phone off. She tossed it across the room where it landed on a baggy Puddlemere United sweater that was lying on the floor, and she pulled her knees up under her chain and wrapped her arms around her legs.

Cecilia had only partially lied about the migraine. She didn't have one yet, but she knew she'd get one soon. With the sleep deprivation and the tears she was only just holding back, it was only a matter of time. Her throat felt thick and a fresh new wave of guilt washed over her.

She hadn't told Louis that she loved him back.

She couldn't do it.

She couldn't force the words out of her mouth.

They got caught somewhere between her tongue and her teeth, and she became breathless when she tried to push them out. The guilt and the anxiety which had seeped in throughout the day like a layer of thick black oil into every muscle and organ, and wrapped around every bone and vein, began to fill up her lungs and harden her heart. It made it impossible to breath, and difficult for her heart to beat. She could feel her lungs and heart constricting, but no air or blood rushed in to fill them back up.

Cecilia had every intention of telling Louis and her parents about what happened. But, she wasn't going to call them in the middle of the night. And she didn't have a chance to call them in the morning because she had to be at work early. She was going to be damned if she was going to let it stop her from doing her job, so she pushed all of her thoughts away while she was on the clock. She ignored her phone's ringing and buzzing while she spent her day rehearsing exactly what she was going to say.

When she got home from the Harpies game, she was going to do it. She was going to tell her parents.

Only, she couldn't. Each step that took her closer to her home opened up a different voice in her brain.

Once voice told her just to forget about everything, that it wasn't actually that big of a deal.

Once voice said that she might have had it coming. The way she had been acting around Martell could have easily been considered flirting.

Another voice told her that she might have just misinterpreted his actions. She had been a little fuzzy from the alcohol the night before, and that morning she _was_ sleep deprived.

A fourth voice reminded her that she was creating a charity with Martell, and that telling people about what had happened could ruin all of her hard work before it even started.

The fifth voice tried to tell her that Martell had no right to treat her how he did, and that even if she had been flirting with him, he had the responsibility to stop when she asked him to.

Unfortunately, for every empowering thought and voice she heard, there were four more to discourage her.

Her confident decision had deteriorated by the time she made it to the back door, and all she wanted to do was to go up to her room by herself and be left alone with her thoughts, her guilt, and the accompanying anxiety.

Finding out that Martell had been going around all day chatting up powerful people and putting on a show while she had been fighting a losing battle against her own self-hatred and guilt threw her for a loop when she was in the kitchen.

Finding out that he was at that very moment out charming her father, made her want to crawl into bed and just give up. To lay there until she was able to forget absolutely everything: every forced kiss, every word, every touch, every feeling of self-disgust and self-loathing.

But she couldn't, because every time she closed her eyes it replayed all over again in her mind.

And again.

And again.

And again.

* * *

 **A/N:** Okay, so I know some of you are probably angry at Cecilia (and me) right now. But I would just like to remind everyone that people deal with traumatic situations differently, and that even though Cecilia is also a brave Gryffindor, people have different ways they define bravery. What Cecilia is thinking and feeling is not how everyone would react in this situation, but it is how a lot of people would react. It may not seem as though she's thinking clearly, and that's because she's not. It's the day after she was assaulted, and even though she would most definitely give advice opposite to what she's doing to anyone who was in her position, sometimes it's hard to act and think so objectively when you _are_ in that situation.

Anyway, I'd also like you to let me know how you feel about Baxter and Eliza going on a date, if my summary of Teddy's case was comprehensive enough, and yes, what you think of my portrayal of Cecilia.

 **Next Update:** Hopefully within the next few weeks.

 **Next Chapter:** We will see Vic and Colton actually working together to deal with the inquiry from St. Mungo's board of ethics about her dead patient. A dash of Spencer, some sweet Vic/Teddy, and Eliza's going to tell Benjamin that she's going on a date with Baxter.

Thanks again to everyone who has followed, favourited, read, and reviewed!

BIGGEST thanks to:

 **Jilly98, TIGERSAGE, Lafyet, rosesnlilies, carbo21, Guest (1), frozen-in-change, KrystynaK, Ntlpurpolia, Bookworm742, Guest (2), jml2002, MuggleCreator, HPsea, Guest (3), TheProphetBVB, Break This Spell626, Jennifer Jules, fangirl5300, Cjaben1, teddyvictoire'slovechild, xxTheMadHatterCharmedxx, Paddfoot12, CoolDog7, Katia0203, jeremiah123,** and **zvc56**.

 **TIGERSAGE:** Adorkable was purposely done.

 **carbo21** : I'm glad you picked up on the subtle hints in other chapters.

 **KrystynaK** : Sorry, I've gone a slightly different direction, but I promise that it's not an issue that's just going to get swept under a rug.

 **Ntlpurpolia** : Feel free.

 **jml2002** : Thank you, it's funny that the topic is prevalent right now, because two years ago when I started writing this it wasn't quite as relevant, and I has still planned to write it. I'm glad there's more talk about it now though, everyone's in a good frame of mind to look at all the angles.

 **TheProphetBVB** : I don't mean to be picky, but I think requesting Martell's memory for a pensieve would be difficult. It's still Cecilia's word against his, and even with her memory she was under the influence, and memories are not the same thing as a video of what happened since it's coloured by Cecilia's perceptions. Or at least that's what a smarmy lawyer would say before Dom tells him to go take a long walk off a short pier.

 **Break This Spell626** : Thank you, that's what I was trying to go for, to write the emotion without it being too graphic. I want to keep this rated 'T', but I also think it's an important topic to cover especially for younger T's.

 **Cjaben1** : Oliver *may* be projecting his own feelings onto the situation with Louis and Cecilia, glad you caught that vibe.

 **xxTheMadHatterCharmedxx** : Oh don't worry, we WILL see Victoire's reaction, eventually. I already have it planned out in my mind.

 **CoolDog7** : I know that it seems like the past few chapters have been without Teddy/Vic, and I'm sorry. The other characters are taking a little bit more centre stage for now, but that's only because we have a couple important arcs coming up. We'll weave more Teddy/Vic in, in the upcoming chapters.

 **I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter,**

 **I apologize for the depressing ending if you were hoping for a more happy one,**

 **Please let me know what you thought of this chapter,**

 **Likewise if you have any questions, comments, or concerns, feel free to mention it in a review or a PM,**

 **Until next time, DFTBA!**


	43. Meetings

**A/N:** Hello here everyone, here's the next chapter!

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Harry Potter.

 **Warning:** There's a bit of language in this near the end but I don't think we can really blame Eliza.

* * *

 **Recap:** So previously in this story, Victoire had her first patient die on her. The patient's parents have brought grievances about her and Fabius's treatment of their son to St. Mungo's Board of Ethics. Colton is going to help defend Victoire to the Board of Ethics. Eliza asked Baxter out in the last chapter.

* * *

 **Meetings**

 **Thursday, November 10** **th** **2022**

 **9:46 AM**

Victoire slid her hands down her conservative navy-blue pencil skirt and obsessively straightened the lapels on her cream coloured blazer. It was of the upmost importance that she make a good and respectable impression for her upcoming meeting, and she didn't want a fashion faux-pas to be added to the list of _all_ of the other strikes she had against her.

Conversely, Colton –who was standing right next to her– was very still and almost ramrod straight as they waited outside of the conference room. The only sign of animation on his calm and collected visage was when he looked down to watch Victoire tap her high-heeled shoe against the floor. He raised an eyebrow at the additional sign of her inner anxiety, but she was too busy tapping her feet and bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet to notice.

He smoothly slid his own polished shoe-clad foot over to hers, and he gently pressed down on the end of her shoe with the tip of his. Barely any pressure was exuded from Colton's much larger foot, but the action was enough to shake Victoire out of her nervous tick.

"Sorry," Victoire mumbled to him, head down as she stared at her presently immobile feet.

A blonde eyebrow rose up on Colton's forehead. He could count on one hand the number of times Victoire had ever apologized to him, and she never did it unless McGonagall was staring her down and trying to make her feel ashamed for hexing and/or punching him. He'd never tell her, but he probably deserved most of the curses and blows she had delivered to him. Which made the present situation all the odder. There was no need for her to apologize for being antsy.

She was after all, about to face the parents of the patient whose life she had been unable to save.

"Don't apologize unless there's actually something to apologize for," Colton berated her, going for firm in her time of need instead of mollycoddling.

She reacted how he'd hoped, and her eyes snapped to his, suddenly filled with spark and fire.

He held in a satisfied smirk and continued, "And even when you _have_ done something wrong, don't apologize until _I_ expressly say you should. If you going into this with the spineless mindset of a Hufflepuff you might as well just tell the man's parents that you did kill him on purpose. It will save everyone involved a lot of time."

"I didn't kill him," Victoire hissed at him, her ocean blue eyes more similar to fire than ice.

Colton nodded approvingly, "Exactly. Which is why you don't need to apologize. You didn't do anything wrong and we have proof to back us up."

He patted the black leather briefcase he held in his hand, "As long as you let me do _all_ of the talking, we'll be out of here by lunchtime and you'll be back in the D. A. R. ward by tea time."

Victoire nodded in agreement and then there was a beat of silence between them before she asked, "When you say that you should do all of the talking you do mean-"

"I mean exactly that," Colton corrected her quickly, "You don't say anything unless I give you a go-ahead nod. Got it?"

"Got it."

There were two more beats of silence.

"But if they direct a question specifically to me-"

"Nope. Not even then. Not unless I nod at you."

"Okay."

Colton glanced down at the gold watch on his wrist.

"But what if-"

"Salazar Slytherin!" Colton exclaimed wearily, "Speaking to the Ethics Board upon your behalf was much easier last spring _when you were stuck in Peru_."

Victoire held her hands up defensively, "Okay, okay. Godric, I was just asking a question."

Colton muttered something under his breath along the lines of 'don't-know-why-I-put-up-with-you', and then the pair were joined in the hallway by Fabius and a man in a smart-looking suit who seemed to be in his mid-fifties.

Victoire politely greeted Fabius, and then she frowned, "I thought you weren't going to bring a lawyer?"

"I wasn't," Her fellow healing resident replied, "But after speaking with my father about it he suggested I contact the family's lawyer as an extra precaution. I figured that it would help remind the board that _we_ are two separate defendants in this case."

Victoire put her hands on her hips, "What exactly are you implying?"

"I'm implying that I do not want to be painted with the same brush as you since _my_ record is otherwise spotless," Fabius clarified with a pompous smirk.

"My record is clean too," Victoire argued with a grimace.

Fabius snorted as if she had just told a funny joke, and then he started to whisper to his lawyer in quiet tones.

The doors to the conference room opened up at 10 AM on the dot, and Fabius and his lawyer pushed into the room first. Colton waved Victoire through ahead of him, and they both walked over to the large table in the middle of the room, and stood behind a pair of empty chairs next to Fabius and his lawyer.

Across the table was Healer Rhee, two people from St. Mungo's board of Ethics (one of which Colton recognized from his meeting with them last spring), and a couple in their early fifties who could only be Mr. and Mrs. Abbott.

Healer Rhee and the two members of the Ethics board shook hands with Victoire, Fabius, and their lawyers before everyone settled down into chairs. Mr. and Mrs. Abbott sat still and stone-faced during the exchange.

"We will begin this hearing now and while it will be on the record, it is an informal meeting. The purpose of this meeting is to represent the facts of this case, and to decide whether or not it needs further investigation, leading to possible compensation or charges. If not, the case will be considered finished and closed," A wizard by the name of Mr. Catalano stated.

Everyone else at the table nodded in agreement.

Mr. Catalano continued, "Resident Healers Fabius and Weasley, do you know why you are here?"

Both Victoire and Fabius nodded.

"Do you understand that Mr. and Mrs. Abbott asked us to look into the death of their son, your patient, Jason Abbott, and that they are concerned that the death of their son may have been preventable?"

Victoire glanced at Colton, and he nodded his head at her.

She spoke up and said 'I do', almost in tandem with Fabius.

"Do you understand that if it is discovered that fatal errors occurred under your treatment and watch of the patient that could have been avoided that you will be considered in part responsible for Jason Abbott's death?"

"I do."

Mr. Catalano nodded, "Good. Now the board has spent countless hours reviewing the case and any other relevant data, and we have a few questions for both of you before we decide on our ruling."

"Healer Fabius, if you could please describe to us the extent of your dealings with Jason Abbott on the night of October 31st?" The other person from the Board of Ethics, Healer Kolen, directed her question to Fabius first. She had several file folders open in front of her, so Victoire assumed that she was going to check back with those to confirm the accuracy of Fabius's story.

Fabius explained in a polite tone, if not somewhat bored, everything he did to Jason Abbott on Halloween night; as well as the slight argument he had with Victoire about their treatment course for him. When he was finished, Mr. Catalano dispassionately thanked Fabius for his statement and then turned to Victoire.

He asked her to recite everything that had happened on October 31st and she looked at Colton before he slowly nodded his head at her.

Victoire described everything that she could remember; from when she first took over Jason Abbott's care from the emergency magical medical responders, to the first few minutes of harried spell casting as she and Fabius tried to stabilize him enough to deal with his worse wounds. She mentioned Auror Donaldson coming in to tell them the spells that they thought had been cast on Jason Abbott, as well as the disagreement she had with Fabius about their course of treatment. She ended with how both she and Fabius left their patient to rest in his private room, and lastly, when they found out that Jason Abbott had suddenly died.

Mr. Catalano thanked Victoire for her statement in the same blank tone he used with Fabius, and then Healer Kolen shifted her stack of files until she found a particular one.

"Healer Mallard in the morgue finished his extended autopsy on Monday. His findings state that there were several pieces of a foreign and unidentified bone matter throughout Jason Abbott's body. Only one bone fragment in the body caused a lethal injury, a piece that was found in the heart which sliced through a layer of muscle near the aorta, causing him to suddenly bleed out and die," Healer Kolen read off of a file.

She looked up at Victoire and Fabius, "There were no glass fragments left in his body."

Both resident healers nodded even though it wasn't a question.

"But you both already knew that. Healer Fabius, could you repeat the statistics on the _Speculas crustaeum_ counter-curse that you cast to take out the glass shrapnel that was in Mr. Abbott's body?" Healer Kolen asked.

Fabius puffed his chest out a little, "In healing school we were taught that the _Speculas crustaeum_ counter-curse has a seventy-percent chance of removing every last piece of glass shrapnel caused by a _Speculas crustaeum_ curse."

Fabius lawyer then pulled a file out of his briefcase and handed a piece of paper to Mr. Catalano, Healer Kolen, and Healer Rhee, "Most recent studies which control for more extraneous variables shows that the Speculas crustaeum counter-cure is actually completely effective as much as seventy-eight percent of the time, one separate study in America citing an effectiveness as high as eighty-four."

"And Healer Weasley, once you and Healer Fabius closed up all of Mr. Abbott's wounds and stabilized him, you ran a detecting spell on Mr. Abbott did you not?"

"Yes."

"And what were your findings?"

Victoire waited for Colton's nod before she explained, "I cast a spell to see if there were still pieces of glass shrapnel left in Mr. Abbott's wounds after we healed them."

"And did your test come back positive for leftover glass, or negative?"

"Negative Ma'am."

"And why did you decide to wait to cast this detection spell until _after_ you had healed Mr. Abbott?" Healer Kolen questioned.

Victoire started tapping her foot under the table, "As was previously stated by both Healer Fabius and myself, we felt that Mr. Abbott's health was in such a precarious state that there was not time to run a detection spell after the _Speculas crustaeum_ counter-curse was applied. We found that he was bleeding out too fast to wait for a detecting spell and decided to heal up his wounds first."

"If you thought that the counter-curse worked well enough to go to the next step of healing all of Mr. Abbott's wounds, why did you bother to do the detecting spell in the first place?" Healer Kolen asked without inflection.

"Because I wanted to cover my bases," Victoire explained.

"And if you had found out that there was still glass left in the newly-closed wounds, what would you have done Healer Weasley?"

Victoire's feet started tapping faster on the ground, "I would have contacted Healer Rhee or Healer Seward right away and informed them of the situation. From there I would have recommended to them that we specifically narrow down where the looked-over glass was, and then remove it from the body."

Healer Kolen nodded and jotted down a note with a quill, "And Healer Weasley, did you and Healer Fabius not admit to having a disagreement over whether or not there was enough time to do a detection spell before closing up his wounds?"

"We did state that. If was my opinion that we could have been able to cast a detection spell and then close up Mr. Abbott's wounds. However, Healer Fabius disagreed and felt that the patient would lose too much blood waiting for the detection process," Victoire expounded.

"And you decided to follow Healer Fabius's lead?"

Victoire nodded, "The known effectiveness of the counter-curse along with my trust in Healer Fabius's judgement, in addition to knowing exactly how badly the patient was bleeding out, affected my opinion enough to agree with Healer Fabius's plea to move to the next step of treatment."

"And after the treatment and stabilization of the patient, you cast the detection spell and found that there was no glass left in Mr. Abbott's wounds. In agreement with the information later presented in the autopsy?" Healer Kolen inquired.

"That is correct."

Healer Kolen whispered something to Mr. Catalano, and the latter nodded his head.

"We have already cleared the emergency magical medical responders of any wrongdoing in this case, as well as backing up the information Auror Donaldson gave you about the spells that injured Mr. Abbott. The board is of the opinion that both Healers Fabius and Weasley treated Mr. Abbott's wounds in an acceptable manner and that his wounds were not exacerbated by any action that the healers took," Mr. Catalano recited, "Now, we are going to move onto discussing whether or not Healers Fabius and Weasley are accountable for Mr. Abbott's death because of something that they did _not_ do."

Mr. Catalano addressed Mr. and Mrs. Abbott for the first time that morning, "Now Mr. and Mrs. Abbott, you both claim that you feel as though these resident healers should have caught the cause of your son's death before it happened?"

Mrs. Abbott spoke for the both of them, "Yes."

"And you think that the healers should have spotted the bone shrapnel in your son's heart, and removed it before fixing the wound?"

"Yes."

Mr. Catalano looked to Victoire and Fabius.

"When treating Mr. Abbott, was there any reason to believe that there was shrapnel in his body other than the glass shrapnel from the _Speculas crustaeum_ curse?"

Fabius answered with a simple 'No', and then looked expectantly at Victoire. In accordance with her promise, she looked at Colton before replying.

He gave her a small smile and shot her a wink before opening up his briefcase and pulling out a stack of file folders.

"Mr. Catalano, Healer Kolen, Healer Rhee, Mr. and Mrs. Abbott, I would like to show you the results of a small study that was conducted on Healer Weasley's behalf. Over the past week a voluntary questionnaire was sent out to ten different healers certified in Dark Arts Reversal, who have a mean number of ten and a half years' experience between all of them. They were given a hypothetical case study and asked to create and assessment and treatment for the patient within a certain time frame –a time frame I will add, that was almost double what Healers Weasley and Fabius had. They were asked to use their expertise to complete this exercise, and they were only given the same information that Healers Weasley and Fabius had at the time. I will disclose that all of these healers were monetarily reimbursed for their time, however they were not pressured to choose one treatment over another as it was up to them to pick their own hypothetical treatment," Colton explained thoroughly.

"As you can no doubt see, the results of this small study are rather definitive. Aside from a few differences between strength and specific types of muscle, bone, capillary, and tissue healing spells, all ten healers followed almost the exact same steps to treat a patient with the exact same wounds as Mr. Abbott as Healers Weasley and Fabius actually did. All ten healers noted that they would use the _Speculas crustaeum_ counter-curse to remove the glass shrapnel and none of them suggested that they would then do further detection spells for other shrapnel besides glass. The healers were split rather down the middle when it came to the option of casting detection spells after the _Speculas crustaeum_ counter-curse as well. Half stated that there was most likely not enough time to cast any detection spell, while the other half stated that they would have risked the patient further bleeding out to do a glass detection spell, but only a glass detection spell," Colton emphasized.

"From there the healing of the wounds and stabilizing treatments were almost identical to what Healers Weasley and Fabius did."

Colton let the information sit for a moment before he continued, "Therefore, as you can easily see, a random sample of healers would have suggested the exact same treatment as Healers Weasley and Fabius did. Not only that, but none of the other healers found any reason to think that there were other pieces of shrapnel in the wounds other than the glass, based on the background information about the wounds that was identical to the information Healers Weasley and Fabius had during their treatment."

Mr. Catalano was still skimming through the file Colton had given him, but Healer Kolen seemed to have read everything she needed to.

"It seems that you came very well prepared Mr. Knott," She acknowledged him with a nod of her head. She then turned to Mr. and Mrs. Abbott and addressed them specifically, "Mr. Knott's research is rather comprehensive, and rather determinate. It clearly answers your concerns as to whether a more experienced healer would still have decided on the same course of treatment for your son. And by having such a large sample size –and ten healers certified in dark arts reversal is a rather good sample size considering the small amount of people in the entire Western wizarding world who are qualified in this particular field– Mr. Knott has essentially ensured that we can no longer question healers Weasley and Fabius' treatment of your son without questioning ten other healers who have now stated that they would have taken the same course."

Healer Kolen looked back at Victoire, "Now moving on, Healer Weasley after you healed Mr. Abbott's injuries, was there anything to lead you to believe that there were still open injuries inside of his body?"

Victoire watched for Colton's nod out of the corner of her eye before replying, "No. Healer Fabius and I ensured that all of Mr. Abbott's internal and external injuries were properly cleaned and healed before sending him to rest in a private room."

"Healer Mallard's autopsy is in accordance with your statement Healer Weasley. All of Mr. Abbott's internal and external injuries were healed properly. It seemed that the fragment of bone that was lodged in Mr. Abbott's heart, which had been healed over by yours and Mr. Fabius' spell work, shifted when he moved strenuously in his sleep. The bone fragment sliced through the outer layer of heart muscle and caused him to bleed out," Healer Kolen recited. She wasn't looking off of the papers stacked in front of her, but it seemed that she already had the rest of the autopsy memorized by heart.

Healer Kolen glanced at Mr. Catalano and they shared a look of understanding before the latter started speaking, "All of the information that you have shared with us Healers Fabius and Weasley, has further strengthened the decision that the board was entertaining when we came into this meeting."

He turned to softly address Mr. and Mrs. Abbott, "On behalf of all of St. Mungo's staff, I would like to apologize for the death of your son, and for all of the pain you have suffered because of it."

He turned to glance at Victoire and Fabius, "However, St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries' Board of Ethics has taken a lot of time to review this case, and it is our decision that both Healers Fabius and Weasley did everything they could to save Mr. Jason Abbott's life, and that they did not do anything wrong in their treatment of Mr. Abbott, nor did they _fail_ to do anything that would have prevented his death."

"Therefore," He continued speaking loud enough for everyone to hear, "It is our decision to end our inquisition here, and we will not be furthering this case or pressing any future charges on either Healer Fabius or Healer Weasley for malpractice, negligence, or spell work wrongdoing in concerns to this case."

Victoire's foot finally stopped tapping on the floor and her face threatened to break out into a large smile. Just as the corner of her lips were starting to turn upwards, she felt Colton's foot gently knock hers around the ankle. She glanced over at him and noted that he was giving her a warning look. His eyes were bright with the categorical win that they just received, but he was hinting at her through the firm non-expression in the rest of his face for her to act politely and refined while still in front of the board members and the deceased man's parents.

"Healer Fabius," Mr. Catalano stated as he glanced at the male resident healer, "You are free to leave right now, and Healer Rhee will no doubt be in touch with you very soon to let you know when he would like for you to start back in the Dark Arts Reversal ward."

Fabius smiled brightly, and Victoire was suddenly very glad that Colton had silently warned her against smiling herself. Even though Fabius' smile was fuelled by relief, it came across as smug in the reserved atmosphere of the room. He stood up with his lawyer and was moving towards the door of the conference room when Mr. Catalano addressed Victoire.

"And Healer Weasely, may we borrow a few more moments of your time?"

Victoire's heart skipped a beat at hearing his words. Before she could start to panic at the connotations of his request, Colton went so far as to slip his hand under the table and touch her knee as lightly as he could. Even though he had touched the fabric of her below-the-knee-length skirt instead of her skin directly, Victoire appreciated Colton's attempt to keep her calm and to stop her from freaking out before she found out why they wanted to speak with her for a little longer.

"Is there a problem Mr. Catalano?" Victoire asked in as respectful of a tone as she could muster.

He shared a glance with Healer Kolen before explaining, "We just stated that we have no reason to charge you with any sort of malpractice or wrongdoing in your treatment of Mr. Abbott, and that decision stands. However, Mr. and Mrs. Abbott asked for another inquest about you, separate from Healer Fabius."

Victoire nodded her head. She understood the theory behind separating her from Fabius to deal with whatever Mr. and Mrs. Abbott wanted to blame her for, but she couldn't exactly think of a reason why they would have an issue with her that they didn't with Fabius.

"While speaking with their lawyers about arranging for the ethics board to look into your treatment of Mr. Abbott, their lawyer found out that you have been looked into by the board of ethics before. This information has worried them and they claim it illustrates a history of your poor decision-making in treating patients," Mr. Catalano explained.

"Healer Weasley was cleared of any wrongdoing by the Board of Ethics last spring for the case you are speaking of Mr. Catalano. You yourself were present and agreed with the decision. This previous part of her history should have no further bearing whatsoever on the case we are speaking of now," Colton stated firmly before Victoire could open her mouth to try to defend herself.

Mr. Catalano nodded, "And the board explained that to Mr. and Mrs. Abbott and their lawyer. Healer Rhee also vouched for Healer Weasley's ability to competently treat patients from his experience with her. Even though Mr. and Mrs. Abbott's lawyer would have liked to use this as evidence for a case of Healer Weasley making poor treatment choices, the board has categorically reminded them that the previous case would have no legal bearing if they did choose to take it to court."

The words 'take it to court' made Victoire's heart start to pound and her feet started to tap against the floor again. Colton's hand was still under the table, so he squeezed her knee again. This time it was harder, it wasn't meant to comfort, it was meant to restrain. She could almost hear Colton's voice ringing in her ears saying 'Pull it together Weasley'.

"So why are we still here?" Colton asked as he allowed just the right amount of haughtiness to leak into his tone.

Mr. Catalano glanced at Mr. and Mrs. Abbott again, "Mr. and Mrs. Abbott's lawyer also contacted Healer McDavid in his quest to get more information about Healer Weasley's abilities. Understandably, Healer McDavid was very profuse in his praise of Healer Weasley, and that praise was very helpful in firming our opinion to back you in their complaints. However, when their lawyer was speaking with Healer McDavid he explained a bit of your research with him and that has essentially brought us to the problem they now have with you."

"Which is?" Colton inquired still doing the talking; mostly because Victoire didn't trust herself to speak.

"Mr. and Mrs. Abbott are concerned that because of Healer Weasley's background, that she may not have worked hard enough while healing their son, and that her intent affected the type of care he received from her," Mr. Catalano explained.

Colton scoffed in his Slytherin tone that was both derisive and somehow civil at the same time, "That's a ridiculous and baseless claim."

Being called ridiculous seemed to push Jason Abbott's parents to speak.

"It's not ridiculous! Healer Weasley is studying how a person's intent can affect the effectiveness of a person's magic. She is obviously prejudiced against anyone who could be accused of using dark magic, so she didn't intend to save my son as she would have with a person who she was led to believe was innocent," Mrs. Abbott complained with a glare in the direction of Colton and Victoire.

Colton frowned, "Firstly, Healer Weasley and Healer McDavid's research into magical intent is just research right now. You have no legs to stand on to claim that your son's death could have been prevented if Healer Weasley _tried_ harder."

Mrs. Abbott looked like she was going to speak again, but Colton spoke before she could, "Second, you claimed that Healer Weasley's background prejudiced her treatment of your son. I am going to assume by her background, that you mean the fact that Healer Weasley is engaged to an auror, and that Healer Weasley's family is well known for championing the rights of victims of dark magic. Nevertheless, the fact that you could believe that Healer Weasley would have been blind as to the truth about having to heal alleged perpetrators of dark magic when she chose to specialize in this healing field, _is_ ridiculous."

The frantic tapping of Victoire's foot started to slow as she listened to Colton defend her to the parents of her patient who died.

"Furthermore," Colton continued in a tone that screamed 'don't mess with me', "Healer Weasley has healed several patients who were later convicted of performing dark magic, and none of those patients suffered from an alleged lack of intent on Healer Weasley's behalf. What her healing history _will_ illustrate, is that Healer Weasley does absolutely everything and anything she can to heal a patient. Even if it puts her professional or personal health in danger. She is the first person to put herself at risk to help someone and if there was anything else that Healer Weasley could do to help your son, be assured that she would have done it, even at cost to herself. Her _background_ illustrates so, as does her work ethic."

Even if the Board of Ethics did decide that she didn't work hard enough to heal Jason Abbott, Victoire might claim that this hearing was worth it even if it was just because she was able to hear Colton say all of those nice things about her.

Mr. Catalano decided to try to defuse the sudden tension in the room, "The board's opinion is aligned with yours Mr. Knott, however we thought it best to allow Mr. and Mrs. Abbott a chance talk with Healer Weasley before they decided to go against the board's recommendation and file a suit in a civil court of law based off of Healer's Weasley's alleged intent when healing their son."

"Our son is dead Mr. Catalano, someone has to be blamed," Mrs. Abbott argued.

"I do believe that there is an Auror Department investigation going on to establish who is to blame for Mr. Abbott's death, and I also believe that Healer Weasley is not a suspect on their list," Colton replied coolly.

Victoire glanced at Colton, and decided that she wanted to speak even if it didn't seem likely that he was going to give her a nod of approval, "Mrs. and Mr. Abbott, first, I would like to say how sorry I am that you have had to experience the pain of losing a child. It is not something I would wish on anyone. I also know that there is no way that I could ever empathize with the pain and heartbreak that you're feeling, and that I'm also the last person that you want to hear this from right now-"

" _Victoire_ -" Colton began in low warning tone.

She chose to ignore it, as she did about fifty-percent of the time that he spoke to her like that. She continued.

"But again, I'm sorry that you had to go through this. If there was any way I could go back in time and heal your son with the knowledge of the bone fragments, I would, in a heartbeat. But I can't. I also can't apologize for any aspect of my professional treatment of your son because I did absolutely everything that I could at the time to heal him, to make him better. I did everything I could because _that_ is part of the oath I made when I graduated healing school," She took a deep breath and then continued. She was pleased to hear that her voice didn't sound as unsteady aloud as it did in her head.

"And if I thought that handing in my healing licence and quitting the field entirely would make this situation better, I would. But we all know it won't. The pain and anger will still be there, and the only thing that we will have accomplished would be to rid the world of a healer who was able to pass the most difficult healing exams in the most demanding healing field in modern magical medicine. I understand that a part of you thinks that I'm to blame for your son's death, that a part of you may always believe that. Nevertheless, can you honestly say that you think taking away my license to heal is what's best? Do you honestly think that it will both make you feel better, and avenge Jason's death? The Board of Ethics has emphatically ruled that there was no malpractice on my side, taking away my licence would be useless, and also potentially harmful to others in the future. This world needs more competent healers who are certified in dark arts reversal magic, not less."

Victoire knew that she was taking a chance as she tried to address their righteous dignity as human beings, but ever the Gryffindor she had hoped that calling on their better nature would make them see a larger picture outside of their grieving and anger and pain.

Mrs. Abbott didn't look fully convinced by Victoire's words, but they _did_ seem to hit home with Mr. Abbott.

"Healer Weasley," Mr. Abbott said, addressing Victoire for the first time, "My wife and I will not do you the disservice of lying to you and telling you that we no longer have any hard feelings and that this whole interview with you and Healer Fabius has changed our entire perspectives . . . however, we will promise to abide by the decision of the Board of Ethics, and we will even admit that perhaps as healers and legal personnel, they understand this whole issue better than we do. We will also agree not to look into pressing any further charges against you in a civil court of law, as you and your lawyer have made it very clear that we would not have a case."

Victoire swallowed thickly and nodded her head. She figured it was the best that she was going to get considering everything.

Mr. Catalano and Healer Kolen then dismissed Victoire in a similar way as they had with Fabius a while ago, and Healer Rhee stood up to go with them. When they left the conference room Healer Rhee shook Victoire's hand enthusiastically and happily told her that he would have Healer Seward owl her later in the day to send her a new schedule for when she was expected on the floor at the D. A. R. ward.

Colton and Victoire walked to the elevator together. She had the rest of the day off considering that she didn't know if she was still going to be a healer after the meeting; they didn't speak to each other until the doors of the lift shut in front of them, leaving them as the only two people in the elevator.

"I thought I told you not to speak unless I said that it was okay?" Colton asked her as he crossed his arms over his chest.

Victoire rolled her eyes, "It helped!"

He scoffed, but there was a bit of a smile around the edge of his lips.

"Thank you for doing all of this for me," Victoire told him sincerely.

Colton sighed, "There's no need to thank me Weasley. You're paying me to do this, remember?"

She smirked at him, "I may be paying you, but I highly doubt that any of the other lawyers at your firm would have been quite as passionate in their defense of me as you were."

"I just imagined that I was arguing with you instead of in your favour, it helped," He replied with shrug of his shoulders, "Also, Healer McDavid's suggestion to send out copycat case studies to other healers helped."

Victoire nodded in agreement, "That it did, I'm going to need to think of something nice to get him for Christmas. I'll need to ask Andromeda for help."

They got off the lift when the doors opened at the bottom floor of the hospital and walked to the exit together. Outside of the hospital Colton went one way down the street to find an apparation point, and Victoire walked towards the opposite direction to the closest café and sandwich shop.

As Victoire walked down the busy London street, she pulled her mobile phone out to check her messages. She saw that Teddy had sent her a text telling her that he _had_ arrived at the café she was presently walking towards, just in time for their pre-arranged lunchtime meeting to go over how her meeting went.

She entered the café and was only a little surprised to see Spencer Green sitting very close to Teddy in a booth at the back of the shop.

"And here I thought it was just going to be you and me today," Victoire commented as she leaned down to peck her fiancée on the lips.

Teddy kissed her back a little longer than she expected, but it caused a large smile to break across her face when she moved to sit down in the booth next to him.

"Yes, it was rather a silly idea, wasn't it?" Teddy replied to her previous question with a cheeky smirk.

Spencer rolled his eyes since they were talking about him, "I'm upset that you didn't tell me that you were meeting James Bond here Princess. It's a good thing that my Teddy radar's intact."

"I was never worried about _that_ ," Victoire told him a little too sweetly.

Before Teddy or Spencer could ask Victoire about how her meeting went, some of Victoire's other healing friends Donnie and Sarah walked over to their booth, their hands filled with mugs of coffee and tea.

"Sorry about intruding on your alone time with your fiancée, Vic," Sarah apologized as they settled into the other open seats in the booth and began handing out warm mugs.

Victoire now understood why Teddy and Spencer had been sitting in such a large booth when she arrived.

"Obviously not enough to take Spencer with you and leave," Victoire retorted with a very specific look.

Donnie snorted with amusement and pushed two mugs in Victoire and Teddy's direction, "No, not that much."

"What we _mean_ to say," Sarah added with a slightly apologetic glance at her friend, "Is that we were waiting on pins and needles to see what happened with your meeting."

Victoire sighed and settled into Teddy's side. He put his arm around his fiancée's shoulder and she cuddled right in.

"Clearly something at least somewhat favourable happened, or else the entire hospital would most likely be on fire now," Spencer explained as he took a delicate sip of his coffee.

The blonde who was on the hot seat groaned, "Ugh, you really need to stop spending time with my sister. She's evidently telling you _way_ too many stories about my younger years."

"Enough evading, what happened with the board?" Donnie asked a little impatiently.

"And please tell me that you got off scot-free but that they fired Fabius for being a plonker," Sarah supplemented with a hopeful smile.

Victoire rolled her eyes at everyone, "You know, if you lot let me get a word in edgewise you might already know what happened today. Also, did none of you think to invite Ally to this impromptu get-together?"

"You're still stalling," Spencer pointed out, "And I asked Lab Coat to come but she was in the zone brewing some sort of potion and she told me to sod off. I promised to let her in on what happened though, once you finally bloody tell us what happened that is."

Teddy squeezed Victoire's shoulder and she went on to summarize her meeting with the board. She essentially told them that she and Fabius got off without a problem, and that even though the patient's parents had further problems with her, she and Colton handled it and she would be back in the D. A. R. ward in a few days.

Once everyone was done congratulating her –and Spencer was done claiming that he knew it'd all go well– Victoire eyed all of her healing friends specifically.

"Now that you all know what went down, you can split and let me and Teddy alone."

Spencer looked like he was going to argue, but Teddy spoke before he could.

"Actually Love, I've got to go soon. Hayden and I've got a meeting with some bloke in Knockturn Alley about bones," Her fiancé explained apologetically.

Victoire pouted at hearing his words, and Spencer smirked into his coffee mug, "Yeah, _that_ doesn't sound sketchy at all."

"He's got a badge that says he's allowed to do sketchy stuff," Donnie reminded him.

Victoire ignored her friends and looked at Teddy. She placed a hand on his cheek and titled his face so that he was looking directly at her.

"Are you sure that you have to go? Because I've got the time and you _are_ on your lunchbreak," She leaned a little closer so that she was whispering in his ear, "And we can spend this time anyway you want. We can leave _here_ and go back _home_ and . . ."

She purposely let her offer trail off and she moved one hand to draw light circles on the fabric of his trousers, on his upper thigh under the table.

Teddy narrowed his eyes at her and unintentionally let them slide away from her face and down her body. Her cream blazer, blouse, and navy-blue skirt were conservative, but they fit her like a glove. He would be lying if he said that he didn't particularly enjoy it when Victoire dressed up in professional clothes, even if her skirt was presently on the longer side and her blouse covered more skin than it showed. He did like every piece of clothing that Victoire wore –or more specifically didn't wear– but there was something about the blouses, blazers, pencil skirts, and dress trousers that made her look extra tempting.

His eyes slowly travelled back up her body and to her face, and his brain went a little fuzzy when he looked at her. Her ocean blue eyes were sparkling with mischief and filled with love, and he couldn't look away.

"Sweetheart, I hope that you're not trying to make me choose between you and my job," Teddy whispered quietly as his arms slid down to her waist and his hand went to her arse without his permission.

Victoire's smile widened and she whispered so close to his ear that her lips touched his skin, "Of course not. I'm asking you to choose between your job and your libido."

Teddy tried to narrow his eyes sternly at his fiancée, but he knew that his look came out more soppy than strict. At that moment, she was temptation squeezed into infuriatingly sexy-conservative clothing,

He titled his face just slightly so that his nose would touch hers, their lips were only a few centimetres apart, "As opposed to the other night when I wanted _you_ to choose between your research and your libido."

She whispered against his lips, "Well I-" But she stopped when she felt the gaze of three different sets of eyes on her.

Victoire turned her head to look at her friends, and noticed that they were sipping their hot beverages and watching her and Teddy like they were a foreign soap opera. They wouldn't have been able to hear their conversation well enough to understand it, but they also didn't seem too keen on changing the channel.

"Can we help you?" She asked their audience haughtily.

Spencer took a sip of coffee and then primly replied, "Nope, go ahead and continue."

She rolled her eyes at the American but frowned at Donnie and Sarah, "I expected more of you two."

Donnie blushed a little, but Sarah shrugged nonchalantly, "Sorry, but we've all been single for a _long_ time."

"Plus," Spencer added with a cheeky grin, "It's kind of hard to look away from you two. You're kind of magnetic."

"And you're kind of a chuffer," Victoire retorted in a childish tone.

Spencer glanced imperturbably at Donnie and Sarah, "Is a chuffer the same as a git?"

"Not exactly," Donnie answered.

"A git is an idiot, but a chuffer is more like an annoying person," Sarah explained.

Spencer nodded, "Ah, got it. Like a douchebag."

"Exactly."

"Can you take this vocabulary lesson somewhere else? I'm trying to seduce my fiancé over here," Victoire complained.

The door of the café opened on the far side of the room and Teddy noticed Hayden walk in. As his auror partner spotted him and walked closer to their booth, Teddy pressed a kiss to the bridge of Victoire's nose.

"Sorry Love, but duty calls."

He stood up when Hayden came up to the table.

"Hey there Vic, how'd your meeting with P. D. B.'s parents go today?" Hayden asked conversationally when he saw her.

"P. D. What?" Victoire asked confusedly.

Hayden waved her off, "Never mind. You get the Abbotts to drop their complaint with you?"

"It would have been easier if you found out who cursed Jason Abbott, but yes, eventually they dropped their complaint," Victoire told him.

"We're working on it," Hayden assured her with a condescending pat on her head, "Going to try to add another piece to the puzzle right now actually. So we need to be off."

Victoire tugged at the back of Teddy's shirt and he bent down to kiss her on the lips before leaving, "Love you. See you back home tonight."

"Love you too, later."

Teddy and Hayden left the café, and they were barely out of the shop before both Sarah and Spencer let out some appreciative whistles.

Victoire eyed them both, "That better have been for Hayden and not for Teddy."

Sarah smirked, and Spencer laughed, "Teddy does have a better rear-end, but that appreciation was entirely for the other hot piece of auror."

"Is he single?" Sarah asked interestedly.

Victoire rolled her eyes before launching into a short summary of everything she knew about Hayden so that her friend could make a more informed choice.

* * *

 **6:45 PM**

"So, Sweetie, how do you feel about staying with Daddy tomorrow night?" Eliza asked Rowan. She was bent down so that she could peer into the face of her baby girl who was lying on her back on a large pillow.

Her three-month-old blinked and made a few gurgling noises at her.

"I'm sure that he'll take very good care of you and that you will have a lot of fun with him."

Rowan opened her mouth and a little bit of drool dripped out and down her chin.

"Of course, you'll also be spending time with your Grandmother and Grandfather Dickinson. Not that I'm trying to prejudice you against them, no of course not, I just want you to be aware that even though they may say things that sound critical, they do love you, in their own way. I'm sure."

The baby stuck her tongue out and made another sound similar to a coo.

"And your father will be there for you the whole time. He would never let them do anything to you."

Rowan brought her tongue back into her mouth and blinked at her mother again.

"Then again, your father's fiancée will probably be there too. But I'm sure she won't call you a pasty blob to your face. And if she _did_ your dad would have a fit, and probably threaten to end their engagement. Not that he'd even have enough guts to actually follow through on it. I mean last year he wouldn't even tell me that he was engaged because he knew that if he did I wouldn't let him-"

Eliza stopped herself from saying aloud to her daughter that she probably wouldn't have let Benjamin shag her if he had admitted that he was engaged. Rowan didn't need to hear that.

"Jesus," Eliza sighed, bringing her hands up to her face and rubbing her eyes, "I really need some adult conversation. God I need to talk to Cecilia."

Eliza reached towards the coffee table and picked up her mobile phone. She hadn't gotten a return call from Cecilia, even though she had called and texted her several times the day before, but she finally did get a text from her friend around nine that morning.

In her message Cecilia apologized for not getting back to Eliza sooner, she stated that she thought Eliza and Baxter finally going out on a date was a great idea, and she said that she was going to be very busy at work the next few days and that it was probably best for Eliza to just text her if she needed something.

Despite the fact that the action was apparently directly against what Cecilia had requested in her text message, Eliza scrolled through her address book on her phone and found Cecilia's number. She pressed the 'call' button, and held the phone up to her ear with one hand.

It rang so many times that Eliza was sure that it was going to go straight to voicemail. Just when she was preparing what she was going to say in her message to the phone's answering machine, a familiar voice answered the phone.

" _Hello Eliza_."

Eliza involuntarily smiled when she heard Cecilia's voice on the other end, "Hey Cecilia, I know that you said you were going to be busy tonight, but if you have even _five_ free minutes I really need to talk to you."

There was a bit of a pause on the other end, and Eliza was almost certain that she heard Cecilia sigh softly, before the other girl replied, " _Alright, what's up_?"

"It's about my date with Baxter tomorrow night – I'm kind of freaking out," Eliza explained very ineloquently.

Eliza could hear a bit of commotion in the background on the other end of the line before she heard Cecilia's reply, " _Are you starting to get cold feet about the date_?"

"No, it's not about the date. Actually, it's about the fact that I'm going to leave Rowan with Benjamin for the night so I can go out with Baxter."

There was more noise on the other line, and even the distant sound of a few voices yelling out, Cecilia's voice just broke out above the noise, " _Are you worried that Benjamin can't handle it?_ "

"No, it's just that this is the first time I've left her with anyone overnight, and I'm not sure how Benjamin will handle it when he finds out that I need him to babysit because I have a date with Baxter," Eliza told Cecilia as she twirled a long piece of her hair around her finger.

" _He doesn't know yet_?" Cecilia asked. It was hard to understand the last part of her question because of the background noise, but the incredulity in her friend's voice made it rise a bit above the din.

"No he doesn't-" The noise got so loud that Eliza could barely hear _herself_ over the racket on the other end of the line, "Cecilia, what's with the noise? Where are you?"

The clamour calmed down a bit, and it sounded like Cecilia had moved to a slightly quieter place, " _I'm at the Ballycastle stadium about to cover a quidditch match between the Bats and the Cannons. The crowd here's amped up_."

"You're at another game? I thought you had the evening off because you covered a game the night before. You don't usually cover games two nights in a row."

" _I know, but Charley needed someone to switch with her, and I owed her a favour from when she covered a game for me so that I could go to the Ministry's Hallowe'en ball_ ," Cecilia's voice explained.

Eliza nodded even though Cecilia couldn't see her, "Oh, well that's nice of you, although it kinda sucks. I know that it's been a few days since you got a break from work, or saw Louis for that matter-"

" _Eliza_ ," Cecilia's voice cut in, " _I thought you wanted to talk about Benjamin_?"

"I did. Um, so I'm not entirely sure how to tell him about-"

Eliza was cut off once more, this time by the sound of a knock on her front door. She picked up Rowan with one arm and told Cecilia to hold on for a minute.

When she opened the front door she sighed into the phone and told Cecilia, "Thanks for the help, but I've got to go. Benjamin's here."

Cecilia quickly said goodbye and then hung up the phone. If Eliza wasn't so worried about what she was going to say to Benjamin, she would have noticed that Cecilia had hung-up just a little too quickly on a friend in need.

Eliza readjusted her hold on Rowan and then stepped out of the doorway, "Come ahead in."

Benjamin stepped into the flat, took off his shoes, removed his dress robes –he must have just come from law class– and followed Eliza into the living room. She handed Rowan over to him so that he could greet their daughter, and she immediately moved to the kitchen to make tea.

"So yesterday when you asked me to come over tonight, you said that you wanted to talk to me about something?" Benjamin asked Eliza in-between showering Rowan's giggling face with kisses.

Eliza watched her hands as she made the tea, "Yes. Well . . . uh . . . you see . . . I know that this is short notice and all, but since you probably would have been over here and spending time with her anyway tomorrow, it's not that different, it would just be a different place and a little longer time-"

"Eliza!" Benjamin called, breaking up her word vomit, "What are you talking about?"

She finished making the tea, picked up both mugs, and walked back into the living room. She placed one mug down on the coffee table in front of Benjamin, and held the other in her hands. She took a deep breath and then steadily exhaled.

She took a sip of tea before looking Benjamin right in the eyes, "I was wondering if you could watch Rowan tomorrow night."

Benjamin looked a little surprised, but he began to nod, "Of course. Did you need me to come over here or-"

"No, no, no," Eliza said hurriedly, "You can take her home with you. I kinda need you to watch her all night, so it'd be easiest if you had her with you."

He nodded again, "Alright. So why do you need me to watch her?"

"Oh, um . . ." Eliza procrastinated answering by taking another longer gulp of her tea, "Well, I need you to watch Rowan tomorrow night because I have a date."

Benjamin narrowed his eyes at Eliza, "You mean like a girls night out with Cecilia?"

"No, I mean like a date-date. I'm going out with a man who has a romantic interest in me, and who I have a romantic interest in," She explained slowly.

She watched Benjamin carefully just in case her words shocked him enough to drop Rowan. His grip on the infant actually tightened instead of loosening.

Benjamin's face was red, but his voice was cool when he asked, "And is this man Baxter Weasley? Or did you find some other bloke to seduce in between taking care of _our_ child."

Even though she expected her temper to flare up, Eliza still had to count backwards from thirty to control her urge to yell at Benjamin. She knew that he was going to react this way when he found out about her date, so the exact words he used to voice his anger with her shouldn't have been too much of a surprise.

"Don't worry, I've been so busy with Rowan that I decided just to stick to seducing my old standbys. Since you're off the market because of your fiancée, I decided to give it a go with the only other guy who would even agree to go out on a date with a girl who got knocked up before she graduated from Hogwarts."

Benjamin actually flinched away from the rage in Eliza's voice, but he was too angry to turn apologetic just yet.

"That's actually worse than you going out with some random bloke. Baxter? Really?" Benjamin asked her in a derisive tone.

Eliza put her mug down and wrapped a strand of hair around her finger, "Yes Baxter. He's sweet, smart, funny, kind, hot, and a good kisser."

She added the last part because she noticed that the more compliments about Baxter she listed, the angrier he became.

Benjamin clutched Rowan a little closer to his chest, "So you've picked him over me then?"

"Since when has it been a competition?" Eliza asked irritably, "This shouldn't even be an issue. I like Baxter, Baxter likes me; we are going out on a date. You like your fiancée, your fiancée likes you; you're going to marry her. Non-issue."

Benjamin's lips pressed into a firm line and he stood up and handed Rowan back to Eliza. She automatically cradled Rowan into her arms, while she watched Benjamin begin to pace around her living room.

He did a few circuits before stopping and addressing Eliza, "I do _not_ love Winnie."

"That sounds like a ' _you_ ' problem."

He gritted his teeth and clenched his fists, "I don't want you dating Baxter."

Eliza rolled her eyes, "That's obvious. And also another ' _you_ ' problem."

"And _you_ don't want to date Baxter either, not really," He continued, a smug smirk suddenly slipping across his face.

"First, you have no right to tell me what I do or don't want. Second, I do indeed want to go on a date with Baxter. In fact, I want more than just a date with Baxter. But since I actually want a normal, non-destructive relationship for once I figured we'd start out slow," Eliza snapped at him.

Benjamin looked like he was going to pop a vein in his forehead, "Would you cancel your date with Baxter if I told you that I was going to break things of with Winnie?"

Eliza felt her arms go numb and she began to worry that she was going to drop Rowan, "Excuse me? What the Hell!?"

"What?"

"Why would you say something like that? Why would you ask me that?" Eliza asked, her voice inching up to enraged.

"Because I want to know!" Benjamin replied, he matched her furious tone, "If I broke things off with Winnie would you break your date with Baxter?"

Eliza tried to take a deep breath to calm herself down before replying, but it didn't seem to help, "What? So you think that I want to date Baxter just because you're engaged and off the market? You expect me to throw everything away just because you've decided that you don't want Baxter to play with the toy you got bored with and put away on a shelf? I'm not your property Benjamin, and even if you did break things off with Winnie it wouldn't change my mind about going on a date with Baxter. I like him, and I like spending time with him, and I like the fact that he doesn't try to play with my emotions like _some_ people."

Benjamin crossed his arms over his chest, "Do you love him?"

"I haven't even gone on a proper date with him yet! I like him a lot, and I'd like to see where things are going. If we could have a relationship that is more than friendship," Eliza replied both angrily and diplomatically.

He rolled his eyes, "Geez Eliza, stop gushing."

"Fine, how's this for gushing? I like Baxter _just_ as much as I like you. And who knows, once we've had a real date I may even like him more than you. Actually, I think I like him more than I like you right now," She told him.

"Eliza-"

"Are you going to watch Rowan tomorrow night or not? That is the _only_ thing I'm obligated to talk to you about right now. If you don't want to watch her, I'm sure that I can get my parents to," Eliza told him firmly. They _really_ needed stronger boundaries if they were going to continue like this.

Benjamin look like he swallowed something sour, but he quickly replied, "No. I'll watch her. My parents would really like to see her again anyway."

"Fine."

Eliza stood up and began to carry Rowan down the hall and to her nursery. Benjamin followed after her.

"I did have plans to see Winnie, but I'm sure she'd be fine with coming over to the house to spend time with me. She's been wanting to see Rowan again anyway."

Eliza didn't take the bait, "Alright."

"She's going to need to spend more time with her anyway," Benjamin continued as he watched Eliza settle down into the rocking chair with Rowan, "Since she _is_ going to become Rowan's stepmother and all."

Eliza unbuttoned her shirt and began to breastfeed her baby, "Sounds like a good idea."

Benjamin growled angrily and spun on his heel. He yelled a terse goodbye to Rowan over his shoulder before storming out of the room. Eliza could hear him stomp down the hallway, through the living room, and out the flat, slamming the front door shut behind him.

Eliza sighed, pinched the bridge of her nose, and then looked down at her happily oblivious daughter, "We really need to get our shit together before you're old enough to realize how screwed up we both are."

* * *

 **A/N:** So, a lot happened in this chapter. The good news, Victoire's free to go back to her normal work, yay! Bad news, Benjamin and Eliza have hit another brick wall.

What did we think of this chapter? Did you like the Victoire-Colton interaction? How about Spencer being both annoying and hilarious? And finally, Eliza and Benjamin, who was being most unreasonable?

 **Next Update** : In the next two weeks at most.

 **Next Chapter:** We get to see a little more into Cecilia mind. There's some cute Brogan moments, Ally has an interesting talk with Clark's sister Tabitha. And yes, we get to see Baxter and Eliza's date. In addition, Cecilia has to face yet another challenge.

Teaser for Next Chap:

 **"Hello Cecilia."**

 **The voice turned the blood in Cecilia's veins to ice. Her heart constricted in her chest, her legs felt weak, and her vision started to go black around the edges –but that may have been because she'd stopped breathing at the sight of him.**

 **She forced herself to inhale, and on the exhale she gasped out, "Eli."**

Thanks again to everyone who has followed, favourited, read, and reviewed!

Biggest thanks to:

 **Lostinwords23, Guest (1), Guest (2), HPsea, zvc56, Gnool, rosesnlilies, WeasleyCousin, RebekahGrace, ntlpurpolia, pewpewpewpppp, Break This Spell626, no cure for crazy, jml2002, MuggleCreator, Katia0203, kawaiiotaku0405, xxTheMadHatterCharmedxx, Cjaben1, Seher Syed, teddyvictoire'slovechild, AngelTwins527, silverlover02,** and **Guest (3)**.

 **Lostinwords23** : Thanks, I'm glad Brogan seems believable. I base his character off of several 4 year olds I know, and sometimes I don't believe that they're even real. As for the Chris/Vic thing, Cecilia does not know the particulars about that, however you are absolutely correct in thinking that Vic would share that story with Cecilia if she knew about what Cecilia was going through.

 **HPsea** : We're going to see the Hogwarts kids in about four or five chapters time.

 **WeasleyCousin** : You never know how someone is going to react when they end up being a victim of any kind of assault. Cecilia was so shocked and confused about the whole thing that she can barely comprehend it. It's a given that eventually she'll hit a stage of anger, but right now there's other emotions in the forefront.

 **jml2002** : You're welcome, I'm glad you went back and re-read the Cecilia and Martell interaction parts, I had hoped that after this happened, that those past interactions would take on a different tone.

 **Cjaben1** : Audrey is the most normal because all of the other Weasleys are nosey, pushy, and most times downright ridiculous. Audrey's more calm and quiet.

 **AngelTwins527** : In a few chapters we will see Victoire try to get Teddy, Andromeda, and Narcissa in the same room. I don't think I have one character that's my favourite to write, they all give me different challenges and make it fun. I also can't say that I have a favourite character, but I do really like my OCs because I have more free reign of how I write them. I'm probably most like Molly II, on the quiet side, just drifting in the background until someone needs something from me.

 **I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter,**

 **Please remember to leave me a review!**

 **If you have any questions, comments or concerns, you can always review or PM me,**

 **Until the next update, DFTBA!**


	44. Of New Chapters

**A/N:** Hello? Anyone still out there? If you are I am _soooo_ sorry for how late this update is. February got away from me, and even though I told myself I'd do better in March it seems to have slipped by me as well. All I can say in my defense is that Real Life has been kicking my butt, and that I'm trying my best to get ahold again.

Anyway, here's the next chapter, as promised it's got more insight into Cecilia's mind, as well as Eliza and Baxter's date.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own _Harry Potter_.

* * *

 **Recap:** So, unfortunately Cecilia had an incident with Elijah Martell in which he sexually harassed and assaulted her, and Cecilia hasn't told anyone about it yet. Eliza asked Baxter out on a date, and Benjamin's keeping Rowan for the night. Ally and Xavier are looking at houses.

* * *

 **Of New Chapters**

 **Friday, November 11th 2022**

 **4:23 PM**

Cecilia's feet landed hard on the ground as she materialized on the gravel walkway that led straight to the front door of her home. She had forgotten to bend her knees just slightly when she disapparated outside of her work's office building, so when she emerged just at the edge of her home's property line she almost rolled her ankle and fell over. She only just managed to regain her balance, saving herself from taking a hard spill on the ground and getting a face full of gravel.

Despite the fact that there was no one else in the yard outside of her home, Cecilia reflexively looked around herself to see if anyone had noticed her almost-fall. When she was confident that she was indeed alone in her front yard, she slowly paced up the gravel walkway to the house. She dragged her feet like she was walking towards the gaols, and she took the four steps up to the front door at the slowest pace she'd ever done.

She twisted the doorknob to let herself in, and she'd barely taken three steps into the foyer before almost getting trampled by her little brother.

Brogan Wood dashed in front of his big sister –barely even noticing that Cecilia was standing there– and sprinted up the staircase to the second floor, yelling something about needing a different pair of underwear as he went.

Even though Brogan had flashed by her like lightening, Cecilia stood still and took a minute to process what exactly she had just seen and heard. She had almost finished processing Brogan's odd actions when her mother came jogging into the room, obviously looking for her youngest child.

"Where did-"

"Upstairs," Cecilia answered before Katie could finish her question, "And he was yelling something about underpants."

Katie rolled her eyes, "Ugh, and we were almost ready too. I guess he's decided that he wants his underpants to match his jersey."

Cecilia would have given her mother an odd look at this statement, but she actually didn't put it past Brogan to act _that_ weirdly.

Katie moved her eyes away from looking at the ceiling above her to glance at her daughter, "Well since you got off work early I guess we can all go together. Since Brogan's changing his underpants, you've got time to go change."

"For what?" Cecilia asked confusedly.

Her mother gave her an odd look before pointing to the Puddlemere United crest on her navy polo, "To the game. Puddlemere's home game against the Cannons. It starts at five like most Friday night Puddlemere games do . . . any of this ringing a bell?"

Cecilia closed her eyes and let out a sigh. She had completely forgotten about the Puddlemere game that night. She didn't exactly want to go to it, but she knew that she wouldn't be able to get out of it by claiming that she had to work. She'd already covered quidditch games two evenings in a row, and there was no way that her mother was going to believe that her editor had given her another game to cover while she still had to write up the articles on the other two games.

"Yes, I guess it just slipped my mind for a minute," Cecilia replied slowly.

Katie smiled understandingly at her, "That's alright, you've been very busy this week, busier than normal. You've still got time to go throw on your jersey though."

"Oh – I-"

Brogan came rushing back down the stairs before Cecilia could come up with some sort of expectedly lame excuse. He stopped right next to Katie and grinned brightly up at his sister, looking absolutely adorable in his little Puddlemere United quidditch jersey.

"Hi Cee-Cee!"

"Hey Bro."

"C'mon Cee-Cee, we _are_ starting to run out of time now," Katie hinted without trying to put too much pressure on her.

"Yes, well-" Cecilia took another second to think through her words before she came up with something that sounded like the truth, "I – I actually don't think I want to go tonight. I haven't seen Louis at all this week and I thought-"

Katie didn't even wait for her to finish before she started nodding her head approvingly, "And you want to spend time with him. Of course it's fine to miss the game tonight and go spend time with him instead. Tell him I say hi."

Even though it was what Cecilia wanted to hear, the minute her mother gave her her blessing she started to second guess her own decision. She had never been this unconfident in her own choices and decisions, but for the life of her she couldn't seem to stick to most of them lately.

"Are you sure that Dad'll be okay with it?"

Katie frowned a little in concern, "I told you Cee-Cee, Dad promised to give you more space when it comes to Louis. I mean I don't expect him to keep his word forever, but it's still a rather new promise so if I were you I'd milk it for all you can right now."

Cecilia knew that her mother said the last part mostly so that she'd laugh, or even crack a smile, but she couldn't do either of those things naturally.

Instead, she forced as big a smile onto her face as she could and said her goodbyes to her mother and brother. Once they were out of the house, Cecilia manually and magically locked the front door behind them. She double-checked that the backdoor was also locked, and that all of the windows on the bottom floor were locked and spelled shut.

With her mother and brother's exit, Cecilia was the only one left in the big house. Her father would already be at the stadium for the game, and anyone who might stop by the house (Xavier, Ally, or Malcolm to name a few) were all either already at the stadium, or would be leaving for the game shortly.

She had the whole house to herself for the next several hours, and she didn't know what made her more anxious; the fact that she was alone, or the little niggling thought that had been in the back of her head for the past several days that said that she _wasn't_ alone. That she'd never be alone again.

Cecilia grabbed a granola bar from the kitchen –she had skipped lunch at the office that day, choosing instead to work through it– and ran up the stairs to her bedroom even though she could have gone into any other room in the large house. She shut her door tightly behind her, and even locked it with magic for good measure. She sat down in the middle of her bed, and she pulled her knees up to her chest.

Her heart had started beating double-time the minute she heard the loud crack of disapparation that took her mother and little brother away, and it was only starting to slow down now that she was curling in on herself and contracting all of her limbs and muscles so that she was taking up as little space as possible.

The soreness from how rigidly she held her body was almost calming in a way. It was a feeling other than anxiety and guilt.

Cecilia had always been a small female. When she was born she was a tiny baby –not smaller than someone who was born premature, but on the smaller end of the spectrum for healthy babies. When she was a little girl, she was forever referred to as _petite_. Every part of her was normally proportioned, she was just on the smaller end of the spectrum –again. When those awkward puberty years began Cecilia had hoped that she'd at least shoot up in height like most of the other girls her age, unfortunately, it seemed that the universe had either not heard her plea or had decided to ignore it entirely.

Statistically speaking, she knew that most daughters ended up growing at least an inch or two taller than their own mothers. It was just her bad luck that her mother was also rather short. In the end, Cecilia couldn't even claim to be taller than her own mother, if anything she was rather certain that she was actually a few inches shorter than Katie's already short height –not that her mother would ever admit that, she always performed her role as a proper mother and tried to boost her daughter's self-esteem.

Cecilia had come to accept that she was going to have to go through life on the shorter side, and she had made her peace with it. Being a Gryffindor, and having been born with a naturally happy and outgoing personality meant that even though she was on the shorter side, she still gave the impression of being a formidable woman when she needed to (there was good reason why Anish avoided good-naturedly make fun of her _to her face_ when they were at Hogwarts after all).

She had always prided herself on occupying more space in the world than what would have been designated hers based on the size of her stature alone.

But now she didn't.

Now she tried to shrink in on herself, and was subconsciously attempting to be as unobtrusive as possible.

She knew that her colleagues at work had noticed her odd behaviour, the only thing stopping them from commenting on it was the fact that they hadn't even known each other for more than half a year so they didn't feel as though it was their place.

Instead of craving notice and attention, she was now actively trying to avoid it. Trying to avoid people talking to her, looking at her, and even thinking about her. She essentially physically avoided her family, Louis, and her other friends the past few days, and Cecilia knew that it was only going to get worse.

She knew that she shouldn't be doing these things, feeling these things, but she couldn't stop.

Every time she even thought about talking to someone, her body would flinch and shrink down even smaller.

Being a small woman, she didn't think that she could get much smaller.

Ever the over-achiever though, she kept proving herself wrong.

She tried to stop the thoughts, she thought it would be easy because she wasn't consciously inviting them, but trying to ignore them only made them more insistent.

She tried to ignore the thoughts, but it would have been easier to stop breathing.

So, Cecilia sat on her bed and thought and shrank in on herself.

And thought.

And shrank.

And thought

* * *

 **5: 10 PM**

"Ally!"

Ally turned her head to her right just in time to see Brogan Wood fly towards her and latch onto her leg.

The little boy smiled brightly up at Ally as he hugged her leg, and she was sure that anyone else who was in the same box as them at the Puddlemere United stadium would have thought the scene looked completely adorable, if they were looking. However, there was no one else in the Puddlemere box –which held mostly family members of players on the team– looking at them because the game had started ten minutes ago and they were all watching Nadia race towards the side of the pitch that held the Cannon's keeper.

"Hey Bro," Ally replied brightly as she patted his back.

She was sort of in charge of the littlest Wood for the night since Oliver was working and Katie was talking shop with other people in the box.

"I need to pee."

Ally eyed Brogan warily for a moment before quickly turning her head from side-to-side to see who the closest male to her was.

It was Malcolm, and he was staring so intently at his girlfriend playing quidditch that Brogan could have been climbing right on top of him and the elder Wood probably wouldn't have even noticed.

"The game started ten minutes ago Brogan," Ally reminded him gently.

He nodded his head enthusiastically but didn't say anything in response.

"Didn't you go before the game started?" Ally questioned him.

He nodded his head again, his smile still on his face.

"But you still need to pee?"

"Yup."

Ally sighed, but she ended up grabbing Brogan's hand and walking with him out of the box. They found the closest bathroom, and since Brogan was only four Ally mentally thought 'why-the-bloody-Hell-not-?' and took him into the ladies room with her. He used the toilet all the while excitedly telling Ally about the Puddlemere United underwear he was wearing to match his jersey –which earned Ally some odd looks from two witches who were using the restroom mirrors to reapply their lipstick. When he was finished he washed his hands for about seven minutes straight before Ally could was able to convince him that his hands were clean enough, and they hastily exited the loo before Brogan could tell yet another person about the fact that he had his big brother's quidditch number printed on his underwear.

She fully intended to bring Brogan back to the box before they missed any more of the game (she didn't believe that he was satisfied with the numbers of complete strangers he had told about his underpants so she wanted to get him back to his mother quick), but before she could steer him in the right direction he excitedly asked her a new question.

"Can I get a soda?"

Ally frowned down at him and raised an eyebrow, "You're thirsty now?"

"And hungry. Can I have a pretzel too?" Her little soon-to-be brother-in-law asked while adorably batting his eyelashes up at her.

She sighed again and then allowed him to steer her towards the concession stands while mumbling, "You and your soft pretzel obsession."

Brogan chatted animatedly to her while they waited for their turn at the front of the concession stand, (thankfully not about his underwear) and all Ally really needed to do was nod her head and say 'Is that so?' every once in a while. When they were two-people away from the front of the line, Ally reminded Brogan that if he didn't feel as though he could finish the pretzel that he didn't have to eat it all. She didn't want him to eat until he felt sick, especially since it was still early on in the game and chances were that it would probably be _her_ that he would get sick on.

All in all it didn't take Ally and Brogan that long to finally get the soda and pretzel, and they were just about to leave the concession area to go back to their box when Ally felt a small body bump into the back of her legs. She took a minute to double-check that Brogan was still standing next to her instead of behind her, and then she twisted around to find a familiar-looking six-year-old boy.

"Zach! What have I told you about running off when we're in a crowd?" A strained and harried sounding woman yelled as she jogged up to her fugitive son.

Clark's sister Tabitha grabbed her son's hand before he could get away again, and then began profusely apologizing for Zach's behaviour before she even had a chance to recognize that it was actually Ally that he had run into and not a random stranger.

"It's fine Tabitha," Ally said quickly smiling down at the little boy who looked as though he didn't understand why his mother's face was red, "How're you doing?"

Tabitha physically relax when she recognized Ally, and she let out a grateful sigh, "Oh it's you Ally. Hello, how're you? I'm sorry again about Zach-"

"It's okay Tabitha, really. Brogan would be halfway across the stadium right now if he wasn't so distracted by that soft pretzel."

Tabitha and Ally automatically glanced towards the four-year-old who stood beside Ally, still holding onto her with his left hand, and munching on the rather large soft pretzel that he held in his right.

"How do you do that?" Tabitha asked a little jealousy as she watched the content four-year-old. Her son was only two years older than Brogan Wood, but there were probably toddlers out there who could stand still longer than her Zach could. In fact, while Brogan looked happy enough to eat his pretzel while Ally spoke with Tabitha, Zach was starting to drift away from his mother's side and she had only grabbed his hand a few seconds ago.

Ally glanced back down at Brogan and shrugged, "I didn't train him, his parents should take the credit. Although, if were asking for tips, I'd like to know how you get Zach to abstain from telling every other person who passes by about the fact that he's got Puddlemere United underwear on."

"Pardon?" Tabitha asked confusedly, she didn't really understand Ally's words.

As if to prove her point, Brogan swallowed the present mouthful of bread he was chewing on and helpfully piped up, "I've got Xavier's number on my underpants!"

"Ah," Tabitha replied, now understanding, "That's easy. Don't give him underwear worth talking about. I'm sure if Zach had Uncle Clark's name on his underwear he would tell everyone he met as well."

Ally chuckled, "Now I know what to suggest Clark get Zach for Christmas."

Tabitha laughed as well, but Zach seemed to be getting a little impatient and he started pulling on his mother's hand as he stepped as far away from her as he could while still technically in his mother's clutches.

"Are you just coming to the concession stands or going?" Ally asked as she eyed the restless six-year-old who held a bottle of water in his hand.

Tabitha nodded her head in the opposite direction of the concession area, "Just passing through, we're on our way to a box, tickets curtesy of Uncle Clark of course."

"Of course," Ally replied with a smile. She assumed that the tickets were for the same box that she and Brogan were heading to, and when she asked Tabitha what the number on the ticket was, she was pleased to see that her guess was correct.

The two women made the trek back to the box area together, both of them dragging their respective charges along by their hands behind them, and once they got to their seats both boys enthusiastically shook off the hands of their guardians and then ran to get the seats with the bets view of the game.

Since a lot of the people in the box were at the game for the purpose to talk to other people in the box, there were still several prime viewing seat available. Brogan and Zach climbed into seats beside Malcolm, and Ally and Tabitha opted for seats directly behind the two boys.

"So how have you been Tabitha? It's been almost two weeks since I saw you last at the Hallowe'en ball. Did you enjoy yourself?" Ally asked the other woman conversationally as they watched the back and forth of the chasers, beaters, and keepers in the air.

Tabitha smiled shyly, "Yes actually, I had a lot of fun. It was nice to get out of the house and do something decidedly grown-up and without a six-year-old. I can't even remember the last time I had to get dressed up all nice for an event like that, even if I was just going as my brother's date so that he wouldn't embarrass his team."

"That might have been what got you there," Ally said turning to give the woman a sly look, "But you and I both know that you weren't just spending time with Clark at the ball. If I remember correctly, I believe I saw you dancing a little with Mark as well."

Tabitha blushed a little as she replied, "Yes. What's your point?"

"Well I'm certain that _he_ doesn't think of you like a sister . . ."

Tabitha's little blush grew until her whole face was red, "No, just as the sister of his friend."

Ally rolled her eyes, "Friends don't normally stare longing at their friend's sisters like Mark was staring at you."

"No he wasn't," Tabitha replied automatically. She paused for a moment before glancing curiously at Ally, "Was he?"

Ally smirked, "Take it from someone who fancied a close friend of hers for almost a solid year before she did anything about it; he was staring longingly at you. He looks at you like I used to look at Xavier. And look, now we're engaged and looking at houses that are probably way too big for the two of us, but that I'm told we will eventually grow into."

"Oh, so have you and Xavier found a house you especially like?" Tabitha asked, conspicuously changing the subject.

Ally frowned at her and even wagged her finger, "Nuh uh. No you don't. We're not done talking about you and Mark."

"There is no me and Mark," Tabitha argued.

"Not yet, but wouldn't you like there to be?" Ally asked getting straight to the point.

She had always tried to be subtle and indirect when talking to Tabitha about Mark –or Mark about Tabitha– but the slow and gentle route didn't seem to be working. She was ready to knock her head against the wall from their obliviousness, and she was done with just standing by and allowing them to make all of the choices just for themselves. Ally wondered if this is what Victoire felt like when she was watching her and Xavier stumble and bumble around each other for half of her sixth-year. If it was, she felt like she owed Victoire an apology for being such a plank about the whole thing.

Tabitha's eyes widened in shock at Ally's daring question, but it didn't take her as long as Ally thought it would to reply, "It would never work."

"Tabith-"

"I mean, he's a hot, popular, professional quidditch player who's used to the glamourous first circles, and I'm a single mom who spend her nights doing laundry and packing school lunches."

"Tabi-"

"Not to mention the fact that I've got all of this emotional baggage and a six-year-old son, and he's got a nice and uncomplicated life. He could probably date anyone he wants –or more than just one anyone he wants at a time even-"

"Tab-"

"And Helga Hufflepuff he's my brother's best friend _and_ his beater partner at work. If it didn't work out between the two of us-"

"TABITHA!" Ally yelled loud enough to break through the other woman's rambling downward spiral.

It was also loud enough for Malcolm, Zach, and Brogan to hear from their seats in front of them. All three boys turned to look at Ally and Tabitha, and the three of them pouted adorably at the two woman and told them very sternly to ' _Shhh!_ '. The looks on the two little boys' faces and the one big boy's face made the two woman start to giggle. Since the boys were very serious though, they tried their best to hold in their giggles, and were quiet until Malcolm, Zach, and Brogan finally turned around and got lost in the game again.

After the boys were once again thoroughly distracted, Ally looked at Tabitha, "Mark likes you Tabitha, I know he does. And all of those excuses that you just listed, I know that he would have arguments against them if he ever heard them. He'd tell you that his life isn't _that_ glamourous, that most evenings he goes home to his empty apartment and pretty much eats his weight in food recommended by the team's nutritionist before passing out from exhaustion. That _everyone_ has baggage in their life, even if it isn't as visible as an adorable six-year-old. And yes, while he could probably date anyone he wants, or more than one person he wants, he has had plenty of time to do so in the past few months, heck the past several years, and from what I've heard he hasn't exactly taken advantage of it. Finally, Mark is Clark's best friend, and his beating partner, but Clark doesn't get any say in whether you and Mark want to see each other as more than just friends. In addition, Clark may act childish at times, and it may take some time for him to adjust to this idea, but I think that he'd grow to enjoy the idea that his friend and his sister are more than just friends."

Tabitha looked down at her hands as she contemplated Ally's words. She had a silver ring around the ring finger on her right hand, with a beautiful light blue stone set in the middle. Ally recognized the stone as Aquamarine, and even though it very well could have been Tabitha's birthstone, she had a feeling that it was probably Zach's. Tabitha spun the ring around on her finger as she continued to turn over Ally's words in her mind.

Ally reached out and placed her hand on Tabitha's knee, "Obviously you have a lot to consider, and this is a big decision for many reasons. But you don't have to decide right this minute what you want to do. I just want to point out that it is possible that you're overthinking this, and that sometimes it's worth it to take a risk. I know it was for me."

Tabitha nodded a little and then went back to closely watching the quidditch game. Ally watched Tabitha for a moment. She noticed that the other woman grinned when she saw Clark hit a bludger very hard towards one of the Cannon's chasers. A few minutes later Mark also hit a bludger towards a different Cannon's chaser, but this time Tabitha just watched with a fond, sweet smile. Her eyes followed Mark for a few more minutes even though the rest of the crowd were watching the other side of the pitch where Xavier stopped the quaffle from flying through Puddlemere's centre hoop.

Ally watched all of this silently, and then sighed heavily. She planted a little seed, but there was still some watering and pruning needed to help it bloom into something more solid.

* * *

 **6:58 PM**

Eliza couldn't stop grinning.

Even though she had had a bit of a rough year (discovering that she was pregnant before she had even graduated Hogwarts, getting pregnant by a classmate who she didn't actually like all that much, losing a lot of her so-called friends because she got pregnant at seventeen, etc.) there had been several times when she _did_ feel happy, and when she _did_ smile in the past several months. They were always small smiles though, always slightly self-conscious in the very back of her head. They were loving when she sent them at Rowan, and tinged with appreciation when she smiled at Cecilia or Victoire.

However, she couldn't remember the last time that she really smiled; the last time she threw her head back and laughed aloud and actually felt her stress melt away with her joy.

But now she was just happy. There was no self-consciousness, no guilt, no embarrassment, and no shame. It took a little bit of work, but she forced all of the other feelings away, compartmentalized it, and just allowed herself to feel.

And it seemed to be working pretty well too.

Baxter had stopped by her flat at six-thirty sharp –ever punctual the graduated Hufflepuff was– and their date officially started.

It wasn't even a half hour later, and Eliza already felt the muscles on her face starting to get sore with the strain they were under from all of the smiling.

"That's not even the funniest part," Baxter was saying to her as he continued the anecdote about a few years ago when the extended Weasley family was on a camping trip.

"So there we all were, standing in front of the girls' tent –which mind you, was absolutely drenched in rice pudding both inside and out, from Freddie and James's dessert bomb, along with all of the girls themselves– and the two troublemakers in question just gaze up at an extremely sticky Victoire and said oh so innocently 'But we thought that rice pudding was your favourite Vic?'. Now, have you ever seen Vic really riled up? Like hands on Veela fire angry?"

Eliza thought back for a minute, she had seen Victoire angry a few times, but she'd never seen the older woman with her hands on fire from blue flame.

"No," Eliza decided with a laugh, "I don't think I've ever seen her quite that angry."

Baxter chuckled, "You're lucky then, because you don't ever want to see her that angry. Granted, she is in much better control of her anger than she was at the time of this story, but still, she's a sight that you don't want to behold when she's angry. Anyway, she looks about ready to hex Freddie and James into puddles of mush, and I'm fairly certain that the only thing that stopped her from doing so was the fact that they were only ten and they weren't old enough to have wands yet-"

"Wait," Eliza interrupted with an incredulous chuckle, "Freddie and James didn't even have wands yet? How did they make a dessert bomb then?"

"They were always very industrious," Baxter explained with a nod of his head, "So the fact that they weren't able to magically defend themselves saved them, and they got off with just a very scary telling off from Vic. The girls ended up having to bunk in our tent –the boys' tent– that night, but first all of us boys had to stand outside the tent for about an hour and a half until the girls had showered cleaned all of the rice pudding off of themselves."

Eliza titled her head to the side in confusion, "So wait, the tent had a shower but not a separate room for you boys to wait in until they got cleaned up?"

"Oh no, the tent _did_ have a few separate rooms, but it was part of Vic's punishment to make us all stand outside at ten-thirty at night. Even though it was the summer, the woods did get rather cold at night. By the time we were finally allowed back into the tent, the girls had already taken all of the bunkbeds and cots. Thankfully Teddy wasn't afraid of Victoire's wrath, and he'd decided that the rest of us had suffered enough by proxy and took out his wand to duplicate some of the cots and sleeping bags for everyone but James and Freddie. They also had to clean up the tent the other day by hand."

"Couldn't Victoire or Teddy have just cleaned up all of the rice pudding with magic instead of needing to sleep in a different tent?" Eliza asked.

Baxter shook his head, "Victoire was underage so she wasn't allowed to do magic outside of school. She still did a lot of magic outside of school mind you, but the amount of cleaning spells the tent would have needed would definitely have caught the attention of the Ministry. As for Teddy, he _was_ seventeen at the time, but he wasn't very good at the types of cleaning spells he would have needed to do, so he couldn't guarantee that he wouldn't mess it up even worse than it was. The parents of course, were not camping with us that night, but were going to stop by again in the morning, so they were a little surprised the next day when they arrived and found James and Freddie scrubbing rice pudding out of the fabric of the tent."

Eliza laughed at the image of a petulant James and Freddie on their knees scrubbing dried rice pudding off of an entire tent.

"Oh, and to this day Victoire hates even the words rice pudding. James and Freddie do as well, so none of us have really had a good rice pudding in years," Baxter said, ending the story.

Eliza knew that her family stories weren't quite as convoluted and entertaining as Baxter's were, but he still laughed at all of the proper places when she shared her anecdotes.

They were having dinner at a wizarding restaurant that was in a decidedly muggle neighbourhood. The restaurant was run by wizards, but they welcomed the unknowing muggles into the restaurant, and enjoyed watching the muggles compliment all of the magical aspects of the restaurant that they considered 'cool special effects'.

The food was fantastic, and the restaurant itself was both comfortable and enchanting. Eliza could feel the hum of magic when they walked through the door, and she was surprised that none of the muggles could feel it. She glanced around the room, and her eyes settled on a little muggle-looking boy, about seven years old, who was sitting a few tables away from them with his muggle-looking parents. He was watching the ceiling (which was charmed with different spells that made the ceiling change colour based on each person's individual emotional climate or preference). The little boy looked up at the ceiling with a thoughtful expression, before scrunching his face up. A second later he gasped in happy shock, and he scrunched his face up once more. His parents were oblivious to his actions, but the little boy knew that there was something different about his surroundings.

Eliza felt Baxter watching her and she glanced at him, "Do you think he can tell?"

"Definitely, he's got that look that says that he's discovered something magical and out of this world," Baxter replied with a fond smile.

He then looked sweetly and thoughtfully at Eliza, "Do you remember the first time you saw something magical? The first time you suspected that there was something more going on?"

Eliza smiled happily, she was pretty sure that Cecilia was the only other person who had ever asked her that.

"I think I was around six. I was at a birthday party and there was a clown who did magic tricks. He asked me to come up and help with a trick. It was the old trick where he hides a ball under a cup. He'd fixed it so that the ball was hidden and no longer visible, and he gave me his fake wand and asked me to take it and tap the cup to make the ball disappear. So I did. When he tried to make the ball reappear, it wouldn't come back and the clown couldn't for the life of him figure out where the ball for the trick went. When I got back home from the party, I found the ball on top of my pillow at home. When I picked it up it sparked with this-this energy that I couldn't describe at the time. It wasn't until I was older that I realized that I must have somehow magicked the ball back to my room. When I touched it, it felt like it held some of my magic, almost as if I had transferred some magic to it during the other spell process, and there was still some trapped inside."

Eliza couldn't hold her smile in as she thought back to the memory.

"I even brought the little ball with me when I first came to Hogwarts."

Baxter grinned in response, "That's nice. Magic had always been a part of my upbringing, so I don't remember it ever feeling like magic to me. It never really felt new and exciting. I was happy of course when I finally got old enough to get a wand and actually use magic, but I always wondered what it would feel like to see magic for the first time."

"It can be overwhelming when you first understand that you're seeing magic, and it's hard to grasp when magic's always been something you see in movies, and read about in fairy tales."

Baxter nodded understandingly, "I'm sure it would be very overpowering."

"It was, but I wouldn't want to go back to before I knew about it. Before I could feel the magic, but I didn't know what it was. It was hard to tap into, but when I found out that I had magic, it was like a door was unlocked. It was like my ignorance had put up a wall and made it difficult for me to tap into what was there, only breaching it when my emotions were out of control or when I purposely tried to tap into it," Eliza explained thoughtfully.

"But now everything's open and free?"

Eliza nodded, "I don't think the door is even still there."

They continued to converse freely throughout their dinner, and Eliza was happily surprised to find that there were no awkward lulls in their conversation. She wasn't so sure how the evening would go considering how awkward they were around each other sometimes –especially when she was so tongue-tied when she asked him out on the date in the first place– so she was both a little taken aback about their easy rapport and very pleased by it.

She had been on a handful of dates in her younger years at Hogwarts, but they were mostly the obligatory awkward Hogsmead dates that hardly ever led to an actual relationship. In fact, her longest lasting relationship wasn't actually much of a relationship at all. It was the enemies-with-benefits or whatever-it-was thing she had with Benjamin for those few months before she found out she was pregnant with Rowan.

Her date with Baxter was completely different from all of the other dates she'd been on, and it was the first one she had been on that made her feel like a real adult. It was going well –which was the main difference from all of the other dates she'd had– and she found herself really enjoying herself, and all the anxiety she thought she'd feel being on a date with Baxter and away from Rowan, was actually non-existent. The awkwardness that always seemed to surround them when they were in each other's vicinity vanished that night. It seemed all they needed to do to dissipate the permanent awkwardness between them was to finally define their roles in each other's lives.

Now that they were out on a date by themselves, and now that they knew they were both romantically interested in each other, they knew how to act around each other. And they were having a very good time thank you very much.

By the time they were finished with their meals, Eliza's sides were sore from laughing, and she cheerfully added them to the list of parts of her body that were sore from the good time she was having along with her cheeks and her diaphragm.

"So did you and Molly decide what you're going to get your parents for Christmas?" Eliza asked cheerfully as she took a sip of her water.

Baxter rolled his eyes cheekily, "Not exactly. We did come up with a list of things we might get them, but we haven't decided yet. I thought of another thing to add to the list this afternoon, but Louis told me not to bother because it was rubbish."

"Well what did you come up with?" Eliza asked.

"A monogramed ironing board cover."

Eliza stared at him for a minute, not sure whether he was being serious or not, "Really?"

Baxter nodded his head emphatically, "Yes really. They like monogramed stuff at their home, and they don't have a monogramed ironing board cover. Also, Molly might have told me that last week she accidentally burned a hole in the one that's on there right now, and that she's been hiding it from them ever since."

Eliza laughed, "Ah, so it's a practical gift."

"Exactly! Louis just didn't appreciate my genius."

Eliza chuckled again and then questioned, "What's Louis up to tonight?"

"He was going to call Cecilia and see if she wanted to come around to our flat to hang out. He hasn't seen her since she got back from Scotland and he's becoming _so_ soppy about it," Baxter explained.

Eliza frowned a little, "I haven't really spoken to her since she came back from Scotland either. She's sent me a few text messages, but she hasn't stopped by for a visit or called my mobile this week."

"Weird, she's been busy at work this week though. And so has Louis, he had twelve hour days this week, and he's about to switch to a night shift for next week, starting tomorrow night," Baxter said.

Eliza grimaced in sympathy, "Ugh, a night shift of magical law enforcement training? That's got to be awful."

Baxter nodded in agreement, and then their waiter came by to pick up their dinner dishes.

"Do you want dessert this evening?"

Eliza smirked at Baxter and then turned to the waiter, "Do you have rice pudding?"

The waiter beamed, "We have an excellent rice pudding, in fact the chef puts his own spin on it and adds orange and lemon peels for an added zest."

Eliza glanced at Baxter with an inquisitive raised eyebrow, allowing him to make the final decision.

Baxter smirked back at her, "Sounds good."

The waiter left, and they kept up steady conversation about favourite desserts until the waiter eventually came back with one rather large dessert bowl filled with the dessert. They each picked up a spoon and dug into the dessert.

"I haven't had rice pudding since I was a kid, but that was because my Mum just stopped making it, not because my cousin suddenly had a grudge against it," Eliza commented.

Baxter chuckled, "Victoire can be dramatic sometimes. During our childhood she also vetoed all Australian folk dancing, as well as running shoes with those curly-cue laces."

"What? Why?"

"Various reasons," Baxter explained, "Some were understandable, some not so much. But Vic's the oldest and rather used to getting what she wants."

"I had noticed that, I don't know if it's better or worse to know that she's always been like that though," Eliza replied.

Baxter shrugged, "She's gotten better believe it or not. Hence the fact that you haven't had the distinct and extraordinary pleasure of seeing her go full Veela angry yet."

"So if I see her hands glowing I should get out A. S. A. P.?" Eliza questioned.

"Yes. But she also gets angry without the Veela fire, you should have seen her when she found out her wand was broken in her seventh-year. If the bloke who broke it wasn't already in Auror Department custody, she probably would have done something extremely painful to him," Baxter relayed.

Eliza laughed as she imagined Victoire being let loose on someone who broke her wand, "Speaking of wands, how's work going?"

Baxter explained the finer details of wand making/fixing as they ate the rice pudding, and ever the Ravenclaw, Eliza was asking very specific questions about the art, and she was hanging onto everything he said.

The discussion of wands and wandmaking continued as they finished dessert, and later into a cup of tea each. By the time they thought that they should be polite and give up their table to other people, it got a little chilly outside and they spent a few minutes making sure that their coats were buttoned and their scarves were wrapped properly before exiting the restaurant.

The next leg of the date was about a ten minute walk away, and in between the middle of the small bustling Muggle town was a thickly wooden area that looked untouched by the muggles. When Baxter and Eliza stopped in front of the wooded area, she noted that the foliage was filled with lights, and that soft music was floating from the direction of the wood. None of the muggles who walked by even so much as glanced at the wooded area, so Eliza assumed that this was a part of the wizarding world that they couldn't see.

Eliza glanced at Baxter curiously, "What's this?"

"This little bit of wood is rumoured to be the area that Shakespeare based his play _A Mid Summer's Night Dream_ on. The committee for the preservation of wizarding history has turned it to a bit of a tourist spot. They've essentially added lights, music, and other décor along with signs throughout that takes you through the story of the play," Baxter explained.

Eliza knew from her years in the wizarding world that wizards claimed Shakespeare as a fellow wizard.

"How did you know that I like this play?"

Baxter blushed red, "I noticed the play on your bookshelf last week."

Eliza felt her heart skip a beat, "It's one of my favourites."

"So you want to go?"

"Of course."

Eliza beamed at Baxter, and she grabbed his hand before dragging him towards the entrance of the woods.

She was almost overwhelmed by everything she saw along the walk in the woods, and even though in any other circumstance she might have thought the woods sinister at night, the lights and the décor made the entire woods seem absolutely magical. It was the kind of magic that Eliza had always imagined she'd find in the wizarding world, but that she'd yet to find.

Whoever was on the committee for the preservation of wizarding history did a fantastic job of bringing Shakespeare's whimsical comedy to life, and when they reached the end of the story Eliza felt like she was almost on a high. Or what she assumed a high would feel like since she'd never been on any type of drug or alcohol induced high before.

At the end of the walk, Baxter asked Eliza how she liked it. They were still holding hands, so Eliza took a step right up to him until her face was very close to his, "I _loved_ it."

She bit her lip, and then asked him if he wanted to go back to her flat for a cup of tea. He agreed right away, and they apparated away to her flat together.

When they entered the flat Eliza told Baxter to make himself comfortable on the couch, and she busied herself with making tea. Sometimes when Benjamin visited, she would make tea the muggle way just to extend the process and put off actually having to speak to him. Tonight however, with Baxter, she used her magic to speed up the entire process, and she was back in the living room with two mugs of tea relatively quickly.

She sat down next to Baxter on the couch, leaving only a bit of space between them, and they immediately began talking about their favourite parts of the Shakespeare walk.

As their conversation drew to a close, they elapsed into a comfortable silence. Eliza set her mug down and turned so she was facing Baxter, she caught him gazing at her with a decidedly fond expression, and then the next few seconds were a blur.

She wasn't sure exactly how it happened, but the how didn't seem to matter because one minute she was staring at the warm brown of Baxter's eyes, and the next she had her eyes shut completely so she could focus on the sensation of her lips brushing against his. Her hands were in his hair, and even though she _knew_ their first kiss should probably sweet and hesitant, on her side it was firm and confident.

Her heart beat double-time in the two seconds it took before Baxter starting kissing her back, and her mind went blank as she tried to soak in all of the heady sensations the feeling of _him_ was arousing.

Her heart was beating fast, her skin felt flushed, her breathing was getting shallow, and her stomach was full of jubilant butterflies. During their kiss –while their lips brushed and pressed against each other's– Baxter's hands drifted up to cradle Eliza's face, and she thought that she may just faint from the tenderness of everything.

She was having a difficult time breathing, and her lungs were screaming for air, so she reluctantly pulled away and opened up her eyes to gauge Baxter's reaction.

He was breathing heavily as well, and his face was flushed and his eyes were bright. His expression was one of pure happiness and a slight tinge of wonder. The look on his face made her want to snog him senseless, and it took her a full three seconds before she realized that as of a minute ago, she could do _exactly_ that. She smiled brightly at him, and he grinned back as he leant forward to kiss her again.

* * *

 **8:54 PM**

Cecilia slowly trudged down the stairs to grab a banana –the one granola bar she'd eaten when she got home a few hours ago no longer sating her hunger– and she was just about to grab the yellow fruit when she heard the front door to her home open, followed by the footsteps and sounds of a joyous group.

Cecilia quietly swore and tried to climb the stairs back up to her room before someone in the living room could think to check for her in the kitchen. She'd only made it halfway up the stairs in the kitchen when she heard her mother's voice call out her name.

"Cee-Cee! We're home!"

She sighed and then figured that if she went out and asked the requisite questions about the game, she could escape the room as soon as they answered her. She dragged her feet as she made her way into the living room, which sounded as though it was bustling with energy, and she only made it about four feet into the room until she stopped dead.

"Hello Cecilia."

The voice turned the blood in Cecilia's veins to ice. Her heart constricted in her chest, her legs felt weak, and her vision started to go black around the edges –but that may have been because she'd stopped breathing at the sight of him.

She forced herself to inhale, and on the exhale she gasped out, "Eli."

Eli Martell was standing in her parents' living room, four feet from her, and giving her a bloody smirk that she was sure he used whenever he was trying to _charm_ someone. On one side of him was her father, grinning from ear to ear as he said something to his old teammate; and on the other side of Eli was his very pregnant wife Candace Martell.

Cecilia felt her insides starting to boil, and she barely heard her father speaking to her.

"You missed a great game Cee-Cee! We ran into Eli and Candace there and invited them to come back here after the game-"

Cecilia tuned out when she heard that her dad was just stating the obvious, and her heart began beating so fast in her chest she could no longer hear her father, or even her mother speak over its sound. Her muscles bunched up in anticipation, and she could feel the adrenalin jolting into her system. Her fight or flight response was kicking in, so she followed her instincts.

"I was just about to leave."

Oliver and Katie stopped talking to the Martells, and eyed Cecilia with surprise. Beside them Eli just raised an eyebrow at her, creating a challenging expression on his confident face.

"For what? It's nine o'clock Cecilia," Oliver reminded her needlessly.

Cecilia was already on her way to the front door, taking the route that would take her farthest from Eli as she went, "I'm going to go see Louis."

Katie frowned at Cecilia as she reached the door, "I thought you already went to see him earlier?"

"He had to work late, he just got off now," Cecilia lied as she put her hand on the doorknob and twisted it open.

Oliver nodded at Cecilia's words, but he nodded in the direction of the Martells, "But are you sure you don't want to sta-"

"Bye."

Cecilia has left the house and slammed the door shut behind her before her father could finish his question.

No. She did not want to bloody stay so she could be tormented by Eli's bloody smug looks while she sat next to his bloody pregnant wife.

She knew that her parents would be confused by her odd exit, but she couldn't stay in the house while he was there.

 _Him_. In _her_ home.

When she reached the end of the lane that led to her house she disapparated with a loud _crack_.

She reappeared in the middle of bustling London, and she looked around herself for a moment to take in exactly where she had apparated herself to. When she recognized the street as one just off of Diagon Alley that held several wizarding establishments, she calmed down a little.

Cecilia had told her parents that she was going to see Louis, but she wasn't.

She was barely keeping it together as it was, but seeing a smirking Eli in her own home almost made her crumble, and going to see Louis would only make her feel worse. Even the thought of finally seeing him in person after almost a whole week made the guilt in her body awaken and start to seep into her bones, muscles, and organs again. Once it settled into her it began to constrict around her organs and began to choke the air out of her.

Cecilia looked around the street again and jogged over to the closest bar. It wasn't a seedy, or a very busy place because it was still relatively early on a Friday night, and she entered the bar and sat down by herself at a spot for two. A waitress immediately came over to her and asked her for her order, and Cecilia belatedly realized that she didn't have her ID on her. She did have a few sickles in her pocket though, so she ordered a non-alcoholic drink and then pulled out her mobile phone.

The screen was filled with text messages and two missed calls. Louis and Eliza had both tried to call her earlier in the day, Louis just when he must have gotten off work, and Eliza about an hour before she was going to meet Baxter for their date. She refrained from answering either call, and didn't respond to the text messages that followed.

She felt guilty for ignoring her boyfriend and friends, but she felt even guiltier when she thought about actually telling them about everything.

Eventually the waitress came back with Cecilia's drink, and she thanked the waitress before looking back to her phone. She had brought up Louis's contact information on her mobile, and her thumb was hovering over the 'call' button. She debated over whether or not to call Louis about ten different times, and she was on a 'no-I-shouldn't' trip when she felt someone tap her on the shoulder.

Cecilia jumped up from her seat at the contact, and her head whipped round until she saw a person behind her who had tapped her shoulder.

"Cecilia?"

The dark haired girl clutched at her heart and stared in shock at the tall redhead standing just behind her.

"Dom."

Dominique Weasley looked a little warily at her little brother's girlfriend, "Hey, what're you doing out and about by yourself?"

Cecilia swallowed thickly and tried to think of a believable lie. As her mind raced for a plausible excuse, she eyed Dom and noted that the older woman was dressed in a tight dark green dress and stiletto high-heeled shoes. She was obviously ready for a night out, and Dom must have spotted her through the bar's large windows as she walked by on the street.

"I–I was headed to Eliza's to ask her how her date with Baxter went. She texted me and told me she's still out with him, but since I was out I thought I'd just wait here for her to text me that she was done," Cecilia created wildly.

Dom eyed Cecilia speculatively, "Ok-ay."

There was silence for a minute before Dom spoke again, "Are you sure you're going with that?"

Cecilia frowned, "It's the truth."

"Alright," Dom said putting her hands up, "So you're waiting here, by yourself, for Eliza to text you to come over to her apartment? Why don't you just apparate to Louis's flat and wait there? You two can snog and when Baxter comes home you'll know that Eliza's back at her place."

Cecilia's throat constricted, "I'm fine here."

"Okay, whatever," Dom replied with a careless shrug.

There was another charged silence.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Cecilia couldn't meet Dom's eyes, "Talk about what?"

"Whatever it is that made you jump three feet in their air when I tapped your shoulder."

"I'm fine."

"Alright."

Dom and Cecilia stared at each other for another minute. The elder girl broke the silence again and slowly reached out to place her hand on the younger girl's shoulder.

Cecilia did her best not to flinch at Dom's touch.

"You've got my mobile number if you need me." And then Dom was gone.

Cecilia looked down at her drink when she was alone once again, and then back over to her phone. Louis's contact information was still on the front screen. She pressed the icon for her contact book and began to scroll through the numbers. She paused briefly at the names _Eliza Parker_ , _Ally Weasley_ , and _Victoire Weasley_. She had passed by Eliza's name because she knew that she was probably still on her date; and then she looked at the names of Ally and Victoire separated by the names of all of the other Weasleys who had mobile phones. Below Victoire's name was _Xavier Wood_ and Cecilia was so close to pressing that button and asking her brother if she could stay the night at his flat.

She shook her head at her brother's name, and then pressed the name that was listed alphabetically between _Victoire Weasley_ and _Xavier Wood_.

She pressed the call button, and waited a few seconds until someone picked up on the other end.

"Malcolm?"

* * *

 **A/N:** So . . . what did we think? Obviously Eli's an asshat, but exactly how awful do we think he is? Also, Cecilia's not quite there yet to tell everyone what happened, but it hasn't even been a full week since the assault happened so I think it's still understandable. Ally finally squeezed some info out of Tabitha about her feelings for Mark, and how cute was Brogan? And finally, What did we think of Baxter and Eliza's date?

 **Next Chapter:** It is written, so I can tell you that we get lots of Teddy/Vic, and there's also a Weasley family Sunday night dinner, and those are always fun. We also get to see Eliza and Benjamin talking after Eliza and Baxter's date.

 **Next Update:** Sooner than a month I hope.

Teaser for Next Chapter:

 **The boy automatically looked over his shoulder and then back to Victoire and Teddy. He opened his mouth to say something, but he paused suddenly and then did a double-take when he looked at Victoire.**

 **"Aren't you that doctor lady from the magic hospital?" The boy asked her curiously.**

 **Victoire smiled encouragingly at him, "Yes I am. I'm Healer Weasley, do you remember me?"**

Thanks as always to everyone who has followed, favourited, read, and reviewed!

BIG thank yous as always to:

 **HPsea, shraddhap, MuggleCreator, Cjaben1, Seher Syed, Guest (1), rosesnlilies, Break This Spell626, Guest (2), ntlpurpolia, Anonymous, Guest (3), Padfoot1099, xxTheMadHatterCharmedxx, teddyvictoire'slovechild, frozen-in-change, Jennifer Jules, BigFan, KiMaYa, cpnjky, Guest (4), kumarshantanu1999, Guest (5),** and **NicoleTheSmith**.

 **I hope everyone enjoyed this update,**

 **Please feel free to leave me any comments, questions, or concerns in a review or PM,**

 **I hope that you are all well,**

 **Until next time DFTBA!**


	45. Not So Lazy Sundays

**A/N:** Hello everyone, here's the next update! I hope everyone had a good Easter.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own _Harry Potter_.

* * *

 **Recap:** So, in the last chapter Cecilia dove even deeper into despair when Eli decided to stop by her house with his wife and chum it up with her parents. She left the house immediately, went to a bar to order tea, and had an awkward encounter with Dom. Eliza and Baxter went on their first date and Eliza had a wonderful time.

Previously in the story, Victoire healed a muggle/magical family by the name of Milligan. The mother and her two sons are magical, and the father Clyde and his daughter Lygia are muggles. The Milligans live near Elphias Doge, who has memory problems and a penchant for owling the Auror Department when he thinks something suspicious is afoot. Victoire and Teddy visit the elder man on occasion.

* * *

 **Not So Lazy Sundays**

 **Sunday, November 13th 2022**

 **10:37 AM**

Victoire gently ran her fingers across warm skin. Her index finger traced aimless lines and circles across his chest while she closed her eyes and hummed in contentment. The _very_ warm chest belonged to a _very_ awake Teddy, and he was laying rather still as she laid on top of him. Her head was tucked under his chin, and she could feel him softly run his fingers through the crazy mess that was her hair. His other hand rested at the small of her back, and he delicately dragged the calloused tips of his fingers across the bare skin he found underneath her tank top, almost exactly mimicking the illustrations _she_ was busy drawing on _his_ chest.

She sighed happily again and then opened her eyes to watch the progress of her own absentminded fingers across the canvas of his skin. Her fingers brushed over the area directly above his heart, and she could hear its beating double in speed the longer her fingers touched his flesh. She turned her head slightly and grinned into the skin around his collar bone. His fingers started to trail higher up the skin of her back, slowly tracing the ridge of her spin. He distractedly counted the number of vertebrae in her back as his fingers passed them.

Victoire's fingers leisurely slid across Teddy's chest, leaving a trail of goosebumps as they went, and across to his left arm. Her hand circled his bicep, and even though her touch was still feather light she could feel the hard muscle just below the surface of his heated skin. Her thumb found a faint scar on the underside of his bicep, and her mind drifted back to the memory of how he had received that particular scar.

They were on a camping trip with Uncle Charlie in Romania and some of the older cousins a few years back. She and Teddy had gone off into the woods to find some sort of plant that they promised Neville they'd get a sample of and bring back for him. While in the woods they stumbled upon a griffin of all things. The only two casualties of the encounter was a nick in Victoire's wand near it's' tip, and a cut on the back of Teddy's bicep. The injury to Victoire's wand came directly from the griffin swiping at her, whereas Teddy's injury came from a rock that sliced his arm when he landed on the forest floor after trying to save Victoire from the defensive swiping of said griffin. When they got back to the camp, Victoire healed Teddy's injury –blissfully ignoring the fact that she was under-aged and illegally doing magic outside of school– but she stated that she would leave the healed-over scar mark because 'witches dig scars'.

She smirked into the skin of Teddy's collar bone once more as she remembered the words she'd told him. She wouldn't say that _she_ found the scar particularly attractive on its own, but the memory of Teddy's bravery when he tried to save her from the defensive griffin _did_ add to the warm feeling that was already present in the pit of her stomach.

Victoire scrounged up the energy to lift her head, and she moved her hand to rest on Teddy's cheek. She ran her thumb over the slightly rough skin there and slowly leaned forward until her lips were just touching his. His dark sapphire eyes were focused intently on her face and he let out a slow exhale, his breath tickling the skin of her lips.

Her eyelids unintentionally fluttered shut and she closed the distance between their mouths and pressed a kiss to his lips. He gently kissed her back, letting her control the speed of the kiss. She pulled his bottom lip between hers and his hand went from softly running through her hair to grabbing a fistful of her locks and holding her head in place.

She deepened the kiss and moved her hands to wrap around the back of his head. They continued to kiss, and he slowly started to shift their position over so that she was lying on her back with him on top of her.

"Ow!"

Victoire pulled her mouth away from Teddy's and reached underneath her back to pull out a book on magical healing, which was a least a hundred years old, that had been wedged underneath her back and must have been hidden under one of the bedsheets.

She tossed the book off the side of the bed and had starting kissing her fiancé again before it was even able to hit the floor with a muted _thud_.

He had her pressed into the bed, and their hands were touching and grabbing for every piece of unclothed flesh. He pulled his lips away from hers with a groan, and he started to kiss and nip his way down her neck and towards her chest. The little flesh that her tank top did cover began to impede his otherwise steady progress, and he placed his hands at her waist and slid them up her ribcage, taking the thin piece of fabric with them. He chucked it away from them and the bed, but a second after it left his hand there was a jarring crashing sound.

Victoire and Teddy both sat up and stared at the floor on the right side of the bed.

On the floor along with Victoire's tank top was a broken lamp –undoubtedly the source of the crashing noise– and a haphazard pile of loose leaf paper that had seemed to scatter around the floor of their bedroom like large ink-filled confetti.

There was a fragment of a dark red file folder peeking out from underneath the pile of white and black paper, and Victoire belatedly realized that the mess on the floor was actually an important Auror Department file that had been sitting on Teddy's bedside table. He must have thrown her tank-top towards the table, knocking off the lamp and the file at the same time.

Teddy sighed at the mess and reluctantly got out of bed to tidy it up.

When they woke up that morning, Victoire announced that they were going to stay in bed all day and that they weren't allowed out of it until they needed to get ready for the Weasley family dinner at the Burrow that evening.

It started out like as a good idea, but by ten after nine the both of them admitted that they felt guilty for _not_ getting a start on the large workload that they had to do.

Therefore, Victoire amended the rules slightly and they both grabbed some reading material that they could study while staying in bed. She was working on her research project with Healer McDavid, and he was trying to see if there were any clues in his case file that he and his partners had missed.

They got about a half hour of half-arsed work in before they tossed their reading material aside and ended up wrapped up in each other's arms again. Evidently they didn't toss their materials that far away, because Victoire found her book stabbing her in the back when she inadvertently rolled onto it, and Teddy's had only made it as far as the bedside table.

When Teddy finally had all of the loose papers collected and placed back into the file, he grabbed his wand and cast a spell to make sure that he hadn't missed any pages. He placed the file back on the bedside table, and when he turned to look at Victoire. She was smirking cheekily at him and beckoning him to come closer to her with her index finger.

He rolled his eyes at her and then reached for a pair of pyjama pants that had been tossed to the floor even earlier that morning.

"While I'm up I thought I'd grab a glass or water. Important to stay hydrated and all that," Teddy explained as he moved away from the bed.

"Want anything?"

"You mean besides you back in the bed?"

"Yes, besides that."

"No, I'm good."

He turned to leave the room, and Victoire grinned to herself as she watched him walk away.

She sighed a little sadly when he left, and peeked over the other side of the bed to see the state of the book she'd carelessly tossed about fifteen minutes ago. Despite the book's rather old age, it was still in one piece and the spine was only slightly worn. She picked it up and did a quick inspection of the front and back covers before placing it on top of her bedside table. The healing text was borrowed from a friend of Healer McDavid's after all, and she should really be more careful with it.

Teddy came back with a glass full of water and he took a long drink of it, his Adam's apple bobbing as he drank. Victoire's eyes narrowed in on the muscles flexing and contracting in his neck as he swallowed, and she was suddenly filled with the urge to lick the skin of his neck.

While she eyed him like something she literally wanted to eat, Teddy sat back down on the bed. He held the now half-full glass of water out to her, and she pouted at it for a minute before giving in and accepting the water. The glass was cool against the palm of her hand, and she brought it up to her lips and took a few delicate sips. She drained the rest of the water and after she used wandless magic to disappear the glass back to the kitchen, she found Teddy's eyes trained on her; watching her intently.

His eyes were like dark blue fire and Victoire suddenly felt as though he could see right through her and into her soul. He moved towards her, his movements both languid and determined at the same time.

One of his arms wrapped around her waist, the other wrapping around the back of her shoulders so that he could cradle the back of her head in his hand. She stared into his eyes as he lowered his face to hers, and she let out a sound that was a mix between a breathless gasp and a content sigh when he pressed his lips to hers.

 _Tap_.

 _Tap_.

 _Tappity-tap_.

 _Tap_.

Victoire was the first one to let the annoying sound get to her, and she broke their kiss so that she could glare in the general direction of the window beside their bed.

Outside the window there was a large barn owl tapping against the window pane.

She spotted the dark red ribbon wrapped around the owl's neck, and then turned her heated glare on her fiancé.

"That better not be what I think it is."

He rolled his eyes at her –it was hard for him to be intimidated by her when her hair looked like a dragon's nest and when she had a hickey starting at the base of her neck– and he got out of the bed to go over and let the owl in. He took the rolled-up note off the leg of the ministry owl, and unrolled it to read it. The owl flew away without waiting for a reply.

"It's from the Auror Department-"

"If you are about to end that sentence with 'and I need to go in' I _will_ do bodily harm," Victoire warned.

"To me?"

Victoire pouted, "No that would be opposite to my goal. I'm gonna hurt whoever sent you the owl."

"Well there's no need to go out and injure an Auror Department employee. I don't need to go into work. But I do need to go to Elphias Doge's house."

Victoire's expression automatically went from anger to worry, "What happened?"

"They just got an owl in from him. Apparently he thinks that someone's trying to poison his plants," Teddy explained in a calm tone.

Victoire rubbed her forehead, "It's probably time he get another dose of that potion Ally makes for him anyway."

They shared a resigned look and then nodded at each other. She got up off the bed and they immediately began getting dressed and ready to go out for the day. While Teddy was brushing his teeth, Victoire text messaged Ally and asked her if she had a freshly brewed flask filled with the potion that slowed the progression of Alzheimer's disease. Ally replied back that she made up some about a week ago, and Victoire told her that she'd be by in ten minutes to pick it up.

It was midday by the time Victoire and Teddy apparated to Engollan and found themselves in front of Elphias Doge's small cottage.

Teddy knocked on the front door, and the pair waited a good five minutes before Victoire raised her hand to try knocking on the door again. Just when her knuckles were about to touch the wood grain, the front door swung open and the wizened and stooped old wizard squinted at them.

The old man's eyes lit up with recognition after only a minute of inspecting them, and he jovially greeted them and escorted them into his home.

"Victoire Weasley and Theodore Lupin! Well this is a nice surprise! How are you two kids?" Elphias asked them as he showed them into his cluttered but clean living room.

The pair sat down on the couch Elphias directed them to, and then he busied himself with going to the kitchen to make them tea. He didn't actually _offer_ them tea, a small oversight in the grand scheme of things, so the pair plastered decidedly appreciative expressions onto their faces when the old man finally came back with the tea tray.

His hands shook as he placed the tea tray on the coffee table, and he reached towards the tray pick up the first cup. Victoire moved quickly and picked up the tea pot and cups before he could.

"I'll serve."

She said it with such a bright and cheery smile that Elphias couldn't bring himself to say no. Her offer was more to speed up the whole tea pouring process than to practice her hostess skills, but she knew how she needed to frame her offer so that he would accept her help.

As Victoire poured the tea and added the appropriate amounts of sugar and milk in each cup, Teddy began engaging Elphias in benign conversation. The pair waited until Elphias was relatively comfortable and calm before they began to get to the point of their visit.

"So Elphias, do you remember a few months ago when I came to visit and brought that other auror with me?" Teddy asked in as casual a manner as he could.

The old man pursed his lips, but slowly nodded.

"And I was asking you questions about your neighbours?"

He nodded again.

"Well, when I was here it was because you contacted the Auror Department with a complaint. Have you done that recently?" Teddy asked.

Elphias's face scrunched up in a thoughtful expression, and he started to stir his teaspoon around his cup, "I don't think – I'm not sure . . ."

Teddy nodded understandingly and took a sip of his own tea to cover-up the worried look he sent Victoire.

"How's your garden doing Elphias? The last time we were here you had the most beautiful fall plants just beginning to bloom," Victoire gushed, changing the topic to something that would make him feel more comfortable.

Elphias stopped stirring his tea and he immediately beamed, "Oh yes, my pumpkins were beautiful, and they turned a perfect orange just in time for Hallowe'en."

"Are all of your plants doing well?" Teddy questioned. He remembered that Elphias's note to the Auror Department had mentioned something about his plants being poisoned.

Elphias frowned and Victoire and Teddy felt as though they were finally about to get somewhere.

"No. When I went to check on my wiggenbushes this morning –they're delicate things you know, must be watered and weeded first thing every morning-"

"May we see your garden Elphias?" Victoire questioned him, hoping that she would be able to avoid a miniature Herbology lecture on the proper care of wiggenbushes.

Elphias jumped up from his seat in excitement (or as much of a jump as his old body could handle) and showed them out to his fenced in backyard that was comprised of mostly garden.

"So, when I was looking after my wiggenbushes, I noticed that the valeria was not as bright and bouncy as it should be," Elphias explained, coming to the point much more quickly than Victoire thought he would.

Both she and Teddy wandered over to the section of the garden that housed that plant and inspected it. Even though the both of them did take Herbology throughout all seven years of Hogwarts, neither of them would have needed to be proficient in it to realize that Elphias Doge's prized valeria plant was indeed dead.

The leaves of the plant were shrivelled and dried, and when Victoire used her wand to move some of the dirt away from the roots, she noted that they were black and brittle like ash.

Teddy knelt down next to her and said the thought they were both thinking, "This isn't just a normal dead plant that didn't get enough water or too much sunlight."

"Nope," Victoire agreed, "It definitely looks as though it's been tampered with."

Teddy stood up and turned to Elphias, "Have you noticed anything strange about any of your other plants?"

The old man put his finger to his chin and thought for a few long minutes before responding, "I noticed that some of my _Golden corydalis_ had gone missing just before Hallowe'en, but it usually dies in mid-November so some of it might have faded early."

Victoire walked over to the large bush of flowering plants that Elphias had pointed at and knelt beside it. The plant itself still looked rather healthy, and Victoire couldn't find any immediate evidence of sections of the plant dying early. She inspected some specific sections of the bush, and did find that closer to the back, next to the fence, were some sections that looked as though they had been longer at one point. There were some branches that ended in rough stubs where a section of the branch might have been cut off.

Elphias went to check on his begonias, and Teddy asked Victoire about her findings.

"It does look like there was some extra _Golden corydalis_ there that was cut off at some point," Victoire pointed out.

Teddy pulled at his hair, "So the _valeria_ has been poisoned and someone took some _Golden corydalis_?"

"I guess," Victoire said with a shrug, "Although he said the _Golden corydalis_ went missing around Hallowe'en and he found the _valeria_ dead this morning. So they might not even be connected. Heck, he could have cut of springs of the _Golden corydalis_ and forgot about it, and he could have emptied some magical waste on the _valeria_ and not noticed."

"I guess," Teddy agreed, "Well we're only here because he sent a note in to the Department about his plants. He doesn't seem too worried about it anymore."

They both turned to look at Elphias, who was bending over his begonias and stroking the red petals fondly.

"We should probably get that potion into him while he's still in a good mood," Victoire commented quietly.

Teddy nodded, "I agree."

It took them about twenty minutes, but eventually they were able to coax Elphias back inside and to the living room. Victoire put on her cheery façade again and she pulled out the potion flask that she had grabbed from Ally's flat just before coming to Doge's. She told Elphias that she brought the next scheduled dose of his potion, and then she and Teddy spent a good half hour reminding Elphias that he needed the potion to help his memory and make him feel better.

Eventually the old man agreed to take the potion and Victoire measured out the exact dose that he needed. Elphias drank it without a complaint, and Victoire put the rest of the potion back in her pocket. She'd put it in their potion's cabinet when they got home and keep it there until the next time she needed to visit Elphias and give him a dose.

The pair spent another twenty minutes talking to the old man, sometimes going over the same small talk they had discussed when they first arrived, and then they excused themselves with the pretext that they needed to get to the Burrow. In actuality they didn't need to the Burrow quite yet, but they could tell that Elphias was getting tired, so when they saw a window of opportunity they left so that he could have time to rest.

Since Elphias lived on a muggle street, Victoire and Teddy couldn't just apparate away when they left his cottage. Instead they had to walk down the road a little until they found a covered spot to disapparate from.

To get down the street, they had to pass right by the house that belonged to the Milligans. Victoire and Teddy automatically slowed their pace as they walked by the house, and they stopped completely when they suddenly heard a loud shriek emit from inside the house. They looked at each other for barely a second before they both bolted up to the front door of the Milligan house.

Another scream echoed from the house before they got to the door, but it ended before Teddy got his hand to the door to knock.

The door opened only about two minutes after Teddy knocked on it, by one of the Milligan brothers. Victoire thought that it might be Davey, the thirteen year-old, but his other brother was so close in age to him that it was hard to tell.

"Yes?" The boy asked looking from Teddy to Victoire.

"Hey, we were just walking by and we heard a screaming," Victoire said, coming right to the point.

The boy automatically looked over his shoulder and then back to Victoire and Teddy. He opened his mouth to say something, but he paused suddenly and then did a double-take when he looked at Victoire.

"Aren't you that doctor lady from the magic hospital?" The boy asked her curiously.

Victoire smiled encouragingly at him, "Yes I am. I'm Healer Weasley, do you remember me?"

The boy nodded, "Yes. You healed me when I was injured from that stinging spell. You told me a story about when you used a spell to stick your sister to the wall."

Victoire smiled brightly at the boy, she was now rather certain that his name _was_ Davey, "Yes I did. It's Davey, right?"

He nodded.

"Is everything alright Davey?"

The thirteen-year-old didn't nod this time. Instead he looked over his shoulder at some unseen thing, and then looked back at the pair and bit his lip.

"Ugh . . ."

"Healer Weasley?"

Lygia Milligan –Davey's sixteen-year-old muggle step-sister– suddenly walked into the entryway, from the exact area that Davey had been glancing at a minute ago. She was staring at Victoire, her eyes wide with shock.

"Lygia-"

"What are you doing here?" Lygia interrupted, her tone sounding harried. She glanced suspiciously at Teddy out of the corner of her eye.

Victoire put on a calm smile that she used with her patients to put them at ease, "I was next door visiting your neighbour Mr. Doge, and when I left I heard screaming coming from your house so I thought I'd come see if something was wrong."

Lygia's posture relaxed a bit, "So you were just in the neighbourhood?"

"Yes," Victoire repeated, "And when Davey opened the door I realized that I recognized him. Is everything alright? We heard screaming?"

Lygia eyed Teddy warily again, but she answered Victoire's question, "Oh, Danny just tripped over something upstairs, it's no big deal."

Danny must have been the other brother, the one who was twelve or eleven years old.

"The scream sounded pretty loud, I could pop in and take a look at him if you'd like," Victoire offered a little too aggressively.

Lygia crossed her arms over her chest and set her lips into a thin line, "Danny's fine. There's no need to go out of your way Healer Weasely."

"It wouldn't be out of my way," Victoire assured her, a falsely bright smile on her face.

Lygia opened her mouth, no doubt to say 'no' once more, but Davey spoke first, "Maybe we _should_ let her have a look at Danny Lygia, just in case."

"He's fine Davey," Lygia told him brusquely.

"Perhaps I could speak to your Mum then," Victoire asked, her voice overly sweet again.

Lygia smirked, "Lauren and Dad are away in town. I'm looking after Davey and Danny right now."

"I can wait until your parents get back," Victoire told her, her sweet façade fading and a bit of an edge coming into her voice.

Lygia and Victoire stared each other down for a full minute before Lygia grudgingly stepped aside and allowed Victoire into the house.

Davey immediately directed Victoire to the second floor of the home where Danny was, and Teddy and Lygia followed quietly after them.

Victoire found Davey laying on the floor in the middle of the upstairs landing. There were tear tracks on his cheeks and his right leg was resting oddly on the hardwood floor.

She knelt down next to the boy and softly spoke to him, "Danny, I'm Healer Weasely, do you remember meeting me a couple months ago at the magic hospital?"

Danny eyed Victoire doubtfully for a moment before slowing nodding his head.

"I heard that you got hurt somehow. Would you like me to look at it and try to heal it for you?"

The young boy's eyes flashed to Lygia, and then back to Victoire's face. He began nodding emphatically.

She smiled at him, "Alright then."

Victoire spoke calmly to him as she started her assessment with his right leg, and she soon found that the source of his pain was a broken bone in his ankle.

"How did this happen again?" She asked Danny gently.

He looked back up at his step-sister again before he answered, "I tripped."

"Over what?" Victoire asked, she scanned the landing and couldn't find one thing that could have tripped him up bad enough to break his ankle.

"Uh–there was a baseball here earlier and I stepped on it and fell . . . it must have rolled away."

Victoire gave the young boy a look that said that she didn't believe his story, but she let the issue go for a minute and then began to heal him. She explained to Danny what each spell would do before she used it, and even though she could have performed the spells wordlessly, she said the spells aloud and very clearly so that both boys could hear them.

When she was finished, Danny tested his ankle gingerly before he believed that it was healed completely. He looked up at Victoire with wonder and shyly thanked her about six times as they all walked down the stairs to the main level of the house.

"So you done here?" Lygia asked Victoire impatiently as she tried to push her and Teddy towards the front door.

Victoire was really starting to get annoyed by the teenager's attitude, "I'm done healing your brother, yes."

"Well then you should probably go, we're not supposed to have strangers in the hose while our parents are out," Lygia said.

Victoire frowned but she didn't want to push her luck. She said goodbye to all three of the Milligan kids, and then she handed Davey, Danny, and Lygia each a St. Mungo's business card that had her name, title, and department written on it.

"If any of you need anything, please feel free to contact me," Victoire told them. She locked eyes with both boys and then Lygia. She softened her gaze when she looked at the sixteen-year-old and nodded at her.

"Goodbye."

Victoire and Teddy turned away from the front door before Lygia shut it on them, and they continued to walk down the street towards the area where they could disapparate from.

"So you saw how completely awkward that was, right?" Victoire asked Teddy as they walked.

He nodded, "Yup. I would have flashed my badge to get us in if you needed me to, but thankfully it didn't have to come to that."

"Do you believe that story about tripping over a baseball?"

Teddy sighed, "No."

"Me either."

He wrapped an arm around her waist, "There's nothing we can do about it right now. If you want, I can look into their muggle records and see if there's anything strange about the family."

Victoire nodded, "If I get a free minute at the hospital on Monday I'll see if I can send a request in to get their records from the muggle health ministry. See if there's any sort of pattern of injuries."

Teddy nodded sadly in agreement.

* * *

 **5:33 PM**

Ally smirked at Xavier from across the Burrow's living room. He was stuck sitting in between a talkative Austin Pennington and her Uncle Percy on one of the couches, while she was sitting on the arm of Molly's armchair and listening to Dom tell a story about the debauchery she got up to the evening before. They were both stuck listening to over-confident windbags monologue-ing, but at least Dom's story was interesting.

Dom was just getting to the 'good part' of her story when Victoire and Teddy walked into the house. Ally jumped to her feet, and used the opportunity to excuse herself and go see her eldest cousin.

"Thank Merlin you're here," Ally sighed as she pulled Victoire into a hug.

Victoire laughed and hugged Ally back, "Having a rough night?"

Ally pulled back and nodded in the direction of Dom and Molly. Dom had continued her story and was gesticulating widely, while Molly's face turned a pale green colour.

"Just had a little too much of Dom's story time," Ally explained, "I definitely won't miss that when I move out."

Victoire wagged her eyebrows at her dark haired cousin, "Any closer to finding out when that's going to be?"

Ally beamed, "A little. Mum and Dad and Katie and Oliver came with us to see the houses yesterday, and they all made some good points about each place."

"That's good," Victoire said folding her hands together, "So do _we_ get to go see it?"

Ally chuckled at her enthusiasm, "If you'd like you can go with us on Saturday to see it. I know that Malcolm wants to see it too, as well as Dom. Cecilia hasn't seen it yet, so she Louis and Baxter will most likely join us as well. It'll be a party."

"Cecilia didn't go with you today?" Victoire asked surprised.

Her brunette cousin shook her head, "No. She spent the day with Eilionoir Wood actually. Xav said Grandmother Eilionoir put out the call to her grandchildren that she needed help sorting through her attic. Cecilia volunteered to help. She's been there all day, and I wouldn't be surprised if she got stuck staying there for dinner."

"That's very . . . altruistic of her," Victoire replied. Last she'd heard Cecilia only chose to spend time with the formidable Eilionoir Wood when she absolutely had to.

"Yeah, she's been really . . . busy lately," Ally added.

Victoire sensed that the conversation had reached a natural end, so she changed the subject, "Baxter here yet?"

Ally shook her head, "No. I wouldn't be surprised if he waited until the last possible moment to come here so that he only has to tell the story of his date with Eliza once."

"That'd be the smart thing to do," Teddy commented. He pressed a kiss to the top of Victoire's head and slipped between the two girls so go further into the living room.

Victoire folded her arms, "Well Baxter better not think that we're going to go easy on him during question period just because our parents are at the table."

Baxter Weasley knew better than to think that his family would go easy on him during what was sure to be a complete interrogation about his date with Eliza a few days previous. So, he did what any sane person _not_ sorted into Gryffindor would do, he waited until the last minute possible to leave his flat and apparate to his grandparents. He arrived just as everyone was grabbing bowls of food from the kitchen and taking them to the dining room. He slipped into line behind Austin and grabbed a large green ceramic bowl filled with a tossed green salad.

Baxter kept his head down as he entered the dining room, and settled into one of the only open chairs left at the table. It was across from Teddy, which was nice; but it was diagonal to Victoire, which was dangerous.

"Glad to see that you were able to make it in time Baxter," Lucy commented dryly as her brother joined everyone at the table.

"Just in time," Molly muttered with a roll of her eyes.

There were a few minutes where the only sound in the room was the sound of spoons and forks clanging against serving bowls and dishes as the family filled their plates.

To one side of Victoire Dom was silently and nonchalantly filling Molly and Ally's wine glasses, while on her other side Teddy was calmly buttering a homemade tea biscuit. Her eyes slowly swept past the entirety of the very long table, and then she frowned.

"Is no one really going to ask it?" Victoire asked everyone unbelievably.

When Ally responded she was obviously playing dumb, "Ask what?"

Victoire set her fork down and crossed her arms over her chest, "Ask Baxter about what he's _been up to_."

"Oh," Ally nodded understandingly, "Baxter, how's work been?"

She sent him a wink at the end of her question, and Baxter grinned at her in response.

"It's been great actually. Just the other day Blair showed me the spell he uses to fix-"

"That's not what I meant!" Victoire yelled, completely out of patience.

Ally, Baxter, and all of her other cousins –and some of her aunts and uncles– laughed aloud at Victoire.

Teddy was the only person who didn't, and instead he rolled his eyes and placed his hand on his fiancée's knee under the table, "Stop teasing her, she's been bouncing off the walls since she found out about the D-A-T-E."

"Well then why doesn't she just come out and ask then?" Dom asked with a raised eyebrow.

Victoire pouted, "I was trying to be subtle-"

Molly snorted into her wine, and Victoire sent her a glare before continuing her statement, "But I guess I'll have to be direct. Baxter, how was your date with Eliza on Friday?"

Baxter took a minute –which felt like an hour to Victoire– to chew his mouthful of food before replying, "It was great Victoire, thanks for asking."

He took another bite of food, and everyone nodded their heads happily at his response. There were a few more minutes of silence while everyone continued with their meals, and Victoire couldn't quite believe what she was seeing.

"Is-Is that really all you're going to give me?"

"Yes."

"But-"

Teddy squeezed Victoire's knee, "Take what you've been given Sweetheart."

"But-"

"Let it go Victoire," Ally said, agreeing with Teddy's assessment of the situation.

The blonde pouted again, "I wanted details."

"You can get those later, in private. Right now let's just enjoy dinner," Teddy told her.

Victoire continued to pout, but she let the issue go for the moment and stuffed her mouth with potatoes to show everyone that she let the issue slide for the present.

Lucy eyed Victoire warily for a minute before she smirked, "Good, now we can get to the important issues."

She pulled her wand out from under the table and waved it, causing a large stack of file folders to appear at her elbow in between her and Austin's place settings. Lucy picked up the top file and tossed it across the table to Dom, the second went to Molly, and so on down the table as she spoke.

"So, these will be everyone's cover stories for Christmas," Lucy explained, she finished handing the folders to the 'kids' and then used her wand to send the leftover folders down the far side of the table to the 'adults'.

Baxter frowned at the folder his sister gave him, "Covers? Have we all pulled a Victoire and unwittingly stumbled into an Auror Department investigation?"

"Hold on," Victoire interrupted before Lucy could answer her brother, "Pull a Victoire? You have a name for a situation like that?"

Xavier smirked at Victoire, "When it happened the second time we had to come up with a name for it because we figured that it wouldn't be the last."

"Okay, fair enough."

Lucy frowned at all of them and then cleared her throat so that everyone would look at her again, "As I was going to say, these covers are for Christmas. These are all our muggle covers, which everyone needs to study for Christmas dinner when Uncle Charlie brings his muggle girlfriend."

"You want us to pretend to be other people on Christmas? I don't even really know how to be me on normal Sunday dinners," Molly complained as she opened her file folder.

Lucy rolled her eyes, "To make conversing with Uncle Charlie's girlfriend easier, I've translated our magical lives in a sense –most specifically our occupations– into more believable muggle counterparts."

Victoire opened her folder up and saw that Lucy had written that Victoire's muggle version of her life was as a medical student. In the muggle world she wouldn't have been old enough to have completed all of the muggle schooling required to be a doctor.

"This actually looks very useful Lucy, thank you," Victoire told her cousin sincerely.

Lucy beamed.

Ally looked at her own cover file that said that she was a university student studying pharmaceuticals, "So I take it that you're going to send individualized files to the kids at Hogwarts as well?"

"Owled them out this afternoon," Lucy assured her.

Dom barely needed to glance at hers, knowing that it would say that she was a student studying law, "I appreciate the amount of time that it must have taken to put these together Lucy."

"Thank you."

"Yeah, but what exactly happened with mine? You have written here that I do fine wood working?" Baxter asked confusedly.

Lucy shrugged, "If you have a better suggestion we can work on it together, but I had a hard time translating wand making into a muggle occupation." She handed Baxter the last file folder she had with her.

"This one's for Louis. Can you make sure that he gets it?" She asked her younger brother.

"I'll leave it on the kitchen table of our flat for him. Since he's working night shifts this week I probably won't actually seem him in person until the weekend."

Lucy nodded, "Good." She then turned to Xavier, "I have one for Cecilia as well, would it be best to give it to you?"

Xavier looked up from his own file and answered Lucy, "Maybe? I've honestly only seen her for like fifteen minutes in total this whole week. I can drop it off at home though, and I'm sure she'll find it whenever she actually goes there."

Lucy nodded her head pleased, and then turned to look at Baxter, Molly, and Dom, "If any of you are planning on bringing a guest to Christmas dinner, I will need to know in advance so that I can prep a cover story for them as well."

Molly and Dom both rolled their eyes and replied in the negative, while Baxter blushed a bright red and stuttered out something about how that wouldn't be necessary.

The rest of dinner passed rather uneventfully (if you could consider Victoire only telling Austin to sod off a total of two times uneventful) and once the dinner table was cleared Victoire grabbed Baxter's arm and pulled him away to a semi-private corner of the living room. Ally, Dom, and Molly trailed after her with expressions of slight curiosity on their faces, while Teddy and Xavier had a chat about quidditch with Bill and George.

Victoire only just let go of Baxter's arm before she started asking him a million questions about his date. Even though her younger red-haired cousin sighed exasperatedly, he patiently answered each and every one of her questions about his date with Eliza. Victoire started off slow with general questions about what they did and what they spoke about. Ally asked a few questions about the Shakespeare walk –she was very impressed with his date planning skills– while Molly asked about how the food at the restaurant was. Dom stayed silent for most of the question and answer period, until he got to the part where he escorted Eliza home.

"Wait," Dom said, interrupting Baxter in the middle of a sentence, "You went back to Eliza's flat together _after_ the walk?"

"Yes."

"And you stayed there and drank tea?"

Victoire rolled her eyes at her sister, "Not everyone invites a bloke back to their apartment to hook up on their first date Dom."

The redheaded part-veela ignored her older sister's derisive insinuation, "No, I just want to get the timeline right. You finished the walk, went back to Eliza's, and then spent some time together there?"

"Yes."

"Drinking tea?"

"Yes."

Molly waggled her eyebrows at her brother, "Did you do more than just drink tea?"

Baxter's ears went red, "Maybe . . ."

Ally giggled, "How much more?"

Baxter's face began to match his ears, "Just a little more."

"But on a whole," Victoire began, hoping to get the conversation back on the right track, "How did you feel about the date? Was it what you expected?"

Baxter was thoughtful for a moment before he responded, "It didn't feel exactly how I imagined it would; it was actually much more casual and comfortable. I mean real life is never exactly the same as how you picture it in your head, but this was pretty damn close. I felt, almost peaceful. It was like there was always this tension and anxiety whenever we saw each other, and now that we've finally taken the next step past friendship . . . that tension's gone. Everything just feels more relaxed, effortless."

Victoire smiled encouragingly, "Let's just hope that Eliza felt the same way."

Ally started to berate Victoire for putting such a negative thought into Baxter's head, and while they continued to quarrel. Dom stood in between the two cousins, not hearing any of it.

Her mind had tuned out after Baxter explained that he had gone back to Eliza's and spent more time with her at her flat during their date. Something about what he said just didn't make sense. She believed Baxter was telling the truth, he had no reason not to; but that just meant that someone else wasn't being truthful.

When Dom ran into Cecilia on Friday night at the bar, she said that Eliza had texted her and said that she was still out with Baxter. However, Baxter just stated that by that time he and Eliza were otherwise occupied _at_ Eliza's flat. If Eliza was busy with Baxter, she would have been accurate in telling Cecilia _where_ she was still busy with Baxter. Dom hadn't really believed Cecilia's lame sounding excuses on Friday night, but she'd been too preoccupied with getting to the club she'd made plans to go to, that she really didn't stop too long to wonder about why Cecilia was sitting alone at a bar and lying to her face.

Another memory from her interaction with her brother's girlfriend flew to the forefront of her mind. It was the absolutely terrified look that had been in Cecilia's eyes when Dom had surprised her by putting her hand on her shoulder. The younger girl's eyes had calmed down when she recognized Dom, but before that Dom was able to glimpse the absolute fear that had been in Cecilia's eyes when she turned around, practically jumping out of her chair as she went.

* * *

 **7:36 PM**

Eliza frowned at Benjamin from across the coffee table that sat in the middle of her flat. She had been riding a high ever since her date Friday night with Baxter, and she just knew that Benjamin had stopped by unannounced ten minutes ago with the sole purpose of ruining her good mood.

She had barely spoken ten words to him when she went to his home to pick Rowan up bright and early Saturday morning, and she hadn't seen him since then, until a few minutes ago when he showed up knocking on her front door. He was sitting on the couch and focusing intently on Rowan in his lap, but Eliza could feel the surreptitious looks he gave her from the corner of his eye whenever he thought she wasn't looking.

"Was there a particular reason for this unexpected visit Benjamin?" Eliza asked him coolly.

"Do I need a reason to come visit my daughter?" Benjamin asked Eliza with a raised eyebrow.

Eliza squeezed the half-empty mug of tea in her hands, "No, but you usually have one."

Benjamin smirked at her, "Perceptive as always. I wanted to tell you that my parents have decided that they want to have a party for Rowan."

"They want to host a party for your three-month-old?" Eliza clarified.

He glanced down at Rowan in his arms, but Eliza had a feeling that it was mostly so that he wouldn't have to meet her gaze, "Yes. They think that it's time that my family's acquaintances get to meet her. They want to throw a party so that everyone can finally meet her."

"I didn't realize that your parents were _that_ proud of their granddaughter that they never wanted, that they desire to show her off," Eliza replied flatly.

Benjamin's face hardened, "I want my parents to be more accepting of our daughter, so allowing them to throw a party so that they can willingly introduce her to their friends is something that I'm going to encourage. I'm not asking you whether you will allow her to spend time with my family, I'm informing you that I would like to have physical custody of her on the day of their party."

Eliza crossed her arms over her chest, she wasn't happy with the fact that Benjamin's parents wanted to parade their granddaughter around on a whim to their upper-class friends, but she knew that in a twisted way they were trying to show some sort of support for their granddaughter.

"When are they planning to have this party?"

"This Friday evening, the eighteenth," Benjamin told her.

If Eliza thought that the timing was rather soon, she didn't show it, "And do your parents expect me to be there as well?"

Benjamin finally looked up from Rowan's face and narrowed his eyes at Eliza, "I don't think so no . . . in fact since Winnie is going to be there it would probably be best if you . . . weren't."

"Good," She responded relieved, "Maybe everyone at the party will give Rowan a chance when I'm not around as a glaring reminder of exactly how she came into the world."

He nodded, opened his mouth to say something, and then closed it again.

"And if Rowan's going to be with you that night, I can make another date with Baxter for this Friday."

Benjamin's slightly pleased facial expression fell into a grimace and he clutched Rowan a little tighter to him.

"So your first date went well enough that you're planning on a second one then?"

Eliza ignored the bit in his tone and nodded primly, "Yes I am. I had a fantastic time, and I can't wait to go on another date with Baxter."

"And are you sure that he felt the same way about how your date went?" Benjamin asked her derisively.

She glared at him, "I'm confident that he had as good as a time as I did. He was very pleased by the end of the night."

He snorted, "I'm sure he was."

Eliza stood up and walked to the kitchen to put her tea cup away, when she walked back into the living room she forced a smile onto her face, "So were both getting what we want now. I've got a new understanding with Baxter, and your parents are slowly starting to be more accepting of Rowan. Win-win."

"Yeah," Benjamin relied, his mouth twisted liked he had sucked on a lemon, "Win-win."

* * *

 **A/N:** So, we finally got some Teddy/Vic quality time, aww; and they ended up meeting the Milligans again who are starting to look very suspicious. How did we like the family dinner, and what do we think about Benjamin and Eliza's argument?

 **Next Update:** I'm hoping in two weeks, if not please PM me to try to kick my butt in gear.

 **Next Chapter:** Victoire finally gets Teddy in the same room and Andromeda and Narcissa to talk about his inheritance, we see a little bit of Vic's research and some of Teddy's work, and Louis finally talks to someone about Cecilia's odd behaviour.

Teaser for Next Chap: 

**Teddy exhaled loudly and used his free hand to pull at the hair on his head, "I don't want it."**

 **Victoire rolled her eyes and addressed Andromeda, "You asked for direct."**

Thanks to everyone who followed, favourited, read, and especially reviewed this story so far!

BIG thanks to:

 **lumiere100, Venz, carbo21, ntlpurpolia, liverpoolss, rosesnlilies, MuggleCreator, fangirl5300, Break This Spell626, TIGERSAGE, Seher Syed, no cure for crazy, kawaiiotaku0405, Alexandra Granger Potter, NicoleTheSmith, teddyvictoire'slovechild, reheni, cpnjky, RebekahGrace, xxTheMadHatterCharmedxx, zvc56, Cjaben1,** and **Bebe17**.

 **lumiere100** : I'm doing alright, thanks for asking.

 **carbo21** : Dom would be a good person to bet on, but let's remember that everyone likes to tease Victoire that she's actually a Slytherin, and then there's Xavier who's very protective over his little sister . . . ;)

 **fangirl5300** : I hope the Teddy and Vic moments were up to pass.

 **TIGERSAGE** : I'm sorry that you're not as happy with the developments of this story as others seem to be, and I wouldn't want you to continue reading a story you dislike, so feel free to stop reading if that's what you want. I've already decided on how long the situation with Cecilia is going to last and how it's going to affect the plot, and I won't be adjusting it from my original plan because I believe that this is an important issue that should be discussed, and not just glossed over because it makes for a dramatic plot point. I've chosen to address this topic because I think it's important, complex, and worthy to be discussed in this media and I stand by that belief. I hope to do at least a credible job of it, and since the theme of this particular story is adult problems and issues, it would be remiss of me to leave something like this out, so it is going to play out in the upcoming chapters, and most likely throughout the rest of the story because it is something that will change Cecilia, how she views the world, and her relationships with other people.

 **Alexandra Granger Potter** : She will, the chapter's coming up soon.

 **zvc56** : Thank you for your input, I appreciate it. There will be some Baxter/Eliza/Benjamin drama heating up in a little bit, but the issues are going to resolve quicker than a lot of you may think, and that's all I can say without giving anything else away.

 **Cjaben1** : I love your in depth diagnosis of Eli, and all I can say without giving something away is that I'm really glad that you noticed how often Eli brought up Katie in conversation around Cecilia. Also, we will be back at Hogwarts after the next three chapters if my planed writing goes as planned.

 **Bebe17:** Thank you for reviewing!

 **I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter,**

 **Please leave me a review or PM if you have any questions, comments, or concerns,**

 **Hopefully I'll be able to update in two weeks,**

 **Until next time, DFTBA!**


	46. Inheritances and Interventions

**A/N:** Hi everyone, look at this a new chapter exactly when I said I would post! I know it's not as long as some other chapters, but I put everything into it that I needed too and I didn't want to add filler for the sake of filler. The next few chapters after this one will be longer.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own _Harry Potter._

* * *

 **Previously:** So, in a previous chapter we learned that Teddy inherited both the Black and Lestrange family vaults at Gringotts (mostly because Narcissa gave them to Andromeda) and that Teddy wasn't a fan of his inheritances. Victoire's still working with Healer McDavid on creating a spell to erase scars caused by dark magic. Teddy's still working on the Bog case with Jilly, Kurt, and Hayden wich includes one dead person, several injured people, most of whom aren't talking, and then some odd bone shards that belonged to a magical creature. It's been a week since Cecilia was assaulted by Martell, and as of yet in the story she hadn't told anyone, but some of her family and friends are noticing some odd behaviour from her.

* * *

 **Inheritances and Interventions**

 **Wednesday, November 16th 2022**

 **1:25 PM**

Teddy and Victoire usually tried to be punctual people, so when they both knew that they had an appointment scheduled with Colton to work on their wills at one-thirty sharp, they took the necessary steps to be able to get to their meeting on time. In fact, whether it was a cosmic coincidence or a testament to just home deeply in tuned with each other they were, they found themselves apparating in front of Cunningham and Knott Law Offices at the exact same time.

They smiled at each other when they noticed each other's presence, and closed the distance to each other so they could hold hands. They entered the tall building, took the lift up to the floor that housed Colton's office, and when they exited the elevator they found Dom standing in the reception area. Victoire greeted her younger sister with a kiss on either cheek, and then Dom ushered the pair to a conference room.

Inside the conference room Colton was setting out a few file folders along the table in the room, and he gave Victoire and Teddy a steady smile when he saw them enter. They exchanged greetings before sitting down at the table, Victoire and Teddy on one side with Colton and Dom on the other.

Colton got right down to business once everyone was seated.

"So, Dom and I have written the basics of a will for each of you. We have added in the appropriate assets that each of you own, so right now we need to speak about how you both want your assets handled in the case of your unfortunate demise."

Victoire and Teddy nodded.

Colton continued, "Now, normally when a couple gets married we only have to write two wills, one for each person. However, since it's going to be a year and a half until you get married I think it's smart to write wills not only for after the wedding, but for that time before the wedding too, since it's highly likely that _one_ of you may die before the wedding take place."

"And by _one_ of you," Dom said with a bit of a smirk, "Colton is referring to you Vic. Because even though Teddy's an auror, you're more likely than him to die an early death."

Victoire rolled her eyes and held out her hand for the file Colton went to hand her, "Whatever."

Teddy scanned the will Colton handed him, while Victoire read the papers in the file she was handed. She got halfway down the page before she stopped and eyed her younger sister.

"Really?"

Dom looked innocent, "Something wrong?"

"You took it upon yourself to write in that 'I want to leave all of my clothing to my younger sister Dominique Weasley'?" Victoire read off of the paper in front of her.

Dom put a faux-shocked expression on her face, "Oh dear, that's definitely a mistake." She held her hand out to take the file folder from her elder sister.

She scanned the paperwork with her eyes and pressed a quill-tip to the paper, "That's supposed to say that you leave all of your clothing _and_ accessories to me."

"Dom!"

The redheaded sister lifted up her quill, "What?"

"I'm not leaving all of my stuff to you."

Dom waved off her older sisters concern, "Of course not. I'll only keep the stuff I want and I'll pass the rest along to Ally or Molly."

Victoire pinched the bridge of her nose and muttered in French under her breath.

"Onto more serious matters," Colton interrupted getting the meeting back on track, "Since these wills are for before you're married, we need to discuss who you would like to leave the bulk of your assets to. As of yet, since you're only engaged and not legally married, if either of you to die your closest blood relative is set to inherit all of your assets unless it is designated otherwise in your wills."

Colton glanced at Victoire, "For you that means that right now your parents will automatically inherit your assets unless we dictate otherwise."

He then turned to Teddy, "And for you, that means that Andromeda would receive your assets if you were to die before her."

Colton continued, "Now, once you get married you will each inherit the other's assets upon one of your deaths, but until then we need to specifically state in your separate wills whether or not you want that to happen during the time before your marriage . . . so is that what we want?"

Victoire and Teddy glanced at each other and had a short silent conversation between the two of them consisting of just a few specific looks. They then turned to face Colton, and Teddy spoke for the both of them, "I think we are going to err on the side of optimism and hope that nothing will happen to either of us before our marriage and leave each other our assets if something awful does happen before we get married."

Colton nodded, "I figured you would decide on that. We can deal with individual bequeaths in a minute, but right now I'd like to put forward an issue that we haven't discussed yet."

The pair looked back at him with curiosity.

Colton cleared his throat, "Well, even though this may sound like something out of a dramatic novel, we should prepare for a possible eventuality in which Teddy may pass away before your wedding, leaving Victoire alone and perhaps in the early stages of pregnancy."

"But what are the chances of that happening exactly?" Victoire asked only slightly hysterically.

Dom raised her hand, "Well Teddy was in Peru earlier this year and we thought you were pregnant-"

"I had a stomach ulcer," Victoire corrected, " _I_ never thought I was pregnant."

"No, but the family did, and then there was after you guys came back from Peru and you had that brain bleed and you legitimately thought you were pregnant," Dom pointed out.

Teddy placed his hand on Victoire's knee, "Maybe we _should_ make arrangements for a situation like that, no matter how unlikely."

"Alright."

Colton smiled, "Good, I will put a provision in Teddy's will that if he dies before you're married and if Victoire's also pregnant during that time, that the appropriate amount will be left to that unborn child."

"Or children," Dom retorted with a sly grin.

" _Dom_ ," Victoire groaned.

Dom smirked, "It's a situation that is more than possible, but even likely. Twins run on Maman's side of the family after all. Tante Gabrielle had twins, our cousins Alexandrie and Aurélie are twins, Grand-mère Apolline and Grande-tante Artemais are twins-"

"I get the gist of it Dominque, thank you," Victoire replied tartly to her sister, using her full name to impress upon her just how much trouble she was in.

"You're welcome."

Colton rolled his eyes at the siblings, "I'll put possible twins into the will then if it means that we can move on to the more specific aspects of this meeting."

The sisters let their disagreement slide, and the next almost hour of the meeting was going over the detailed aspects of both sets of Victoire and Teddy's wills. Colton was even able to convince Victoire and Teddy to work on a very preliminary and very rough draft of a pre-nuptial agreement by the end of their appointment (Victoire's left eye had unintentionally twitched just hearing the term, but she didn't voice her discontent with the word aloud).

While Colton tried to slowly make headway with a pre-nup without scaring Victoire too much, Dom glanced down at her watch. She looked up and shared a sly nod with Colton, and then she quietly excused herself from the room.

"So," Colton said when their meeting was drawing to a close, "I have just two more things we need to discuss."

Teddy nodded, "Alright, what about?"

Before Teddy could respond, the door of the conference room they were sitting in opened. Dom walked into the room first, and held the door open so that Andromeda Tonks could walk in.

"Grandmum?" Teddy called confusedly as she entered.

Dom slipped back out of the room, and Andromeda walked over to the table and stopped at a chair on Colton's side of the room.

"Good afternoon Teddy," Andromeda said nodding in her grandson's direction, "Victoire."

Victoire took a deep breath and nodded in return to Andromeda, while Teddy just looked completely confused.

"Grandmum what are you doing here?"

"I was requested to come here," Andromeda replied simply as she sat down in a chair.

Teddy frowned, "What? By who?"

Victoire self-consciously started tapping her feet against the floor. No one had a chance to answer Teddy's question, since at that moment the door opened once again. This time because Dom was leading Narcissa Malfoy in.

If Teddy had looked confused at the sudden appearance of his grandmother, he was absolutely flabbergasted by the arrival of his grandmother's estranged younger sister.

Andromeda and Narcissa nodded politely at each other before Narcissa took a seat on Colton's other side.

Teddy's previously turquoise blue hair had drifted to dark and confusing shade of indigo, and he glanced at his grandmother, "What's going on?"

Instead of answering, Andromeda watched her grandson carefully to gauge his emotional climate. There was a silence that was more than awkward, and Victoire's feet started tapping incessantly on the floor.

Colton finally broke the silence in the room and asked Dom to go to another conference room and handle his two-thirty appointment for him. The redhead seemed very thankful to have the out, and she escaped the room as quickly as she could. With her exit, the door to the conference room shut behind her with a resounding _click_.

There was another beat of silence before Teddy rounded on his silent fiancée, "You planned this didn't you?"

It wasn't a question, it was a firm –and accurate– accusation.

Victoire's feet froze mid-tempo, "Partially."

Teddy gave her a heated look might be considered a glare by someone who is faint of heart. Victoire on the other hand was not weak, and even though she could see the irritation in his eyes, she also saw his pain and fear. She sent him back a look that was both sympathetic and stern. She wanted to let him know that she didn't want to cause him pain, but that he was not going to get out of the situation. Teddy pleaded with his eyes, and Victoire didn't even have to shake her head for him to see that she wasn't going to let him leave.

Colton cleared his throat, and when Victoire and Teddy turned to look at him, he had a perfect Slytherin-esque poker face on.

"Victoire spoke with me about how there are still some unsettled issues regarding some of your assets Ted, so we thought it best to address them before moving forward with these other legal documents," Colton explained in a detached tone to Teddy.

Victoire was silently impressed with Colton's explanation, in was non-incendiary, direct, and not too specific.

Andromeda glanced at Teddy, "This discussion is long overdue Teddy."

Teddy ran a hand up to his head and pulled at his hair in anxiety. Victoire grabbed his hand, pulled it down to the table top, and tightly held it there.

He took a deep breath to calm himself, and then asked his grandmother, "What do you think we need to speak about?"

Andromeda glanced past Colton and towards her younger sister who as of yet had been completely silent. Narcissa read Andromeda's look and nodded.

The elegant white haired woman faced Teddy directly, "Theodore, Andromeda has told me about your misgivings about the inheritance that I had a hand in settling on you."

Just from holding Teddy's hand Victoire could feel his body stiffen up as he listened to Narcissa's words. He seemed like he was tensing before standing up, but Victoire held him down in his seat. His lips seemed shut tight, so Victoire thought she'd speak for him.

"Teddy has very understandable objections to his inheriting the Lestrange family fortune."

Victoire figured that being direct would be for the best considering there were so many Slytherins in the room.

Narcissa nodded her head delicately, "I would like you to know that I did not arrange for you to have the Lestrange fortune to make you feel guilty or to anger you. I did it, because at the time I thought I was being benevolent and magnanimous to you and Andromeda. But it did not take long for me to realize that I offered it to Andromeda for you because I was trying to assuage my own guilt."

Narcissa's gaze had been locked in on Teddy, but they quickly shot to Andromeda for a few seconds before she glanced back at Teddy, "And I can understand why you dislike having the Lestrange inheritance. Despite the financial benefit of it, the dark historical sentiment behind it can seem as though it outweighs the benefits. I do not want to tell you how you should feel about this, and I realize that myself, and by a slight extension Andromeda, have not really given you a choice with this inheritance. I signed it over to her when you were a baby, and as your guardian she decided to leave it all in a trust for you for when you came of age."

Teddy's hand gripped Victoire's tightly and even though it made her hand sore, Victoire squeezed his hand harder back in response. When Teddy came of age, he was informed of his inheritances, but he didn't spend much time thinking about them. He had a year left at Hogwarts at the time, and after that he was more focused on getting through the grueling processes of Auror Department training. The knowledge of his inheritances was always in the back of his mind, but he never really had to face the enormity of the entire situation altogether until they started working on getting their wills and financial documentation ready for their marriage.

"I realize that this conversation is very delayed Teddy, but I can now see that it's necessary," Andromeda spoke up, "I knew that you had reservations about your inheritances, but it wasn't until a few weeks ago that I realized that we needed to have a more direct conversation about this."

Teddy exhaled loudly and used his free hand to pull at the hair on his head, "I don't want it."

Victoire rolled her eyes and addressed Andromeda, "You asked for direct."

"What specifically do you _not_ want?" Colton asked, trying to squeeze into the conversation and hopefully mediate it if they started to go down a rocky road.

"Anything that the Lestranges owned," Teddy replied tersely and with a tone of finality.

Neither Andromeda nor Narcissa seemed surprised by Teddy's words, and if they were taken aback at all by his manner of delivery neither woman showed it.

Narcissa nodded her head slowly, her face was a perfect mask of emotionless politeness, "I can understand that. In actuality, I would rather not have the inheritance either, it was one of the reasons why it was so easy to make the decision to give it over to Andromeda and you."

Victoire glanced at Teddy, they shared a quick look and a nod, and then Victoire spoke, "Would you consider taking the inheritance back Narcissa?"

The white haired woman immediately shook her head in the negative, "I would prefer not to have the inheritance myself. I spoke once to Draco about it, but he emphatically stated that he would not want the inheritance for himself, and especially not for Scorpius."

"Are there any other relatives that the inheritance could pass on to?" Victoire asked although she knew that there was no one else in the Black family who was directly related. After Andromeda, Narcissa, Draco Malfoy, Scorpius Malfoy, and Teddy there were no other closely related members of the Black family.

Colton spoke up at this time, "Narcissa and I did a bit of research on this before today, so we looked into the Lestrange family to see who would be next to inherit the Lestrange fortune on that side."

He pulled out a piece of parchment paper from a pocket in his dress robes. He unrolled it and cleared his throat, "Rodolphus and Bellatrix Lestrange died without children, as did Rabastan Lestrange. This is the reason why Narcissa ended up in possession of the Lestrange fortune in the first place, since Bellatrix named youngest sister as her heir. I had to do a little digging in the Lestrange family tree to see who would have inherited upon the brothers' death if it hadn't been Narcissa. The Lestranges were an old pureblood wizarding family of course, but their numbers began to dwindle in the beginning of the nineteenth century. It seemed that to keep most of the family money and property together, the Lestranges kept their wealth in one main branch of the family. They also were very strict about allowing females in their family to inherit their wealth, and unfortunately for them in the beginning of the twentieth century there were more female Lestranges than male."

Colton took a pause, flipped over the piece of paper he kept referring back to, and continued, "Not everyone connected to the Lestrange family agreed with the most zealous of pureblood politics, and like with the Black family those who didn't were considered blood traitors and were effectively considered _personae non gratae_. Since the last war, it is much easier to find ostracized members of the Lestrange family than it is to find the members who agreed with Rodolphus and Rabastan Lestrange's opinions on blood supremacy. As you can understand, the members of the Lestrange family who were ostracized from the main family because of their disagreements also do not want any of the main Lestrange family inheritance. There were other cousins and distant cousins of the Lestranges who did seem to be on the losing side of the last war, but some of those are in Azkaban, and others are in hiding. There are a handful of members of the distant Lestrange family who were never charged with anything in the last war, or whose parents were never directly charged with any crimes."

"It's these few people who I think would be open to accepting the Lestrange inheritance," Colton finished, the words not even coming out rushed although it was quite the lengthy soliloquy.

Teddy narrowed his eyes at Colton and pinched the bridge of his nose, "I feel like there's a 'but' coming on."

Colton nodded slowly, "That's because there is. These few people are actually three people, two brothers and a sister. They are too young to have been involved heavily in the last war, but Narcissa does tell me that even though their parents were never convicted of anything, it doesn't necessarily mean that they were not guilty of anything."

"Their parents' actions don't define their actions though," Victoire reminded Colton with a specific look.

"Of course not," Colton agreed, "However, these children are close to their parents, they are a tight family unit, and these distant cousins of the Lestranges –who do go by a different family name– are involved with some . . . unsavory political causes in their home country of France."

Colton took a deep breath and continued, "And to come back full circle it is Narcissa and Andromeda's opinion –as well as my own– that handing over the inheritance to these members of the Lestrange family could end with the these people using that new found wealth to further some political projects of theirs that would be counterproductive to progressive beliefs in the wider wizarding society."

Victoire pinched the bridge of her nose, "They're blood purists then?"

"They brand themselves differently, but essentially yes," Colton confirmed.

Teddy pulled his hand out of Victoire's, and used both of his hands to pull a bit at his hair, "So what this entire conversation boils down to is that the only members of the distant Lestrange family, that you could unearth, who would be likely willing to accept the inheritance would most likely use that inheritance to do bad things."

"Yes," Colton announced slowly, "Now Ted, I collected this information not to try to guilt you into keeping the inheritance, but so that you could be informed about who the inheritance would go to, and what they may do with it."

Victoire rubbed a hand down the back of her neck, "Can't he just sign the inheritance over to someone not related to him? Despite not wanting it, it _is_ still his money right now."

"That's a viable option," Colton agreed, "However, the problem with giving the money to someone else is that these other people would most likely have their lawyer contest the transfer of the inheritance, and would argue that if Teddy doesn't want it the inheritance, that they money should go to them since they are the nest closest family members. They could petition to be given the money instead."

Teddy pursed his lips, "Would they have a legal leg to stand on if that was the case?"

"Pureblood inheritances can have different legality and clauses, and there are differences between British and French financial and inheritance laws as well. Altogether, I don't know what would end up happening, and that unknown worries me," Colton admitted.

There was a beat of silence before Teddy folded his arms across his chest, "So we're back to square one then. I have the Lestrange inheritance, I don't want it, and there's no one to take it off my hands."

"For the time being, I would advise keeping the inheritance for now. We can speak later about investing or giving away large amounts of it into something positive like charitable ventures, but for now I think things need to stay how they are. These other Lestrange family members in France have become marginally aware of my investigation into them because one of our firm's idiotic interns slipped up while they were looking into them. I wouldn't be surprised if they now have their lawyers watching us, and especially watching the Lestrange vault in Gringotts to make sure that there's nothing fishy going on," Colton explained.

Narcissa glanced at Teddy, "I am willing to take the Lestrange fortune back if it is causing you that much distress, however, Mr. Knott has cautioned that signing the inheritance back to me after twenty-two years might look suspicious to these other family members."

Teddy nodded at his great-aunt's words, but took a moment to think through the situation before responding with determination, "I'll keep it for now. We don't need this situation to get any more complicated than it is, and we don't need any more people involved. Especially if they have questionable morals."

Victoire turned to Teddy and grabbed his hand, "Are you sure this is what you want?"

He squeezed her hand back, "I'm still not happy about having the inheritance in my possession, but I'd rather keep it than have it fall into some potentially wrong hands."

He turned to Andromeda and Narcissa next, "I do feel better now that we've actually spoken about this to each other even though subterfuge was needed to get me into the room with you both. I don't think I hold as much resentment about all of this as I did before we had this conversation. Knowing everyone's intentions for their actions regarding the inheritance has helped."

"Theodore, if I had known that this inheritance would cause you more pain than comfort I would not have arranged for it to go to you," Narcissa explained frankly, "I had hoped that it would at least monetarily enrich your life if not give you other freedoms."

Teddy nodded his head, "I understand that."

There was not much left to discuss after that, and even though there were no new decisions made in concerns to the physical inheritance, the relatives were able to finally clear the air. Narcissa left first, leaving Teddy a chance to speak with Andromeda without the other woman being present. His grandmother asked him if he was really alright with the way their meeting went, and when Teddy replied once more in the positive, Andromeda made her own exit. Victoire and Teddy spent another ten minutes with Colton re-affirming what they had decided in concerns to their wills and the rough outline of a pre-nup. Colton walked them to the lift of his office building and said goodbye to them there, and he made sure that they were aware that Anastasia wanted to do another big dinner with them, Kyle and Sandra, and Ally and Xavier sometime in the near future.

Upon leaving the office building, Victoire and Teddy apparated away in their separate ways. Victoire had a meeting scheduled with Healer McDavid, and Teddy still had a few hours of work left.

* * *

 **3:50 PM**

Victoire found Healer McDavid in his study/library when after she allowed herself into his house –she had knocked on his door several times before letting herself in– and she immediately joined him at his large desk and cracked open a heavy tome.

Twenty minutes in Healer McDavid slammed his book shut and stood up from his chair, "I think we're done here."

Victoire eyed Healer McDavid warily as she slowly closed her own text book, "What exactly are we done with?"

"Research," Healer McDavid replied as he waved his wand and caused all of the books on his desk to disappear.

She slowly stood up, "I'm not completely following."

Healer McDavid grinned at her, "We're done researching. We've researched all we can, I don't think cramming more knowledge into our minds is going to help anymore. It's time to finally start working on creating the spell and trying it out."

Victoire gingerly pulled her wand out, "Don't we need to write up a proposal for the Ministry then? So that we can use their space to create the spell."

"Most people need to be on Ministry premises when creating new spells, but _I_ have an exemption from that," Healer McDavid explained, "It helps sometimes to be a world famous healer."

If Victoire hadn't still been slightly confused by Healer McDavid's intentions, she probably would have rolled her eyes at his bragging, "So are you suggesting that we can start creating and testing the spell right here?"

"Actually I have a room in the basement that's better equipped for creating spells, but if you'd prefer to do the work here in this library-"

Victoire waved him off and told him to lead the way to his spell-creation space.

As they took the well-lit staircase down to the basement of Healer McDavid's home, Victoire enquired, "But how are we going to know if the spells we create are effective? We will essentially need to test each and every word and wand motion on a subject to know if it will actually work and heal damage done by dark magic."

Healer McDavid led Victoire into a large room that was finished, but still very bare bones. It was bright, and homier than the dungeons of Hogwarts used to be, but there were barely any decorations and bare minimum of furniture. Most likely for the best Victoire thought, since creating spells could be a hazardous endeavour.

He walked into the centre of the room and gestured non-specifically to Victoire's midsection, "We don't need test subjects this early on though. I think between the both of us we have enough dark magic scaring to try to heal."

Victoire glanced down at her hipbone where her most recent scar –from the crazy high-priestess in Peru– rested underneath her shirt. She thought about the ugliness of the scar, which was shaped like the old coin the priestess had branded onto her skin, and then looked up at Healer McDavid belatedly.

"Between the two of us?"

Healer McDavid unbutton the button-down shirt he was wearing, and pulled it off to reveal a plain white tee-shirt. Victoire's eyes immediately spotted a smooth but dark red scar about two inches long that adorned the skin just under Healer McDavid's right bicep.

"This little scratch is what first brought my attention to the fact that healing injuries caused by dark magic had not developed at the same pace as other healing magics," Healer McDavid explained as he pointed to the scar.

Victoire swallowed thickly, "Which spell caused it?"

"This scar is fifty years old, I got it in my seventh-year at Hogwarts. I'm not entirely sure which spell it was that caused it, it was some sort of little known dark magic curse that Alec Rosier found in a book of dark magic he most likely found in his Pureblooded parents' library," McDavid told Victoire.

Her eyes widened with shock, "That happened at Hogwarts?"

He nodded his head, "Hogwarts wasn't quite the safe haven it is now when I attended fifty-years ago. Especially not if you're a half-blooded Hufflepuff. Soon to be Death Eaters didn't always qualify between muggleborns and half-bloods when they felt that they needed to prove their superiority."

"Oh, and I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell Andromeda about this, I've kept it a secret that her cousin tried to kill me fifty years ago, and I'd prefer to keep it that way. I can't imagine how she would feel if she found out. Especially since she'd then interrogate me about everything that happened that day and I'd have to explain that Rosier was actually trying to kill Ted and not me, and that I jumped in the way to try to save him."

"Good Godric Gryffindor."

Healer McDavid shrugged, "No, just a Hufflepuff that felt the need to protect his best friend who had saved my arse more times than I could count."

The corner of Victoire's lips turned up, "And here I thought that Uncle Harry and I had the record and monopoly on almost getting killed while attending Hogwarts."

"Nope."

Victoire pulled her wand out and looked at Healer McDavid, "So we're going to use each other as Guinea pigs?"

"Until we get something that works, yes," Healer McDavid replied.

"Let's get to work then."

* * *

 **3:55 PM**

When Victoire and Teddy left Colton's office, she asked him three different times if he was really okay with everything they had discussed with Andromeda and Narcissa. He had replied in the affirmative each time, but besides that he hadn't been completely honest with his fiancée. There were still a lot of feelings that he should probably discuss with Victoire, but he chose to wait until later that evening when they were back home.

Therefore, it was a blessing in disguise that he had to go back to work for a few hours. It would help push away the thoughts he'd rather not have at that moment.

Teddy found Jilly in their shared office space when he arrived back at the Auror Department, but both Kurt and Hayden were absent.

"Anything new pop-up while I was gone?" Teddy asked as he sat down at his desk.

Jilly nodded her head, "Remember that bloke in Knockturn Alley you and Hayden went to see about dragon bones last week?"

"They guy who couldn't remember anything _useful_ to tell us, yes."

Jilly sighed and pushed a loose strand of hair behind her ear, "Well it seems that the guy has finally remembered something important. He voluntarily came in and offered to speak to us. Hayden and Kurt are talking to him in one of the conference rooms."

"The two of them together? By themselves?" Teddy asked surprised.

Auror Burton and Auror McKenny had been very specific in the past about disallowing Hayden and Kurt from working together without any other supervision.

Jilly rolled her eyes and muttered, "Dodgy tosser refused to speak 'with delicate ladies present'."

"Didn't peg him for a bloke with such high moral standards," Teddy snorted with a shake of his head.

The other auror shrugged her shoulders and then gestured to some papers she was looking through, "We've got some other good news with less qualifiers, Ministry lawyers have decided that they can compel Chad Gerber to come in and speak with us. We're not allowed to use veritaserum or force him to give us his memories of that night, however we can threaten him with prison time for lying to aurors or giving false information if we can later prove that he lied to us or obstructed the investigation."

Teddy let out a sigh of relief, "Finally! Once we get him in here we should finally be able to get some answers. Even if he doesn't cooperate too much at first, we'll eventually get it out of him. Add this new information to the positively received invitation O'Toole sent out to Jason Abbott's parents to come in and speak to us sometime next week, and we might be able to get some more things written down on The Wall."

Hayden and Kurt entered the office a few moments later, chattering loudly between the two. They only stopped when they noticed Teddy's presence at his desk.

"You're back, good. Now we can tell both of you what we've learned, and not just the delicate female," Kurt stated with a smile.

Jilly threw a quill at him, which bounced effortlessly off his chest.

"Jilly get you up to speed on the Knockturn Alley bloke's change of heart?" Hayden questioned.

"I know that he decided to come in and speak with us," Teddy explained.

Hayden nodded, "Not entirely sure what made him change his mind, but he actually gave us some good information, so I didn't question him too hard about his sudden memory recovery."

"And what did he want to tell you that he couldn't say in front of delicate females?"

Kurt walked over to The Wall, grabbed an erasable quill, and pressed it to the painted surface, "The dodgy chauvinist has kept to his story that he doesn't remember selling a dragon's skull or procuring a dragon's skull for anybody recently. However, he did tell us that he remembered an incident when a young lad came into the shop looking to buy a dragon's skull several months ago."

"And he magically remembered this now because . . . ?" Jilly questioned.

Hayden snorted in amusement, "Apparently he had some epiphany a few days later about the situation when another shop assistant came in, heard the story about us questioning him about dragon skulls, and _this_ shop assistant reminded Dodgy Chauvinist about the young lad from a few months ago."

"So what's the story with the young lad from a few months ago?"

Kurt finished writing down the shop keeper and shop assistant's real names, and continued the explanation, "The young lad came in asking Dodgy Chauvinist if they sold, and this is a quote 'Powerful magical animal relics'. Dodgy Chauvinist was a little confused, but it seemed that the young lad then went on to list a bunch of dangerous magical creatures and inquired after bones, fangs, claws, horns, etc."

"So he wasn't looking specifically for a dragon's skull?" Teddy asked.

"Apparently not in the beginning. Dodgy Chauvinist had some small claws and fangs that he offered to the young lad right away, but they were small in size and apparently the young lad just wanted something large like, and I'm quoting here again, 'Like a big dragon's skull or manticore tail'."

Jilly pursed her lips in thought, "That's curious. While dragon skulls and manitcore tails are large in size, they are made out of different biological materials. Dragon bones are made of calcium and other materials found in most bones, while manticore tails are made out of keratin and biological materials more similar to a horn, in addition to the obvious poisonous glands."

"According to Dodgy Chauvinist, manticore horns are also a lot harder to get a hold of than dragon bones," Kurt said.

Hayden pursed his lips in thought, almost exactly copying Jilly's facial expression, "Hey Ted, whatever happened to the manticore horn that almost killed Victoire?"

Teddy frowned at the memory of one of Victoire's many near-death experiences, more specifically the second attempt on her life during her seventh-year at Hogwarts, "I don't know to be honest. I was more concerned with her impending death when I heard about the incident."

"I wonder if the Auror Department kept it as evidence." Hayden mused.

Kurt snorted, "More likely Kingsley glared at it so hard it spontaneously combusted."

"But if he didn't, it must be hidden in a storage room somewhere around here," Hayden insisted with a causal wave of his hand, "It probably wouldn't be that hard to find if you knew the corresponding case number . . ."

Jilly rolled her eyes, "Ted's got the case number memorized of course, but back to the case on _hand_ -"

"If this young lad wasn't specifically looking for a dragon's skull then he might not even be connected to the case," Teddy continued.

"We thought that," Hayden piped up, helpfully this time, "But when we asked Dodgy Chauvinist if he could remember the name of the young lad who was asking about magical creature parts he said that the young lad gave him his name and address just in case he found something worth selling later on."

"And the young lad who was looking for a dragon's skull or a manticore tail was?"

"Someone by the name of Chad Gerber."

Jilly smirked, "And would that be the very same Chad Gerber we have coming in for questioning next week?"

"I do believe he is one and the same," Kurt replied with a smile.

"Well there's two dots connected at least. Gerber must have gotten a dragon's skull from somewhere else and he's the reason why there was one in the bog," Teddy summarized.

Hayden frowned at The Wall, even with the new information they still had far too many questions and not enough answers, "But Dodgy Chauvinist had no idea why Chad Gerber wanted a biological relic from a dangerous creature to start with."

Kurt put his quill to The Wall again and wrote _Why a dragon's skull or manticore tail?_ , "I guess that's a question that we'll just have to ask Mr. Gerber himself."

* * *

 **6:33 PM**

Victoire sat quietly at the kitchen table furiously muttering to herself under her breath. She was thinking so hard that her blue eyes seemed as though they were almost going cross-eyed, and her face was so rigid and tight that it looked like she was a few seconds away from popping a blood vessel in her forehead.

While she made a very interesting and borderline morbidly entertaining sight, Teddy was starting to worry that she would bust some sort of vein with the intensity of her concentration. He gave his wand a few flicks and two spins –just because his Grandmum Andromeda could make household cleaning spells look easy doesn't mean that they _were_ that easy conceptually– and glanced over his shoulder to make sure that the dishes from their dinner were washing and drying properly. Once he was satisfied that clean up from their meal was mostly complete, he sat down next to his fiancée and theatrically snapped his fingers in front of her face.

Victoire jumped in her seat at the sudden interruption and blinked a few times in confusion until her gaze refocused on her blue haired fiancé.

"Hi."

"Hi."

There was a beat of silence.

"Care to tell me what you were thinking so hard about?"

Victoire looked down at her hands, "Just going through word combinations for the spell Healer McDavid and I are working on."

"I thought we decided at supper that you were going to give your poor brain a break for the rest of the night?" Teddy reminded her.

She nodded her head enthusiastically, "We did."

"And you couldn't even stick to that resolution for twenty minutes?" He asked exasperatedly.

She shrugged, "You know I'm bad with resolutions. And patience."

He sighed tiredly, but with a fond smile on his face, "I know."

There otherwise sweet moment was interrupted a few moments later by a loud and impatient knock on the door. Victoire waved her hand to wandlessly magic the front door of their flat open, and Ally immediately walked into the foyer, dragging a reluctant looking Louis with her by the arm.

Teddy and Victoire both narrowed their eyes in confusion.

"What are you two-"

Before Victoire could finish her inquiry, the sound of Ally and Louis' argument filled the flat.

"Ally I said I need to go. My shift at work starts in less than a half hour-"

"And I said that we need to talk about this with Vic," Ally argued, her voice drowning out the rest of Louis's complaint, "You can't just drop what you did on me and then leave on your merry way to work while I try to figure everything out-"

Louis exhaled heavily, "I was just venting! And it wasn't even directed to you! I was having a conversation with Dom and you interrupted. Since when are you at the flat you share anyway? I thought you and Xavier were glued at the hip?"

"Don't try to change the subject, this is serious and we should all discuss it-"

Ally's words were stopped, but not because she was interrupted by someone else. The back and forth of Louis and Ally's arguing was starting to wreak havoc on Victoire's poor overworked brain, so she cast a silencing spell on both of them to stop the craziness.

Both Ally and Louis immediately turned to glare at her, and she pointed sternly to the living room couch and motioned for them to sit down on it. The both trudged over like chastised children and sat down, Victoire and Teddy following close behind them.

"Now," Victoire began in an eerily calm tone, "I'm going to lift the silencing charm and you both are going to explain in full, without interrupting each other, what in the world you're arguing about. And you've only got fifteen minutes to do so since Louis has to be at work for seven. So, proceed."

Louis swallowed thickly, "I'm worried about Cecilia."

Her little brother went on to explain that his girlfriend had been acting very strange recently. He hadn't seen her in person in about a week, and even though they were both busy, the non-in-person communication had also been very scarce. Louis explained that he had been patient with her since they both seemed to be very busy with work, but even the constant text messages and nightly mobile phone calls had withered down to a few brief words and a minute and a half of almost dead air during the past week. Victoire's youngest sibling had been complaining to his middle sister about his girlfriend's sudden social withdrawal when Ally popped out of her bedroom at the flat she shared with Dom and immediately invited herself into the conversation.

Ally added some anecdotal evidence to Cecilia's bizarre behaviour from what she had heard from Xavier about Cecilia's seemingly withdrawal from home life, and Louis repeated that Dom had also mentioned an odd encounter with Cecilia on the weekend.

All of the new information could have kept Victoire's mind busy for the next several hours, but Louis had to be at work and asking him a whole bunch of questions and positing theories he wouldn't be able to confirm or deny wasn't going to help. They needed to sit down and talk with the direct source herself.

It was Louis's belief that Victoire was a little too keen to use the word 'intervention' whenever she thought someone close to her had a problem, which was why he initially went to Dom to talk about how it seemed that his girlfriend was distancing herself from him. However, he couldn't argue with Victoire's logic that something was obviously wrong with Cecilia since she was avoiding meaningful contact with her boyfriend, her parents, her siblings, and her closest friends.

He also couldn't argue with the fact that it was extremely out of character for Cecilia to avoid going out to see friends by spending her free time with her grandmother Eilionoir Wood instead –which she had done several times over the past week. And topping off Cecilia's odd behaviour was the fact that she had spent at least three nights the past week at Malcolm's house instead of going home to her parents' house, or even Louis and Baxter's apartment. When Ally called to question Malcolm about it –which she did before the pair barged into Victoire and Teddy's flat– her fiancé's cousin could only tell her that Cecilia had literally just slept at his place, and that while he didn't pry for information, she didn't offer any up either. Malcolm was also completely in the dark about what was bothering Cecilia, and the last time he tried to ask her about it, she left his house immediately that morning halfway through brushing her hair and without even brushing her teeth.

Louis still didn't think that Cecilia necessarily needed an intervention, but he did eventually agree that maybe on Saturday after everyone went to see Ally and Xavier's prospective new houses, they could try to get Cecilia to open up about her sudden social isolation.

* * *

 **A/N:** So, I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter! What did we think of about Teddy FINALLY sitting down with Andromeda and Narcissa? Also, is everyone still following the storyline about Teddy's case? We're going to hit a break in it soon so more of the pieces will be put together and repeated. And finally, yes, they've decided to 'talk' to Cecilia about her odd behaviour.

 **Next Update:** In two weeks! I promise, it's mostly written so it will be posted on time.

 **Next Chapter:** I will tell you now that the intervention with Cecilia will NOT be next chapter, but it will be in the chapter after that. There's something in the timeframe that happens before that day that needs to come up first. Next chapter will have som Benjamin, Rowan, and Eliza, as well as a bit more Baxter/Eliza, and lots more Dom interacting with Colton. It will also have a splash of Healer Mode Victoire, which is always fun.

Teaser for Next Chap:

 **"Dominique, don't flirt with the wait staff unless you actually plan to fraternize with them at a later date," Colton remarked after taking a sip of his drink.**

 **Dom looked at her boss archly, "What if I do plan on _fraternizing_ with him later?"**

 **Colton snorted, "Please, you wouldn't fraternize with him."**

Thanks again to everyone who has followed, favourited, read, and especially reviewed this story!

BIGGEST thank yous to:

 **Gryffindork1307, ntlpurpolia, Break This Spell626, Gnool, rosesnlilies, Katia0203, cjaben1, Anrheithwyr, zvc56, cpnjky, fangirl5300, no cure for crazy, Jennifer Jules, teddyvictoire'slovechild, Izzy, NicoleTheSmith,** and **Seher Syed**.

 **Gryffindork1307** : Sorry, not much Cecilia and Louis in here, but there will be lots in two chapters' time.

 **cjaben1** : I addressed Cecilia's phone call with Malcolm in this chapter near the end. We will circle back to Mark and Tabitha before the end, but there's a bit that's got to go down first. Molly's cool. There's just not much room for a big storyline for her in this story specifically.

 **Anrheithwyr** : Welcome to my wizarding world then, I hope you enjoy the ride :)

 **cpnjky** : Don't worry, when we get to Christmas there will be part of if not a whole chapter on the Weasley family Christmas dinner with Charlie's muggle girlfriend.

 **fangirl5300** : There's lots of Colton, Anastasia and Dom in the next chapter, as well as Eliza. Louis and Cecilia and Vic and Teddy will be in the chapter after that. In three chapters we will see the Hogwarts kids.

 **teddyvictoire'slovechild** : We will see the Hogwarts kids in three chapters' time.

 **Izzy** : You're imagined scenario sounds very accurate. I've already got an idea in my head of how it's all going to play out, and you'll see it in the next chapter.

 **I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter,**

 **Please leave me any questions, comments, or concerns in a review or a PM,**

 **Until next time, DFTBA!**


	47. Parties and Prescriptions

**A/N:** Hello everyone, here's the newest chapter. I'm a day late but my family had a wake to go to so I couldn't get it out before now. I hope that you enjoy it!

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Harry Potter.

* * *

 **Recap:** Benjamin's parents decided to throw a party so that all of their friends could meet Rowan. Eliza has a free night so she asks Baxter out on another date. Dom doesn't have much patience for stupid people.

* * *

 **Parties and Prescriptions**

 **Friday, November 18th 2022**

 **7:05 PM**

Eliza nervously brushed her long hair out one more time as she stared at herself in her bedroom mirror. She wasn't exactly nervous about her appearance –she was oddly calm this time around when it came to primping herself for their date– but she took the extra seconds that it took her hairbrush to glide through her hair to collect herself emotionally. There were so many feelings coursing through her that her hand shook a little as she went to set her hairbrush down on top of her dresser.

She was extremely excited for her date with Baxter. The thought of going out with him again made her heartbeat quicken in her chest, and a smile automatically spread across her face.

But on the other hand, the idea of going on another date with him brought a peculiar sense of peacefulness to her mind. There was no worry, just tranquillity when she thought about spending the next few hours with Baxter.

If all she had to think about was her date with Baxter, then she would be able to unequivocally place herself in the category of happy. Unfortunately, she couldn't keep her mind on her date with Baxter. As much as she tried, she couldn't stop thinking about Rowan.

Benjamin had picked their daughter up a couple hours ago to take her to his home for the party his parents were throwing for their granddaughter that night. Eliza had over-packed a large diaper bag filled with more than everything Benjamin would need to take care of Rowan for one night, and Benjamin had patiently listened to every rule and suggestion Eliza told him about looking after Rowan. It wasn't the first time Benjamin would be looking after Rowan for an evening, nor the first time he would be looking after her while she went on a date. However, knowing all this didn't stop Eliza from worrying.

She was worried about how Benjamin's parents' pureblooded friends would react to meeting Rowan, and she was worried that Benjamin's cow of a fiancée was going to belittle Rowan –and most likely Eliza– to everyone in the room.

That worry and stress about Rowan was starting to mingle with the excitement she was feeling about Baxter, and they were the main cause of her present emotional distress.

Eliza gave herself one more glance in the mirror before she decided that she wasn't going to be able to collect her emotions any better than they already were. She turned the light off in her bedroom on her way out, and when she walked into the living room she smiled brightly upon seeing Baxter sitting on the couch, flipping through the newest copy of _Up In The Air_ quidditch magazine. Baxter had arrived at her threshold promptly a few minutes before their scheduled meeting time, and even though Eliza had been ready to leave for their date fifteen minutes before he arrived, she felt the need to give her hair one more brush in the privacy of her bedroom. She didn't want to seem quite as eager as she was, so she left Baxter in the living room and took five more minutes to collect her ranging and raging emotions.

Baxter looked up when Eliza entered the living room and he gave her a dazzling smile that almost erased all of the worry from her mind.

He closed the magazine he had been looking through and tossed it back onto Eliza's coffee table, "Cecilia's newest article was very well written. She's always been a good writer, but I can see a definite improvement since she started working for the magazine."

Eliza nodded her head in agreement, "The technical quality of her writing has definitely improved . . . but her last article seemed almost a little detached-"

"In the writing voice?" Baxter finished for Eliza, "I noticed that too. I thought perhaps she was just trying her best to be impartial in her writing."

Eliza pursed her lips, "I think she erred on the side of too much impartiality."

"Perhaps her next article will go back to her more natural writing style."

"Hopefully. As well written as her last article was, the previous ones were more interesting to read."

Baxter smiled, "I agree."

Eliza took a few steps towards Baxter until they were standing closer together, "Are we ready to leave for our date?"

Since Eliza had been the one to ask Baxter out on their present date, she was also the one who got to plan it.

"I'm ready if you are," Baxter replied, another big smile brightening up his handsome face.

"Just one more thing," Eliza said, taking another two steps closer to Baxter until she was right up in what was unequivocally his personal space.

She leaned forward and pressed her lips to Baxter's in a brief but sweet kiss. When she pulled back she gave Baxter the brightest smile she had in her repertoire, " _Now_ I'm ready to go."

* * *

 **7:28 PM**

Dominique Weasley frowned as she walked up the long driveway between the manicured lawns. She was following a few paces behind Colton and Anastasia, and she was mentally contemplating whether or not she'd be able to disapparate away from them without them noticing right away.

"Don't even think about it," Colton's slightly amused voice warned her. He slowly turned around to face her and smirked.

Dom immediately decided to play coy, "Don't think about what?"

"About disapparating away before even getting into the house," Colton explained as he crossed his arms over the chest of his pristine dress robes.

Dom cursed in French.

"You don't really _need_ me to be here . . ." She began in a charming tone.

Anastasia interrupted her in a perky voice, "Actually, we do. This is first and foremost a party at the home of one of your important clients from work, so obviously you need to be here Dominique."

Dom rolled her eyes, "We're at the bloody Dickinsons for a party so they can parade around their half-blood baby granddaughter to their morbidly curious society friends."

"I'm not happy to be here either, but since they _are_ our clients and friends of my family, we need to be here for this meet-and-greet-the-baby party," Colton told her.

"Well since they're not _my_ family friends, and since _I've_ already met Rowan, I don't think _I_ need to be here tonight," Dom stated as she put her hands on her hips.

Anastasia grabbed Dom's arm and began to pull her in the direction of the Dickinsons' family manor home, "Well you're also here because _I_ may need some intelligent female company tonight. Come on Dominique, it'll be fun. We'll have a bit to drink, wear these very nice clothes –you look fabulous by the way– and maybe you'll even meet a tall, dark, and handsome stranger."

"I could do all of that at a club tonight as well, without having to listen to vapid society women and chauvinistic men monologue about their oh-so-superior lives," Dom ranted.

"I'm a vapid society woman," Anastasia reminded her.

"And I'm a chauvinistic man," Colton added.

The redhead rolled her eyes at the married couple again, "You're not vapid or chauvinistic. But a lot of your friends are."

"But not all of them are," Anastasia corrected her gently, "And while the Dickinsons aren't my favourite people, I will admit that I'm impressed that they're holding a party to introduce their friends to their granddaughter."

"The granddaughter they wanted Benjamin to abandon," Dom muttered angrily.

Colton frowned at the memory, "Yes, but Benjamin stood up to his parents and he's taking care of his daughter."

Dom sighed heavily, "Whatever."

She stopped arguing and allowed Anastasia to pull her the rest of the way towards the large manor where dozens of people dressed in their best dress robes were entering the home. Colton shook hands with the elegant looking man and woman in the front foyer of the house. Anastasia shook hands with the same couple, and then Colton introduced his Jr. associate lawyer Dominique Weasley to Mr. Henry Dickinson and Mrs. Grace Dickinson.

Despite Dom's perfect resting bitch face –which she was very proud of– she was able to be charming and gracious when she wanted to; she was part veela after all. Therefore, Dom was everything kind and courteous as she greeted Mr. and Mrs. Dickinson and told them that they had a beautiful and tastefully decorated home.

After kissing up to the party's hosts, Colton directed both women to the rather full ballroom, and the three were immediately set upon by a pair of middle-aged men who were acquaintances with Colton and Anastasia's parents.

The trio spent about a half hour schmoozing and charming various groups of people in the room before they finally ran into Benjamin Dickinson and the guest of honour.

When Benjamin saw Colton standing in front of him he immediately shifted his hold on the infant in his arms so that she rested in one arm, so he could stretch his free hand out in front of him to shake Colton's hand.

"Mr. Knott, a pleasure to see you again," Benjamin told him politely.

Colton smiled back at the younger man, "Nice to see you as well Benjamin. This must be Rowan?"

Benjamin nodded when he saw Colton pointing to the baby in his arms.

"Yes, this is my daughter Rowan."

Anastasia moved forward so that she could get a better peek at Rowan, "She's beautiful."

"Thank you Mrs. Knott."

Dom inspected Rowan, "She's even prettier than that adorable dress she's got on, which is saying something because I know exactly which high-fashion baby boutique in France that dress is from. I was with Victoire when she bought the dress."

Benjamin glanced down at the pretty –and slightly poufy– purple tulle party dress his daughter was clad in, "It was the fanciest dress Eliza had packed in the diaper bag. I didn't realize that Victoire bought it for Rowan, but it makes sense. Eliza's not much of a girly-girly, and this dress didn't seem much like her personal style."

"Vic's not much of a girly-girl either," Dom explained, "But she's almost a completely different person when she buys clothes for Rowan. Always picking sparkly pink and purple things. Tasteful, but very girly nonetheless."

Benjamin let out a light laugh, "That explains a lot of the clothes in Rowan's dresser."

Dom laughed as well and held out her arms to Benjamin, "I think it's time to hand her over though. Vic'll be so jealous that I got to hold her tonight."

Benjamin eyed Dom's skin-tight black party dress cautiously, but handed his infant daughter over to the redhead anyway.

Dom instinctively started to bounce a little as she held Rowan, and Anastasia was immediately at her side cooing over the baby.

"She's _so_ cute," Anastasia said, not taking her eyes off of Rowan.

"And well-behaved too, or at least that's what Vic and Louis tell me," Dom stated, looking to Benjamin as if to verify that information.

Benjamin nodded sheepishly, "I don't have a lot of experience with babies, but yes, I'd say that she's extremely well behaved."

"Even if she wasn't well-behaved, I'm sure this little girl would still have her daddy wrapped around her finger either way," Anastasia said glancing at the adoring smile that was on Benjamin's face.

"Yeah."

Colton started to speak to Benjamin about work since he knew that the younger man was attending school to become a lawyer, while the two women continued to give Rowan their mostly-undivided attention.

While Colton and Benjamin's conversation began to wrap-up, the group was joined by another married couple.

"Oh thank goodness you lot came tonight as well," Sandra Line said rather quickly as she and her husband Kyle Line joined the group, "I need some proper intelligent conversation right now or my head might just explode."

Kyle rolled his eyes at his wife's dramatic entrance and he hurriedly introduced himself and his wife to Benjamin.

Benjamin shook hands with Kyle politely as Sandra shifted around Anastasia and Dom, "Honestly, even after telling people that I work in the _financial_ department at my father-in-law's company they still choose to talk to Kyle about work and only ask me questions about my dress."

Sandra paused in her speech and glanced down at the smiling baby Dom was cradling, "Well isn't she cute as button, and even cuter in person than in the pictures Victoire keeps showing us."

Benjamin eyed Sandra warily, "You know Victoire Weasley?"

"We've been best mates since first year," Sandra stated proudly.

"I can see how you two are friends," Benjamin told her.

Kyle snorted, "Because they both talk a mile a minute?"

Sandra slapped her husband's arm, and he chuckled, put his arm around her waist, and pulled her into his side so that he could press a kiss to the top of her head.

"BENJAMIN!" A loud, high-pitched voice called suddenly from out of the crowd of people just to their right.

Benjamin closed his eyes briefly and sighed heavily at hearing the voice. He slowly opened his eyes again as the voice came closer.

"BENJAMIN! WHERE ARE– Oh, there you are darling."

Winnie Harris's face went from irritation to false cheerfulness the minute her fiancé came into view. She made a beeline for his side, and when she noted that he wasn't holding onto his daughter, she immediately wrapped her arms around his waist and stuck herself to his side. It didn't seem to bother her that Benjamin was standing stock-still while she wound herself around him as tightly as she could.

"Were you looking for me Winnie?" Benjamin asked his fiancée blandly.

For some odd reason, she chose to giggle at his words despite the fact that they weren't remotely funny, "Yes, I've searched at least half of the room already-"

"Was there something you needed me for?" Benjamin interrupted her.

Winnie either didn't notice Benjamin's terseness, or chose to ignore it, "Nothing in particular. I just missed you."

Benjamin's face started to soften at her words.

"Plus, everyone's been asking me where my handsome fiancé is and wondering why he's not by my side. We really _do_ need to stay by each other tonight and present a united front. Everybody's already thinking certain _things_ and gossiping about us because of your little unfortunate indiscretion-"

Dom snorted in derision on Rowan's behalf, "It might behoove you to be more polite in the presence of said living breathing little indiscretion."

Winnie peeled her eyes off of Benjamin so that she could look at Dom, who was still holding said living breathing little indiscretion.

"And you are?"

Dom rolled her eyes, Winnie Harris had only been a year behind her at Hogwarts and the cow couldn't even remember who she was, "I'm Dominique Weasley."

There was no spark of recognition in Winnie's eyes, so she continued to attack, "And who invited you here?"

Benjamin gritted his teeth and pulled away from Winnie's grasp as he gestured towards the people with him, "Winnie, this is Kyle Line and his wife Sandra, I believe your parents are acquainted with Kyle's parents Marshall and Geneviève Line. You of course know Colton and Anastasia Knott, Dominique works with Colton as a Jr. associate lawyer at the law firm."

Winnie smiled brightly at Kyle and Sandra, and at Colton and Anastasia. When her gaze went to Dom her smile faded and she gave the redhead a look that clearly stated that she was unimpressed with her because she was _just_ an associate of Colton's and not a societal acquaintance.

"It's nice to meet you," Winnie told the two married couples, purposely ignoring Dom. She then turned to Benjamin, "Darling, I'm thirsty how about we go get something to drink?"

Benjamin frowned at her, "You know that I don't drink Winnie. Besides I have to look after Rowan."

Winnie pointedly glanced at Rowan –who was still laying peacefully in Dom's arms– and then back at her fiancé, "Miss Weasley doesn't seem to mind holding the little . . . child. Anyway, you've spent all night with _her_ -"

"That's because she's my _daughter_ -"

"But don't you want to spend some time with me? I'm much better company. I'm prettier-"

Dom snorted and muttered, "Not really."

"More articulate-"

Sandra whispered loud enough for only Dom and Anastasia to hear, "I actually doubt it."

"More entertaining to be around-"

Anastasia rolled her eyes imperiously, "Not always the best thing."

"And," Winnie continued, placing her hand on Benjamin's chest, "I'm a full pureblood. Not a half-blood, or a muggleborn, but a pureblood from an ancient family."

"And what exactly is wrong with being a muggleborn or a half-blood?" Anastasia asked in a suddenly icy tone.

Winnie didn't recognize the hostility in Anastasia's question, "There's nothing wrong with it per se, I'm sure the poor souls do the best they can with what they've been given. It's not their fault that they were born with less genetic magical aptitude."

Sandra's eyes looked like they were going to pop right out of her head, " _Excuse_ me?"

Benjamin glowered at his fiancée, "Winnie, I think it's time that you-"

"Take Rosie for example," Winnie said gesturing to Rowan in Dom's arms.

"Her name's Rowan," Dom coldly reminded the woman who was the poor baby girl's future step-mother.

Winnie ignored her, "I mean she may grow up to be moderately good at magic, her father _is_ a pureblood after all." She paused to wink at her fiancé, "But when _we_ have children, any magical ability Rowan has will pale in comparison to their accomplishments. _They_ will be pureblooded children and they'll be vastly superior to your _other_ child-"

"WINNIE!" Benjamin interrupted her awful tirade, his face going red and his breathing getting harsh, "That's enough. This conversation is _over_."

"It's just the facts Benjamin, I'm sure your acquaintances understand. They're purebloods, so I'm sure they've heard all about this before," Winnie defended herself.

"Unfortunately," Sandra replied snappily.

Winnie continued, she was doing a completely awful job of reading the room, "I mean, how would you react if you had a half-blood child instead of a pureblood?"

"I'd think that everything is the way it's supposed to be considering that _I'm_ a muggleborn and my husband's a pureblood," Sandra said with an unreadable expression.

Winnie finally had the decency to go quiet with shock, and Benjamin pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration.

"I am _so_ sorry about what she said," Benjamin immediately began to apologize to Sandra and Kyle, "Winnie's views are-"

"Not anything I haven't heard before unfortunately," Sandra grimaced.

Benjamin swallowed thickly, "Still, it's rude and inappropriate. Winnie _will_ apologize-" Here, Benjamin gave his fiancée a fierce chastising look and gestured to Sandra with a nod of his head.

Winnie pouted at him, but eventually she opened her mouth to say _something_.

Whether or not that _something_ was an insincere apology, or more misinformed prejudiced falsehoods, Dom would never know. Before Winnie could get one consonant out, Rowan opened her mouth and let out an ear-splitting shriek.

Dom jolted a little at the noise, but she kept a firm hold of Rowan nonetheless. Benjamin immediately stuck his arms out and scooped Rowan out of Dom's arms. Once he had her cradled tightly to his chest, he began to rock back and forth in an attempt to calm her down.

It seemed to work a little. Rowan's shrieks died down to sad little whimpers, and once it did Winnie opened her mouth once more.

"Merlin that's loud enough to give a person a migraine."

"She might be getting hungry, or tired," Benjamin said, a little incredulous that he had to defend his infant daughter to his fiancée.

Anastasia glanced sympathetically at the baby girl, "Poor thing's probably exhausted. And maybe having a bit of sensory overload, there's a lot going on around here."

"Do all babies scream that loudly?" Winnie asked disbelievingly.

"Well I'm not the healer in my family, but I think I can unequivocally guarantee you that all babies are able to hit that decibel if not higher," Dom told her snarkily.

Despite the rhythmic motion of Benjamin's arms, Rowan was still whimpering sadly.

"I think I might need excuse myself for a little while . . . and maybe call Eliza," Benjamin muttered as he slightly changed his hold on Rowan and began to move away from them.

Before he could get two steps away Winnie snapped at him.

"What do you need to call _her_ for?"

Dom glanced around herself unbelievingly. She couldn't believe that Winnie was classless enough to have a row with Benjamin about Eliza in front of everyone, even if she had been idiotic enough to disparage muggleborns and half-bloods.

Benjamin had a stunned expression on his face, "Because Rowan's in distress and if I can't fix it I'm going to call Eliza –her mother– and ask her what I should do to help _our_ child."

"Benjamin!" Winnie gasped, "Watch your volume! You don't want everyone around here to hear you, do you?"

He gritted his teeth together and glared harshly at his fiancée, "Everyone here knows that I have a child out of wedlock with Eliza, Winnie. This house is full of busybodies who are only here because they wanted to come by to gawk at my daughter-" Benjamin glanced at the Knotts, Lines, and Dom, "Present company excluded of course."

"But Benjamin-"

He cut her off, "I'm taking Rowan upstairs Winnie. If you'd like to continue this conversation and try to change my unwavering opinion on the matter, you can follow me."

Benjamin didn't wait for a response from her. He briefly took leave of the Knotts, Lines, and Dom, and then he paced away with an upset Rowan in his arms. Winnie stared after him with her mouth open, but before he was out of sight she quickly followed him.

Once the _click-clack_ of her high heels had eventually faded, the group of people who were left gaped at each other for a minute before Dom broke the silence.

"Well, I can see why Cecilia calls her an Air-Headed-Heiress, but I think the Wicked Bitch of Westbury would be a more apt nickname," Dom stated.

Anastasia sighed heavily, "I've met her a few times, but she never spoke much in one sitting. Now I regret hearing her talk so much."

"I guess she must have hid the crazy while she was single, and now that she's engaged she feels brave enough to spout all of the stupid opinions she kept hidden," Sandra said scathingly.

Kyle wrapped his arms around his wife's waist, "I am so sorry about what she said to you-"

"It's not your fault Kyle, and like I said it's not the first time I've heard something like that. Thankfully the people I actually _choose_ to spend my time with don't believe ridiculous rubbish like that," Sandra reassured her husband in a calming tone.

Kyle kissed Sandra on the forehead and then pressed a soft smile into her skin, "We'll just have to wait until we have kids to prove undeniably that our half-blood children will be every bit as magically capable as pureblooded children, or even more so."

"From the look of Benjamin and Winnie's relationship, I doubt that they're even going to make it to marriage let alone superior pureblooded children," Dom said with a roll of her eyes.

"Well I for one could use a drink," Colton announced airily, "I believe I saw a few waiters wandering around here somewhere."

Dom was very adept at capturing male attention, and in short time she had snagged the attention of a waiter, flipped her red hair over her shoulder, and ordered alcoholic drinks for all five of them. She gave the waiter a wink to ensure that he would be back directly, and after only waiting a few minutes the waiter was back with a tray full of drinks and a bright smile on his face. After he handed out the drinks his gaze drifted to Dom. She noticed this and blew him a kiss. His cheeks went red and he quickly disappeared into the crowded ballroom.

"Dominique, don't flirt with the wait staff unless you actually plan to fraternize with them at a later date," Colton remarked after taking a sip of his drink.

Dom looked at her boss archly, "What if I do plan on _fraternizing_ with him later?"

Colton snorted, "Please, you wouldn't fraternize with him."

"Why not? Because he's a waiter?"

"No, because he's too shy and innocent looking for you."

Dom glanced back through the crowd at the waiter, and then back at Colton, "Okay, you may be right about that one."

"But if you're looking for a bloke, I'm sure I can find you one here," Anastasia said with a wide wave of her hand.

Sandra rolled her eyes, "If Dom's looking for a bloke all she's got to do is ring up Clark Westin and count to fifty."

"Or owl Konstatin Krum and wait just long enough for him to procure a portkey," Kyle added.

Colton took a calm sip of his drink, "And then there's the handful of interns at our office whose minds go blank when you walk into the room."

"Piss off all of you," Dom told them grumpily.

Obviously one of them had hit a nerve, they just didn't know which one of them it was.

They changed the topic of their conversation to something less personal, and just when they were finishing their first round of drinks, Sandra spotted something in the crowd that made her face twist-up like she'd tasted a particularly sour lemon-drop.

"Ugh, just when I was starting to enjoy the night."

Dom turned her head towards the direction that Sandra was staring off at in despair, and frowned when she spotted Christopher Mullin and his wife of one month Giavanna Tracey.

"If we all took two big steps back we could probably slip out of their line of sight before they spot us," Kyle suggested.

Unfortunately, before they could try said plan, Chris and Giavanna observed them and made a beeline straight for them.

"Here we go again," Colton muttered under his breath just as the newlyweds approached them.

Chris and Giavanna had bright smiles plastered onto their faces as they greeted Colton and Anastasia, and Kyle and Sandra, but their expressions faltered a little when they saw Dom.

"Fancy running into all of you here," Giavanna said cheerily to the group, "Stasia I love your dress."

Anastasia thanked her quietly, and Dom wondered how she was able to keep a straight face when she was talking to someone as exasperating as Giavanna.

"So how'd all of you wrangle invites to the party?" Giavanna asked nosily.

"My parents are acquainted with Mr. and Mrs. Dickinson," Kyle answered blandly.

Colton's face was as emotionless as his tone of voice, "Mr. and Mrs. Dickinson and Benjamin are clients at the firm."

Giavanna nodded and then turned her superior gaze to Dom, "And you're here because . . . ?"

Dom shrugged her shoulders elegantly, "Colton said something about wanting to show everyone his best and brightest Jr. associate lawyer."

"Got to show off the firm's best assets," Colton replied dryly before taking a slow sip of his drink.

Giavanna frowned at little at hearing Colton agree with Dom's self-praise, and Anastasia quickly redirected the conversation by asking Giavanna and Chris how they were enjoying married life.

Giavanna went on to excitedly explain how much she was enjoying being a wife, and while she prattled on, Chris silently let his eyes wander to Dom. He inspected her with slight curiosity, but mostly with a distant look that made Dom think that he was looking more for similarities between her and her big sister than at _her_.

When the staring became too much –essentially fifty-seconds after it started– Dom downed what was left of her drink and loudly interrupted whatever inane story Giavanna was telling, to ask her friends if anyone wanted a refill on their alcohol while she went to replenish her own drink.

Colton and Sandra both emphatically stated that they could use a refill, and Dom got in a snarky put-down about Giavanna not being able to drink for the next few months because she was three and a half months pregnant, before leaving. She found the make-shift bar on the side of the room where the waiters were refilling their drink orders, and she flipped her hair over her shoulder while she ordered four drinks. Two of the drinks were for Sandra and Colton, while the other two were both for Dom. She downed one of the glasses of alcohol, smirked as the liquid burned its way down her throat, collected the other three glasses, and then ambled her way back to where she left her boss and his wife, and her sister's best mate and husband.

Unfortunately, her hope that Giavanna and Chris would have found other people to annoy by the time she made it back to her friends was dashed when she observed that the most recently married couple was still standing with the people she actually wanted to talk to. She quietly slipped back into the group, handed Sandra and Colton their drinks, and found that the bulk of the conversation was still being performed by just Giavanna and Anastasia.

At the moment of her reappearance, Anastasia was asking Giavanna and Chris if they had met the guest of honour yet.

"Oh, do you mean that baby Benjamin had with that middleclass classmate of his from Hogwarts?" Giavanna asked, wanting clarification.

Dom huffed and rolled her eyes, " _Rowan_ is the name of the baby girl, and Eliza Parker is the name of her mother. The _brilliant_ middleclass classmate of Benjamin's."

"If she was brilliant she wouldn't have gotten pregnant while she was still in school," Giavanna countered.

"Yes, because getting pregnant is always the woman's fault and only because of the woman's actions," Dom replied sarcastically.

Anastasia changed the direction of conversation ever so slightly then; she knew that Dom was only just getting started with her acerbic comments, "We met Rowan a little while ago, she's a beautiful baby, and very well behaved."

"Hmmm, that's odd," Giavanna replied, a considering expression on her face, "I'm certain that Winnie Harris told me that Benjamin's daughter was a shrill, pasty little thing that cries almost constantly."

Dom couldn't let yet another person insult the poor innocent baby, "Perhaps she's not very happy when she's around Winnie, but based on everything Vic and Louis have been telling me for the past three months, I'm inclined to believe that she's a fantastic baby."

Giavanna frowned at hearing Dom's words, whereas Chris's expression twisted into interest.

"Victoire's acquainted with Benjamin's baby?" Chris asked in as neutral of a tone as he could manage.

Dom glowered at Chris –as far as she was concerned he should never be allowed to say her sister's name again– but answered, "Victoire was at Hogwarts as a medi-witch last year for a bit and Eliza was her patient there while she was pregnant. They became friends and Victoire helped Eliza give birth at St. Mungo's, she's close with Eliza and Rowan."

"Aren't you excited to be having your own baby soon though? You're due in April aren't you?" Anastasia questioned Giavanna suddenly. She was trying yet again to keep the conversation from straying into waters which would make Dom start cursing in French.

Chris's face went pale at the mention of the imminent arrival of their first child, while Giavanna's face shone brightly with real excitement, "We're _so_ thrilled about the baby coming soon. We can't wait to meet her."

"Oh, so you've found out the gender then?" Anastasia asked interestedly.

Giavanna chuckled, "No, no, we haven't found out the gender. We're not going to either. I have a feeling that it's going to be a girl, I just know."

"That's . . . quaint . . . so have you started to load up on everything you'll need for the baby?" Anastasia inquired.

Her question opened a floodgate of baby conversation from Giavanna, and the two women were the only people in the group who seemed to be enjoying the conversation.

"Speaking of baby names," Giavanna commented after Anastasia asked her a question about their thoughts on trendy baby names, "Winnie was telling me how Benjamin named his daughter after his mother. I think that's totally adorable and incredibly sweet."

Dom hadn't been attending to the conversation very closely, she'd been more preoccupied with drowning her boredom in her alcoholic beverage, so when Giavanna mentioned Benjamin 'naming his daughter after his mother' she snorted very loudly into her drink.

"Is there a problem?" Givanna asked her coldly.

The redhead took another sip of her drink, "Nope, no problem at all."

Dom had listened to her brother and sister talk so insistently about Eliza and Rowan that certain things just started to soak into her brain. One certain thing being the fact that Rowan Grace Parker-Dickinson was _not_ in fact christened with the middle name Grace because of her paternal grandmother Grace Dickinson, but because Grace was the name of a muggle grandmother of Eliza's that she was very close to. It seemed that Benjamin's family and friends had been kept from that secret, and his fiancée was going around telling people that he named his daughter after her grandmother as a peace offering.

"I need another drink," Dom commented after she downed the rest of the liquid in her glass.

"I'll go with you," Sandra announced hurriedly.

The two girls strolled away as quickly as possible in the high-heeled shoes they were wearing –Sandra having a harder time walking even though her shoes had heels three-inches shorter than the ones Dom was wearing– and while they slipped away from the pair of vipers, Sandra muttered to Dom.

"I _really_ hate coming to these types of parties."

"Good thing they always have plenty of alcohol available."

When Dom and Sandra went back to their friends after obtaining their latest round, Giavanna and Chris were mercifully and finally absent. The two married couples and Dom had a few more moments of conversation, but slowly they drifted away and began to mingle with other people in the crowd. Colton introduced Dom to a lot of important people –or at least Colton told her that they were important, she didn't fully believe him– while Anastasia stood by quietly, offering a charming comment every once in a while. Dom was rather impressed with the dedication she had to her attentive wife façade, if the roles were reversed Dom didn't think that she'd be able to feign interest in such inane conversation about an occupation that she didn't know much about.

Colton unfailingly introduced Dom as one of his Jr. associate lawyers, but while he didn't add any specific positive descriptors to his introduction, everyone who Colton introduced her to understood the significance of him introducing a specific Jr. associate to them. After all, Dom was the only Jr. associate lawyer that Colton specifically invited to the party. There were a few other people from his firm, including some other Jr. associates, at the party; but they were only there because their families were acquainted with the Dickinsons. Dom was the only Jr. associate Colton was bothering to spend any time with.

About an hour and a half after Dom's last run-in with Giavanna and Chris, she and the Knotts spotted them again near the exit of the ballroom speaking to Benjamin's fiancée Winnie. Dom had been hoping to stroll to the room's exit and slip away relatively unnoticed, but that was unlikely considering that she'd have to sashay by Chris to be able to leave.

Colton began to direct Anastasia and Dom in another direction when he spotted the Mullins and Winnie, but unfortunately Giavanna spotted them first. The pregnant woman called Anastasia specifically over to her, and Dom and Colton trailed behind her at a more hesitant pace.

Winnie was still talking when they had made it within easy listening distance, and Dom's ears immediately tuned in to what she was saying.

"–So I told Benjamin that he should just let the little blob cry it out in her crib until she falls asleep, but he kept saying something about how she doesn't usually cry like this, _blah_ , _blah_ , _blah_ ," Winnie was complaining.

Anastasia pieced together the conversation, "Is there something wrong with Rowan?"

Winnie groaned exasperatedly and nodded imperiously, "She won't drink her bottle or go to sleep, and she just wants to be held. She lets out an ear-splitting shriek whenever he tries to put her down-"

"That definitely sounds like there's something not quite right with her," Anastasia replied concernedly.

Winnie waved off her alarm, "No, I swear she cries like that all the time."

Dom opened her mouth to say something once again in defense of the poor baby, but she was unable to snap at Rowan's soon-to-be step-mother because she was interrupted by a sharp cry that sounded like it was coming from said poor baby.

A second later Benjamin appeared by the entrance of the ballroom, clutching a crying and whimpering Rowan to his chest.

"Winnie," Benjamin called when he spotted her, his tone of voice decidedly irritated, "I thought you were going to find my mother. I need another hand."

Winnie pouted, but the effect was ruined by the slight wince of her face whenever Rowan's cries hit a particularly high pitch, "I ran into Gia first and remembered that I needed to talk to her."

Benjamin exhaled heavily, disappointment in his face, but he stepped closer to Winnie and moved as if he was going to hand Rowan off to her, "Well then could you at least hold her for a minute while I try to call Eliza?"

"Why do you need to call Elaina?" Winnie snapped, her expression suddenly distrustful.

"Because there's obviously something wrong with our daughter! She won't stop crying-"

Winnie rolled her eyes, "She's always crying-"

"No she's not. Plus, she has a fever and it has climbed two degrees in half an hour," Benjamin argued, "Now will you just hold her so I can call her mother?"

His fiancée flinched away, "But what if I catch whatever she has?"

Dom couldn't listen to anymore of the conversation.

"Just hand her over to me," Dom interrupted, holding her arms out so that Benjamin could deposit the crying baby to her grasp.

Benjamin eyed her cautiously, but handed Rowan over to her rather quickly. Dom immediately began to bounce the baby in her arms and started shushing her while Benjamin pulled a muggle mobile phone out of his pocket and began pressing buttons.

The first time he called he muttered something about the call going to voice mail, and he tried three more times in a row before sending her a text message instead. He called her a few more times after the text message, and he spent about ten minutes trying to reach Eliza before he angrily shoved his phone back in his pocket and swiftly scooped Rowan up out of Dom's arms.

Rowan's cries had been progressively getting louder as Benjamin tried to contact Eliza, but when Benjamin was holding her in his arms again she quieted ever-so slightly.

"I can't bloody get a hold of Eliza," Benjamin muttered exasperatedly as he rocked Rowan in his arms.

"She felt really warm when I held her," Dom told him.

Benjamin sighed, "Yeah? She's got a fever, but sometimes she runs warm . . . but her fever was really high-"

"Benjamin," Dom interrupted what was sure to be a monologue filled with worries, "Take Rowan up to her room. I'll get a hold of Eliza, and I'll call Victoire to come take a look at her, alright?"

The young father's eyes were wide with worry and fear, but he nodded his head in agreement and turned to leave the room and go back upstairs to the floor that held the family rooms.

The minute he was gone Dom turned to Colton, "Call Vic, tell her that Rowan's most likely ill and Benjamin doesn't know what to do."

Colton nodded and searched through his robes for his muggle phone.

Dom pulled her own phone out and Anastasia asked, "How do you plan on getting a hold of Eliza if Benjamin couldn't?"

Dom found the number she was looking for in her phone and pressed 'call', "I'm not going to call Eliza directly, I'm going to call Baxter."

* * *

 **10:38 PM**

Eliza pulled Baxter closer to her via the fabric of his shirt and pressed her lips forcefully to his. He chuckled into the kiss and wrapped one arm around her waist, while the other was occupied with running through her long dark hair.

The pair had arrived back at Eliza's flat from their date almost twenty minutes ago, and the minute they had the door shut tight behind them Eliza had pretty much pounced on the redhead. They shared some teasing and giggled-filled kisses as they made their way from the front door into the living room, where Eliza pushed Baxter to sit down on the couch.

She debated offering to make him some tea –she would have used the more suggestive word of a 'nightcap' but she knew better than to offer him alcohol, and she wasn't drinking because she was breast feeding– but in the end she decided to save the effort, skip the obligatory beverage offering step, and go right to where they both knew the situation was leading them to: snogging. Eliza was just pondering whether or not it was too early in their snogging session to start slowly discarding unnecessary clothing like her cardigan, when her phone started to ring.

Baxter pulled his lips away from Eliza's, but she chose to ignore the phone and chased his mouth until they were kissing again.

They kissed through the next few rings of the phone, but after the vibrating sound of a text message buzzed out, Baxter put a little bit more space between their faces and said, "I think you should probably answer that."

Eliza groaned and said, "A few more minutes, if whoever it is is still calling after that I'll answer it."

Before Baxter could voice his opinion on whether or not that sounded like a good decision, Eliza had captured his lips again and was kissing him hard.

Her mobile phone rang three more times, and then suddenly stopped. There was silence afterwards, and Eliza was just about to whisper 'I-told-you-so' against Baxter's lips when _his_ mobile phone suddenly began ringing.

"Ignore it," Eliza told him immediately.

Baxter sighed, "I would, but that's Dom's ringtone and I know better than to ignore it."

Eliza pouted at him but he reached into the pocket of his pants and pulled out his mobile phone, he pressed 'talk' and held it up to his ear.

"Hello Dom?"

His expression shifted from tiredness to surprise and he handed his mobile phone to Eliza, "She wants to talk to you."

"Your cousin wants to talk to me?"

"She says it's about Rowan."

The name of her daughter immediately caused Eliza to snatch the phone out of his hand and hold it to her ear, "What's wrong?"

It took Dom two minutes to explain the situation to Eliza, and four and half minutes for Baxter and Eliza to leave her flat and apparate to the Dickinsons' manor. Eliza had spent one minute arguing with Baxter that he didn't need to go with her, but he argued back that he wasn't going to let her apparate herself when she was under such emotional distress and worry, so she agreed to let him side-along her.

They spent forty seconds travelling up the driveway, paused for ten seconds when they saw the large number of people in elegant robes who were walking out the front door and vacating the premises, and once inside the house they looked around the front foyer for four seconds before they spotted Sandra Line who was widely gesturing for them to go towards her.

"Sandra what-"

"They're upstairs in Rowan's nursery," Sandra offered without being prompted.

Eliza didn't ask Baxter who the lady he was talking to was, she just turned towards the grand staircase and booked it up the first flight of stairs. Baxter followed quickly behind her, and on the first floor landing they were met with an odd sight that made them pause for a full five seconds.

Standing outside the door to Rowan's nursery were an odd assortment of people who were barely familiar to Eliza, and some who were only slightly familiar to Baxter. Chris and Giavanna Mullin, Kyle Line, Anastasia and Colton Knott, and Dominique Weasley stood outside the door of Rowan's nursery and stared at the newcomers oddly.

Dom spoke up first, "Rowan's in her room with Benjamin and Vic."

"Victoire's here already?" Eliza asked as she paced towards the room, not really bothering to wait for an answer.

Eliza entered the room, cognizant of the fact that Baxter had stopped beside his cousin and was not following her into the nursery, and even though she had gotten to the Dickinsons' manor as quickly as she could, she stopped when she entered the room and took the time to inspect her surroundings.

Benjamin was sitting in the rocking chair in the corner holding onto a wailing Rowan. Victoire Weasley was standing in front of them in an old Gryffindor quidditch jersey and some Holyhead Harpies jogging pants with her wand held aloft. To the side of the room almost blending into the wallpaper was Winnie Harris, and standing next to her with a disapproving expression was Mr. Henry Dickinson.

Seeing the condemnation in Benjamin's father's face as he watched Victoire attend to his granddaughter snapped Eliza into action. She jogged the distance of the room and went right up to Victoire.

"What's wrong?"

Victoire didn't take her eyes off of the baby as she replied, "Rowan spiked a fever and it keeps going up."

Eliza nodded, Dom had explained that much over the phone, "But she usually runs a little warm, is it worse than that?"

"Yes, the fever's gotten higher than a low grade and it's rising instead of staying put, also, Benjamin said that she won't eat and she won't sleep. She's very much in distress," Victoire explained.

Benjamin looked up at Eliza and moved to get up and hand Rowan over to her. Victoire immediately stopped him from moving and told him that he needed to stay still so that she could finish casting scanning spells on the baby, and he looked uncomfortable holding his still whimpering daughter when he knew that Rowan probably wanted her mother. Eliza knelt down next to the rocking chair and placed her hand on Rowan's cheek. The slight touch was enough to help comfort the distressed infant, and Rowan seemed to calm down a little now that she was being touched by both her father and her mother.

"What do you think is causing the fever?" Benjamin asked Victoire as he watched her cast yet another wordless spell, only to minutely shake her head at whatever results she had received from it.

"I'm not sure-"

"Of course she's not," Benjamin's father muttered none-too quietly from his standing position halfway across the room.

"Dad," Benjamin chastised in an angry tone.

"Yet," Victoire continued as if she hadn't been interrupted by the judgemental grandfather, "I'm not sure yet. So far I can only tell you what it's not, and it's not several things that could be much worse, so that's positive. I'm also fairly certain that whatever it is, is viral and not bacterial, which is also good because she's a little young to have to be on antibiotics, and if they're not necessary all the better."

As she explained all of this, her wand didn't stop moving.

"This is ridiculous," Mr. Dickinson complained taking a step away from the far fall, "I'm going to contact an actual healer-"

"Feel free to Mr. Dickinson, by the time you're able to convince another healer to make a house call at this time of night and get caught up on Rowan's medical background I'll have already diagnosed the problem and would welcome a second healer to agree with my assessment," Victoire retorted, her focus still set on the little baby.

Winnie scoffed from her unwelcome position against a wall, "Someone's got a big ego."

" _Someone's_ a fully qualified healer, graduated in the top of her healing class, and is emotionally invested in Rowan's wellbeing, so _Someone_ is probably the best option there is at present to take care of her," Victoire countered finally moving her wand down and shoving it into her pocket.

 _Someone_ then turned so she was looking only at Benjamin and Eliza, "Rowan's got a virus that's causing the fever and most likely the irritability."

"Can you heal it?" Eliza asked her.

Victoire reached out and ran a hand over Rowan's feverish forehead, "I don't know exactly what virus is making her sick, and it would be difficult to know exactly which virus is the cause of her symptoms without doing a few more invasive tests. Knowing which virus is affecting her isn't actually that important, there aren't specific medicines or spells that would heal it anyway. What I can do is treat the symptoms, most specifically the fever, until the virus runs its course."

"Is there a specific potion we should be giving her to treat the fever then?" Benjamin questioned.

Victoire reached into her other pocket and pulled out her mobile phone, "Yes, I'm not entirely sure which one she should take though, so I am going to get a second opinion on that."

She then searched through her phone, found a specific contact, pressed the 'call' button, and held it up to her ear, "Hey Spence, are you in the Magical Bugs and Illness ward tonight or the Emergency Medical ward?"

Victoire paused a half a second as she listened to Spencer Green's reply.

"The EM ward? Perfect. I need you to grab the closest pediatric healing resident or healer that you can find and put them on the phone."

Benjamin and Eliza raised their eyebrows at Victoire's half of the conversation, but they didn't comment.

Apparently it didn't take Spencer long to find a pediatric healer, and in a few minutes Victoire had a startled sounding healing resident on the phone.

"Hello, this is Healer Victoire Weasley."

The man on the other end of the phone told Victoire his name.

"Liam Swindlehurst? Were you in Professor Honeycutt's second-year healing ethics class?"

Healer Swindlehurst replied in the affirmative.

"Brilliant, I definitely remember you, listen I was wondering if I could have your professional opinion on a case . . ."

Victoire vaguely remembered Liam Swindlehurst from healing school, and what she recalled of him was that he was a competent enough student. Therefore, she felt no qualms in telling Healer Swindlehurst the details of Rowan's illness, and asking his opinion on which potion she should take to get her fever down.

". . . I was thinking the same thing but since she's so young I thought that it wouldn't be safe for her to take . . ."

The pediatric healing resident said something else that made a thoughtful expression bloom across Victoire's face.

"I didn't realize that they make an infant friendly version of that potion . . . well even if it's relatively new I agree that it's the best course of action. Now, can I get that over the counter or is it prescription?"

Healer Swindlehurst answered her question and Victoire walked over to a dresser in the room, wandlessly transfigured a plain white receiving blanket and small toy rattle into a piece of parchment paper and a quill, and began to write something down on the paper.

". . . A prescription? That's a little problematic but we'll make it work . . . oh, that would be great Liam, thank you very much."

Victoire hung up the call and turned to Eliza and Benjamin, "There's a potion she can take to treat the fever but it's a prescription."

"Can you write prescriptions?" Benjamin asked her curiously.

"Yes and no. I'm allowed to write prescriptions on a St. Mungo's prescription pad when it is co-signed by a supervising healer, but anything else isn't exactly legal," Victoire explained.

Eliza pulled at a piece of her hair worriedly, "So what are we going to do? Do we have to take her to St. Mungo's and get a prescription?"

"Not this time," Victoire told her, "Fortunately, Healer Swindlehurst has offered to owl me a prescription for this potion."

Benjamin looked relieved, "Really? That's great."

Victoire's foot started tapping on the floor, "Yes, only I don't know how long it's going to take for the owl to get here, and I'd really rather not wait that long considering how quickly Rowan's fever's rising."

"What do you suggest then?" Eliza asked knowing that Victoire must have a Plan B.

Victoire held up the transfigured blanket that she had been writing on during her phone conversation and called to the direction of the open door of the room, "Dom!"

Her red-haired sister walked into the room a second later, Colton following closely behind her.

Before Dom could question her sister as to why she suddenly called her name, Victoire continued her explanation to the worried-looking parents of the fevered baby, "I wrote down the name of the prescription and dose on this piece of paper as if I was writing a legitimate prescription-"

"I'm sorry, but what?" Colton asked, his ears perking up at the phrase 'as if I was writing a legitimate prescription'.

Victoire ignored him, "I don't know if an apothecary will look past the slight breech in authenticity and fill the prescription, but it's worth a shot to try it while we wait for Healer Swindlehurst's real prescription to come in."

"Honestly Victoire?" Colton muttered exasperatedly.

Victoire handed the paper to her sister, "I'm giving the prescription to Dom, and she's going to use a bit of her charm to try to tip the scales in our favour."

Dom smiled reassuringly as she swiped the piece of parchment, "Will do. I'll leave immediately."

The redhead was gone a minute later and Colton was left staring between the doorway that his best Jr. associate exited through, and said best Jr. associate's risk-taking-addicted elder sister.

"I didn't realize that your idiotic impulsiveness was contagious. Do you realize how dangerous it is for your sister's career if she gets caught doing something illegal?" Colton rebuked Victoire.

Victoire rolled her eyes at him, "Don't get your tighty-whities in a bunch. It's not _completely_ illegal. Besides, it is eleven o'clock on a Friday night, I don't think MLE is sending all of their agents to stakeout apothecaries to catch people somewhat-not-completely-legally trying to get a baby a prescription for a fever reducing potion."

Colton pinched the bridge of his nose, "I'm going to stop listening right now so that I can start to think up the defense you're eventually going to need to use for your next appearance in front of St. Mungo's Board of Ethics."

"You're ridiculous," Victoire told him, waving off his worries, "Moreover, St. Mungo's Board of Ethics wouldn't deal with an issue like this. The European Committee for Healing Integrity is the governing body that deals with abuses of power like this."

At the words 'abuses of power' Colton immediately stuck his fingers in his ears and muttered to himself so he wouldn't hear anything else incriminating.

Thankfully, it didn't take long for Dom to come back from the nearest apothecary shop, and luckily, she had a potion bottle in hand.

"Got the goods," Dom replied as she sashayed into the room and handed her sister the potion bottle.

Victoire let out a sigh of relief, the owl from Healer Swindlehurst still hadn't arrived yet, so she was very glad that her scheme seemed to work.

As Victoire began to portion out the correct dosage of potion for Rowan, Colton stared at Dom perplexedly.

"I could have sworn that your dress was at least a foot longer," He mused as he looked at the hemline of her black dress.

Dom smirked at him, "It _was._ "

Colton made a face as he imagined Dom magically shortening her hem before going into the apothecary shop.

"Did the apothecary give you any trouble?" Victoire questioned her sister as she moved to feed Rowan the potion.

Dom shrugged, "You just owe me big time Sister Dearest."

"Fair enough."

Rowan took the potion very well, and she almost immediately began to calm down. Victoire told Eliza and Benjamin that she would call in the morning to check-up on how Rowan was doing, and that they'd continue on from there. She told them to call her if Rowan's health changed drastically overnight, or to go to St. Mungo's if there was a very serious issue. Victoire cautioned against magical travel with a very sick and rather young infant, so she suggested that Rowan –and by association Eliza since she was Rowan's main source of nutrition– stay put where they were for the night.

The blonde healing resident then forced everyone out of the room who wasn't the infant or parents of the infant. Winnie wasn't pleased to be told to leave, and neither was Mr. Dickinson if his under-his-breath muttering was taken into account, but Victoire was tired from a long day at work and from worrying over Rowan's health, so she really couldn't find it in her to care about the feelings of anybody but her patient.

* * *

 **A/N:** So, everyone, how'd we like the chapter? I know we wanted a bit more Cecilia in this one, but we had to get this part over with first because it happens first in the timeline. So how was sassy Dom and sassy Victoire? Also, how much do we hate Benjamin's fiancee Winnie in this one?

 **Next Update:** Will be in two weeks! :)

 **Next Chapter:** We will finally get to see someone else finding out about Cecilia's problems with Eli, and the chapter is pretty much entirely based on that drama.

Teaser for Next Chapter:

 **"Victoire's explanation didn't assuage Malcolm's confusion, "And what exactly are you looking for in there?"**

 **"A rather painful castration spell, I remember stumbling upon it several months ago when I was researching medieval dragonpox . . . Ah, here it is."**

 **All the males in the room visibly flinched."**

Oh. Sounds like someone isn't very happy in the next chapter.

So, now that we know Cecilia spills the beans to at least one person in the next chapter I would like to know who everyone thinks Cecilia will tell first. I'd like enough votes to do a tally, and then we can see who is right in two weeks when I update. So, who do you think Cecilia tells first about Eli's assault?

Thanks again to everyone who has followed, favourited, read, and especially reviewed!

Big thank yous to:

 **carbo21, fangirl5300, cjaben1, lumiere100, Gryffindork1307, Break This Spell626, rosesnlilies, no cure for crazy, anon, loverloverlover, Jennifer Jules,** and **NicoleTheSmith**.

 **carbo21** : Eliza's a good guess. Is that your final guess?

 **fangirl5300** : Don't apologize, I love long reviews. Thank you for reading, and for your very kind words. I hope you continue to enjoy the story as much as you already have.

 **cjaben1** : I'm glad you liked the Teddy/Narcissa interaction, I had a vision of specifically how they would interact and it came out close enough to it, so I'm glad it came across realistic.

 **lumiere100** : Did you enjoy Colton in this chapter too?

 **loverloverlover** : Yes, Healer MAllard was definitely an NCIS reference. I'm glad that you're all caught up now. Next chapter we will see how some people react to finding out about Cecilia's secret.

 **NicoleTheSmith** : I'm sorry to hear that, but I'm glad that this story is helping you even in a small way.

 **I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter,**

 **Please feel free to leave any comments or questions you have in a review or PM,**

 **Remember to review and tell me who you think Cecilia will admit the truth to first,**

 **Until next time, DFTBA!**


	48. Opening Up

**A/N:** Hi everyone, I know that this update is a week late, and I'm sorry about it. A few months ago my grandfather was diagnosed with cancer, he's started treatment now, so we've been busy making sure everything is taken care of for him and my grandmother.

Here's the update you've all been waiting for though, Cecilia finally spills her guts!

According to our poll through your review answers lots of people thought she might tell Malcolm, Vic, Nadia, Ally, Oliver, Dom, Katie, Eliza, Xavier, or Louis first, there was even a special mention that Grandma Eilionoir might get it out of Cecilia first.

The person who got the most votes for First Person Cecilia Will Tell is: Ally. I guess we'll find out who's correct.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own _Harry Potter_.

* * *

 **Opening Up**

 **Saturday, November 19** **th** **2022**

 **1:11 PM**

"I don't know," Victoire mused with a laugh as she slipped her arm through her favourite cousin's, "I think I agree more with Ally's opinion."

Ally patted Victoire's hand with a pleased smile on her face, "Thanks Vic."

Dom snorted, she was only a step behind her big sister, "Of course you do. However, I agree with Xavier, as would anybody with half a brain and some taste."

"Thanks Dom," Xavier replied with an eye-roll as he walked up to where Ally and Victoire were walking, so he could grab his fiancée's hand.

Ally squeezed Xavier's hand tightly, but she didn't unlink her arm with her blonde cousin's. Walking behind the linked group of three were Dom, Malcolm, and Teddy.

"I don't actually have an opinion either way," Malcolm announced with a cheeky smirk, "But I'll agree with Freckles and Ally just to be on the other side and against Xavier."

A few feet in front of his cousin Xavier rolled his eyes but didn't comment.

Dom turned her head to look at her soon-to-be brother-in-law, "So what's your opinion Teddy? Do you agree with me and Xavier, or with your fiancée and your best mate?"

"I'm not taking sides because it's essentially an inane argument that should really stay between Xavier and Ally as it concerns their future home," Teddy replied diplomatically.

"Ugh," Dom groaned and made a face, "How'd you get sorted into Gryffindor instead of Hufflepuff again?"

Baxter finally piped up into the conversation from where he was walking two feet behind Dom, along with Louis and Cecilia, "He asked to be sorted into Gryffindor because he knew that when Vic eventually made it into Hogwarts that she'd never make it into Hufflepuff. At least they could be in the same house in Gryffindor."

Even though Victoire was several paces ahead of Baxter, she held her hand up in the air over her head and flipped him off from behind.

"Yeah, Gryffindor was the only place they could be together. I mean we all know Vic was _this_ close to being sorted into Slytherin," Louis added with a mischievous grin as he held his hand up and illustrated the miniscule amount of space between his pointer finger and thumb.

Instead of flipping her brother off, Victoire flicked her wrist and sent a tripping spell his way.

Fortunately for Louis, his MLE training seemed to be paying off –especially his last week of night shift training– and he was able to jump over the incoming spell and continue walking as if nothing had happened.

Victoire frowned back at him, but Dom was impressed, "Smooth moves Baby Bro."

Malcolm got them all back to the matter at hand, "Maybe Ally and Xavier, you should just take a poll of all of your family members and friends and see whose opinion wins."

Ally sighed exasperatedly, "We haven't even decided if we're going to buy that particular house yet, so we're not going to start wizarding world war three over decorating decisions about a house that we may not even end up buying."

Ally's determined statement ended just as the large group finished walking up the driveway to the Wood home.

Ally and Xavier had invited Victoire and Teddy, Louis and Cecilia, Dom, Malcolm, and Baxter to go with them that Saturday morning to look at the two houses that the former couple were considering buying. They large group spent a few hours looking at both houses and voicing their many opinions on which one each individual (except for Cecilia) thought that the engaged couple should buy. When they finished looking at houses, they all apparated back to the home of Katie and Oliver Wood, as Xavier and Cecilia's parents were expecting them all for a late lunch after their busy morning of house shopping.

The group nosily clamoured into the Wood home, drawing the attention of Katie and Oliver who were in the kitchen just putting the finishing touches on lunch. Oliver asked Malcolm and Louis what they thought of the first house, while Victoire and Ally and Xavier asked Katie if there was anything they could do to help with lunch. Katie waved them off, pulled out her wand and summoned the pre-made food so that it would fly into the living room and settle itself down on the living room table. Katie set up lunch so that it was a serve at your own pace mini-buffet, and for a while the Woods and their guests were busy eating food and discussing in small pairs and groups the pros and cons of each house they saw.

Everyone was busy having a relatively good time, except for Cecilia of course.

While everyone was filling their stomachs or discussing the finer points of crown moulding, Cecilia sat down on the arm of a chair as far away from the centre of the room as possible. She had a full glass of pumpkin juice in her hand and a plate filled with pasta salad and ham and cheese sandwiches on her lap. Louis had filled a plate up with Cecilia's favourite food and delivered it to her when he noticed that she was sitting by herself and out of the buffet line. He told her that he was going to get some food for himself and that he'd be right back, but while he was piling egg sandwiches onto his plate Baxter and Xavier cornered him with a series of questions that they just had to know his opinion on.

Cecilia didn't mind that her boyfriend had –temporarily– left her to her own devices. In fact, being by herself for a few moments was a relief. That morning was the first time she had seen Louis in person since the incident with Martell a week and a half ago, and he had been stuck to her side ever since he laid eyes on her. He hadn't intended to be overbearing, but her nerves were still sensitive and she couldn't control the tensing of her entire body whenever he would casually grab her hand, brush up against her, or nonchalantly wrap an arm around her waist.

Despite her anxiety, Cecilia didn't physically stop Louis from touching her. She did move her head slightly so that his hello kiss that morning would land on her cheek instead of her lips, but she pretended to have been distracted by something else behind him when it happened.

She allowed Louis to hold her hand as they walked through the houses, but she couldn't find it in herself to talk as excitedly about the prospect of Ally and Xavier buying a house as everyone else did. Cecilia did answer questions when directly asked, and she was pretty sure that between the big personalities of Victoire, Dom, and Malcolm, that no one really noticed that she was quieter than normal.

"Hey Cee-Cee, do you want something else to drink?" Malcolm asked in a booming voice as he walked over to her, an unopened bottle of butterbeer in hand.

Cecilia blinked at him and then glanced down at the full glass of pumpkin juice in her hand, "My glass isn't empty yet."

"Well since you haven't touched that juice I thought I'd offer you something different," Malcolm explained holding the bottle up in front of her.

"No thank you Malcolm."

" _Or_ , I could always get you something a little stronger if you'd like," He told her with a cheeky wink.

Cecilia's temper started to boil to the surface, "I said that I didn't want any Malcolm!"

Her tone came out sharper and louder than she thought it would, and Malcolm looked shocked and taken aback by her reaction. She gritted her teeth and turned her head away from Malcolm's startled gaze only to realize that she had been so loud that everyone else in the room had heard her and were all staring at her.

She quickly stood up, put her full cup and plate down on the closest table, and then paced away from her chair over to a window on the far side of the living room. She still felt the stares of several people on her back, but she was more concerned with calming down her suddenly flared-up temper.

Cecilia looked down at her clenched fingers and tried to loosen them, but it took a lot more deep breaths than she'd ever care to admit to get the job done.

"You need to eat something," A stern voice told Cecilia from behind her.

She didn't turn around, but she could see a slight reflect in the window in front of her of a tall redhead standing behind her and holding a bun wrapped up in a napkin.

"I'm not hungry Dom," Cecilia replied with a tired sighed.

Dom didn't give up, "Or thirsty apparently. But you haven't eaten since early this morning –if you even ate breakfast– so you need to eat something just to keep your body working properly."

Cecilia didn't want to eat, but she also didn't want to keep talking to Dom. Therefore, she turned to face her boyfriend's middle sister and held her hand out to wordlessly accept the bun.

Dom handed it over, but she didn't leave. She just stared expectantly at the younger woman.

"What?"

"Eat it."

"I will."

"I want to see you do it."

"I said I will!" Cecilia snapped again.

Dom raised an eyebrow at her, but turned on her heel and walked away.

Everyone in the room was staring at Cecilia again, so she turned back around and glowered out the window once more.

She only had a few more seconds of beautiful solitude before yet another person came up to her and whispered, "Is everything alright Honey?"

Cecilia felt her heart break a little at the sincerely worried sound of her mother's voice.

"I'm fine Mum."

Katie didn't believe her, and she took a step closer and unexpectedly put her hand on her daughter's shoulder.

Cecilia jumped about a foot in the air at the unanticipated touch and she involuntarily flinched away from her mother.

"Cee-Cee-"

"I think I'm going to go to my room," Cecilia interrupted Katie. She moved to step around her mother.

Katie reached out again and grabbed Cecilia by the wrist, "Cee-Cee I think you should stay-"

"Don't touch me!"

The living room was silent as everyone turned to look at an angry Cecilia and a shocked looking Katie.

Cecilia was breathing heavy after having yelled at her mother, and she pulled her wrist out of her grip.

"Cecilia, what's going on?"

Cecilia grabbed at a handful of her hair and took a step away from her mother, "Just stop okay? Stop touching me, stop trying to force me to eat, stop telling me what to do, just stop!"

"Cecilia Kathryn!" Oliver yelled in a chastising tone.

Cecilia was so full on anxiety, anger, confusion, and self-hatred that she was past caring about the fact that her father was middle-naming her and about to rebuke her for yelling at her mother. Instead of facing whatever reprimand she was about to get, Cecilia turned and sprinted out of the living room, into the kitchen, and out the back door into the rather extensive back yard.

She ran all the all the way down into the middle of the make-shift quidditch pitch in the back yard before stopping. She was breathing heavy again, more from her anxiety than from the sprinting she had done, and she slumped down onto the grass and curled up into a tight ball.

It could have been minutes or hours –most likely minutes as her friends and family couldn't keep their noses out of other people's business for long– before Cecilia heard the soft sound of feet slowly walking up to her from behind. From the heaviness of the footfalls she could tell that it was a man, and from the sound of the stride she knew it was someone that was at least a foot taller than her.

When the man eventually approached her, he quietly sat down cross-legged next to her.

Her shoulders tensed as she waited for an onslaught of questions, but none came.

He sat silently next to her, breathing gently and his body language seemingly at ease. She tried to keep her gaze on the grass just to the right of her knee, but it slowly wandered further and further to the right until she found herself looking at how the sun was shining off of her companion's red hair.

There were several more minutes of silence until Cecilia finally snapped.

"Aren't you going to say anything?"

Baxter pursed his lips as he studied her, "Would you like me to say something?"

Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion, "Would it matter if I didn't?"

"Yes. If you don't want me to say anything to you I'll just sit here with you in silence for as long as we need to," Baxter replied in a casual tone.

Cecilia didn't fully trust him, "And I'm supposed to believe that you don't want something from me even though everyone else does?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because if anyone knows how annoying it can be to have everyone so far up in your business that they decide to hold an intervention, it's me," Baxter told her softly.

Cecilia sighed and closed her eyes, "So this was an intervention then?"

"I believe the itinerary stated that the real intervention was going to start after everyone finished eating, but essentially yes."

"Ugh," She groaned and opened her eyes again, "And what exactly was the reason for this intervention? They don't think I'm binge drinking, or doing drugs or anything like that do they?"

Baxter answered her calmly, "Those words weren't thrown around to my knowledge. Everyone else was more worried about the _social withdrawal_ and they're trying to catch it before you end up in a downward spiral like I did. Not that they actually said that last part about me aloud though."

Cecilia looked down at the toe of her trainer, "Is that why they sent you out here then?"

"Nobody sent me out here. I volunteered," Her friend told her gently, "Dom was actually holding Louis back when I left the living room."

She didn't respond, instead she made a grumpy ' _hmming_ ' noise.

Baxter continued, "Listen Cecilia, I know how hard it can be to talk to people whose lives are going perfectly when you feel like yours is spiraling out of control."

Cecilia closed her eyes again, this time to try to keep in the water that was threatening to leak out of her eyes.

"And even though I _know_ that there are probably a lot of other people you'd prefer to talk to, I'm here for you if you need me. I can sit here next to you and stop talking, or I can leave if you'd like," Baxter told her, soldiering along with the short speech he had prepared in his head.

The words 'I'd like you to leave' were on the tip of her tongue, but Cecilia couldn't find it in herself to say them. Her memory suddenly shifted back to the summer when Baxter's social drinking had descended into drinking to never remember. Upon Victoire and Louis's suggestion –which was fed by Cecilia's own worries– they staged an impromptu intervention before he could spiral even further down to a level that Victoire wasn't convinced they'd be able pull him up from.

She had to convince Baxter that she had his best interests at heart even though she was close friends with Eliza, and here he was gently offering her _his_ support in her own time of need.

"I don't want you to leave," Cecilia whispered to him, her gaze still focused on her trainers.

Baxter's lips turned up a little at the corners even though she didn't see it.

"Would you like me to be quiet? Or can I keep asking you questions?" He questioned her, reaching out with a hand to place it on her shoulder.

His fingertips had barely touched her cotton sweater covered shoulder before Cecilia violently flinched away from his touch. Her head whipped around to look at him with wide panicked eyes, but she didn't yell at him like she had at her mother.

Baxter's own eyes widened when he recognized the anxiety, anger, worry, and most importantly, the self-loathing that he saw in her eyes.

"Oh Cee-Cee," He sighed upset, "What happened to you?"

Cecilia swallowed thickly and looked back down at her shoes, "I don't know what you're referring to."

"I know what anger, anxiety, and self-loathing looks like Cecilia. I know what it feels like to have all of those emotions swirling inside of you when you have no idea what to do with them," Baxter reminded her, "What happened Cee-Cee?"

She closed her eyes again and her body tightened up with anxiety.

"It-It happened two weeks ago."

She took a shaky breath, "When I went to Scotland to cover an Appleby-Pride of Portree game."

Baxter didn't push or interrupt her, so her words started to spill out. She thought each word she had to say would be like pulling teeth, but each word actually came out easier than the one before it.

"I-I spent a day with E-El-Eli Martell to work on the charity."

He nodded his head at her words, he remembered when she went on the short trip.

"At the end of the day-" Cecilia paused, curled herself into a tighter ball, and forced the next words out in a rush, "Eli tried to convince me to have sex with him. I-I told him 'no', but he tried to-"

She couldn't get the rest of the explanation out, but Baxter didn't need her to. He understood where her train of thought was going.

"Cee-Cee . . . did Martell-"

"No. Not–he just–I got away before he did more–before more happened physically than just kissing me and trying to touch me over my clothes."

Baxter let out an unsteady but relieved breath of air. He slowly reached out to touch Cecilia at the shoulder again, and this time the feeling of the light pressure on her shoulder didn't cause her to flinch. She leaned into the warmth of Baxter's friendly, supportive touch, and before she really knew what happened she was curled up in his arms, crying her eyes out, and shakily telling him more disjointed bits and pieces about her encounter with Martell in Scotland.

Cecilia's emotional breakdown in the safety of Baxter's arms was surprisingly cathartic. Near the end of her story, she was sniffling and breathing heavily, but she felt lighter. Her heart and her lungs, and all of the other organs that had been constricted and tight and poisoned by the anxiety and self-loathing she had felt were suddenly lighter.

It was easier to breathe, easier to think, and easier to feel.

Baxter's hand was rubbing soft circles over her back, "Cecilia, I _really_ don't want to tell you what to do right now, but I think you should tell at least Louis and your parents about what happened. And soon. It will make you feel better and it might give you a bit of closure."

"It's not that I don't want to tell them. I–I just haven't been able to bring myself to do it. In my head I just work up the courage to do so, but then I convince myself out of it," Cecilia admitted ashamedly.

"I can go with you if you'd like? I'll stand by your side as long as you need me to."

Cecilia's eyes widened with apprehension at Baxter's genuine offer, and it made him immediately backpedal, "But you don't have to do anything you don't want to of course. If you're worried or scared-"

"I am _so_ sick and tired of being scared!" She interrupted him, her voice louder than he had heard her use since she ran out of the house.

"Okay-"

She ignored him and continued, "And I want to tell them, I do. Just telling you has made me feel a bit better as it is. I just . . ."

"My offer stands, I'll be there right next to you."

Cecilia nodded her head and then squeezed her hands together. She wrung them around for several minutes before she hastily stood up and put her hands on her hips.

"Let's go. I am _so_ bloody tired and just _so_ bloody over all of this shite. So let's go."

Baxter jumped to his feet, grabbed Cecilia's hand, and gave it a squeeze, "Now _this_ is the Cecilia Wood that I've known since I was a baby."

His words made her laugh a little, and she squeezed his hand back before they turned to face the house together. They made short work of the distance between the middle of the quidditch pitch and the house's back door, and within a few minutes they walked back into the house. They walked through the kitchen and into the living room where they found everyone in almost the exact same places that they'd left them.

Louis was the first person to notice Baxter and Cecilia's re-entrance, Baxter figured it was because his cousin was so in tune with his girlfriend, and he immediately stood up from his seat on the couch. Dom grabbed Louis's arm when it looked like he was going to pace over to Cecilia, and their sudden movements captured everyone else's attention. They all turned to look at Cecilia and Baxter, and even though Katie and Oliver wanted to run up to their daughter and bombard her with questions, everyone stayed put. They were hesitant that any sudden words or movements would cause Cecilia to scream or bolt like she had before.

"Malcolm ate all of the pasta salad, but there's still some sandwiches and half a fruit tray left."

Bless Teddy's heart, he was rather good at handling awkward situations.

Cecilia smiled softly at Teddy's kind words and expression, "Thank you Teddy, but I'm not hungry right now."

She turned her gaze so that she could look back and forth between Louis to her parents, "In fact, I–I'd like to talk to you. All of you, right now, if that's alright."

"If that's what you want Cecilia," Victoire piped up encouragingly from her spot next to Teddy.

Cecilia glanced quickly at Baxter once more, and he nodded reassuringly at her. She swallowed thickly and took a deep breath, "I know that you've all noticed that I've been acting abnormally lately . . . and–and I know that you guys all want answers . . ."

"So, here it is: Two weeks ago when I went to Scotland to work on the charity wi–with Eli Martell, he tried to sexually assault me."

There was a beat of shocked and stunned silence.

Katie spoke up first, her voice hard, " _What_?"

Cecilia couldn't look her mother in the eye, "Eli–Martell tried to convince me to have sex with him. I denied him, but he tried to use physical force to get me to–to comply."

There were a range of emotions on the faces of everyone in the room, but the one emotion that was recognizable and present on everyone's face was anger. Even Baxter, who had already heard the story, still felt a red-hot anger when he heard Cecilia repeat the incident.

Louis, Xavier, Malcolm, and Victoire all had similar murderous expressions on their faces. Ally, Teddy, and Oliver all looked a little dumbstruck, and even though there was definitely anger in Dom and Katie's expressions, there was something else there that was hard to identify.

"I–I didn't let it get too far," Cecilia was still explaining, "But he-he still touched when I didn't want him to and . . ."

"And he still broke your trust," Ally whispered, finishing Cecilia's thought for her.

The younger girl nodded, and she could feel her eyes starting to water again.

Before Cecilia could continue her explanation, Victoire suddenly got to her feet, declared that she'd 'Be right back', and paced out of the living room through the front door of the house. They heard the sound of her disapparation before anybody could question what she was doing and before Teddy could get to his feet and follow after her.

Malcolm looked at the door Victoire had abruptly exited through and frowned worriedly, "You don't think that she's-"

"Going to go _deal_ with Martell? Of course not," Dom replied with a scoff, "She doesn't even know where he lives."

"But let's be clear here. Not knowing where Martell lives is the only thing stopping her and _me_ right now from _dealing_ with this," Xavier announced harshly.

Ally reached out and put a comforting hand on her fiancé's arm. He didn't shake it off, but the muscles in his arm were tense with rage.

"No one is going to do anything right now," Oliver announced in a very authoritative tone, "Not until we hear all of the details and get to the bottom of the situation-"

Katie interrupted him angrily, "Get to the bottom on the situation? There's no situation to get to the bottom of. Our _daughter_ just told us that Eli Martell tried to sexually assault her! It sounds pretty cut and dry to me."

"I'm just saying that this doesn't make sense and we need to hear a little bit more of the story," Oliver retorted, "Maybe Cecilia just misunderstood-"

"Oliver Ruairdh Wood, don't you _dare_ finish that thought!" Katie barked at her husband.

Oliver pulled at his hair in frustration as he argued with his wife, "Eli's our friend! He's been our friend for decades and he'd old enough to be Cecilia's father. I just can't believe that he would purposely try to seduce our daughter!"

"It's hard to misunderstand the meaning behind a man shoving his tongue in your mouth," Cecilia snapped at her father.

Before anyone could say anything else, Victoire was walking back into the house, this time with a thick and old-looking leather-bound book in her hands. She unceremoniously plopped down on the couch and started to furiously flip through the pages of the thick book.

"What is that Freckles?" Malcolm asked Victoire confusedly.

"An eighteenth century book filled with healing spells from the Middle Ages," The blonde explained succinctly, never taking her eyes off of the pages she was searching through.

Her explanation didn't assuage Malcolm's confusion, "And what exactly are you looking for in there?"

"A rather painful castration spell, I remember stumbling upon it several months ago when I was researching medieval dragonpox . . . Ah, here it is."

All the males in the room visibly flinched.

Teddy leaned forward to get a better look at the book, "Where in the world did you get that from?"

"The library at Grimmauld Place," Victoire answered crisply.

Dom looked both incredulous and impressed, "You just travelled to London and back? That was quick."

Victoire shrugged her shoulders, "Apparation."

Her fiancé snatched the old book out of her hands, "I'm confiscating this."

"But-"

"No buts. There's obviously dark spells in this book, and _I_ am _an auror for Merlin's sake_ ," Teddy argued.

Victoire pouted and crossed her arms, "Fine."

When Teddy vanished the book away, Victoire muttered under her breath about already having memorized the spell anyway. He heard her and gave her a sharp look.

"What? This is _exactly_ what Martell deserves. It'd be poetic justice."

Teddy shook his head in exasperation, "You can't be your own judge, jury, and executioner."

A few feet away, Oliver had barely heard the conversation surrounding the old spell book. He was still having a hard time wrapping his head around Cecilia's revelation.

Oliver looked torn, "I'm not calling you a liar Cecilia Honey, of course not. I just –I don't understand how this could happen. Why would Eli-"

"Why does anybody sexually assault anyone?" Dom asked rhetorically, "Because the person doing the assaulting has anger, control, and sometimes mental health issues."

Oliver rubbed at a spot on his forehead that was starting to throb, "But Eli-"

"Eli tried to force me to have sex with him, and when I told him I didn't want to he told me not to tell anyone because they wouldn't believe me; he said that it was all _my_ fault," Cecilia said, her voice sounding close to tears, "And I guess the Prick was right."

Katie was at her daughter's side in an instant, "Of course not Sweetheart, _none_ of this is your fault and _no one_ is saying that it is." She turned her head to look at her husband.

"Right Oliver?"

Oliver still had an air of shock around him that made his movements and his thinking seem a little slow. But he was at his daughter's other side in an instant, "Cecilia. I'm sorry . . . I'm just so confused. I know you wouldn't lie to me about something as serious as this . . . but I also just can't for the life of me believe that Eli would act like this."

"I can."

Cecilia and Oliver were both shocked by the rage in Katie's voice.

"What do you mean Katie?"

She folded her arms over her chest, "I _can_ believe that Eli would do what he did to Cecilia. And Cecilia, Eli preying on you is _not_ your fault. If anyone else besides Eli is to blame, it would be me."

"What in the world are you talking about Katie?" Oliver asked, his vice raised with his confusion.

"I'm talking about the fact that Eli probably preyed on our daughter because of me," Katie admitted crossly.

Everyone else in the room who was privy to the conversation was just as confused as Oliver and Cecilia seemed to be. But no one else in the room dared to say anything.

"Why would Eli single Cecilia out because of you?" Oliver asked his wife; he was bewildered by her words.

Katie took a shaky breath, "Oliver, back when we were all playing for Puddlemere before–before we got married, Eli made a move on me. At first he was charming, but when I told him no, he became increasingly less charming, and much more aggressive. He tried on several occasions to get me drunk, but he soon found out that I can hold my alcohol much better than he thought I could."

"Did he–did he do the same thing to you that Cecilia told us he did to her?" Hearing his wife back up Cecilia's assassination of Eli's previously sterling character cleared up any little bit of doubt that had been left in Oliver's mind about his former friend's personality.

Katie shook her head, "He got handsy a few times, but I was able to push him away. He was never able to corner me for any long period of time, I was vigilant about not being in any room alone with him after he started to get more aggressive."

"How come I've never heard about this?" Oliver asked his wife angrily.

She put her hands on her hips, "It started happening before we first got together-"

"But how long did it last?"

"Do you remember before we got married, when I got that offer from the Arrows to trade to their team?"

Oliver nodded woodenly.

"By that point I was tired of Eli harassing me, so I spoke to Coach Bissenette about it. He didn't exactly believe my side of the story, so he encouraged me to take the Arrows' offer because it would 'probably put an end to the issue'," Katie told him.

Oliver's eyebrows were heavy over his eyes, "But you didn't take the Arrows' offer."

"No, I didn't. We got married, I refused the Arrows' offer, and the next time Eli tried to get a little too friendly with me I explicitly told him that since the Arrows were looking for a new chaser that he should take the offer they were going to give me and leave Puddlemere, or I was going to ruin his reputation all together," Katie explained.

"And then Eli took the offer and was traded to the Arrows. But how come you didn't tell people about how he was treating you?" Oliver questioned.

Katie pinched the bridge of her nose, "Because I then directly eloped with one of my teammates and immediately got pregnant at the age of nineteen. How would the media have portrayed me if I accused a former teammate of mine of sexual harassment? I–I was worried about the rumours. I knew what people would say about our baby, about Xavier, if they heard about my accusing Eli of sexual harassment."

"I would have known the truth," Oliver exclaimed.

"But the gossip would _never_ have stopped. I couldn't have that hanging around us for the rest of our lives. I thought convincing Eli to take the trade to the Arrows would put everything to rest. And it did," Katie clarified sadly, "Until now that is."

Cecilia could feel a headache coming on. She pinched the bridge of her nose, "That at least explains why he kept saying how much I reminded him of you."

Oliver's face pinched up and Katie looked like she might start crying, "I am so sorry Cee-Cee. After he married Candace I thought that he was done trying to force himself on unsuspecting women."

"It's not your fault Mum," Xavier declared as he suddenly spoke up, "And it's not your fault either Cecilia. This is all Eli Martell's fault, and he is _going_ to pay for it."

Ally squeezed Xavier's arm and pulled him closer to her, "Xavier, calm down okay. We're not going to do anything rash, and we have to think this through. Confronting Eli, arranging legal repercussions, it will take _a lot_ out of Cecilia, and it's a lot to ask of her."

"The legal preparation alone would most likely take months of work," Dom explained helpfully –or unhelpfully depending on how each person looked at it.

Oliver crossed his arms over his chest firmly, "But it will be worth it in the end. We can't allow Eli to continue on without any repercussions."

"I think it's important to first ask Cecilia what she wants," Victoire piped up. She stood up from her seat on the couch and glided over to stand in front of Cecilia.

Victoire looked her brother's girlfriend in the eyes, "Cecilia Honey, what do you want? Whatever it is, we'll all be behind you."

"I-" Cecilia looked from her brother, to her father, to her mother, to Victoire, and then to Louis who had been silent for the entire revelation.

She saw the worry in his eyes, but most importantly, she saw the sincere and accepting love that he had for her. It shewed itself in every expression of his warm brown eyes.

"I don't want anyone else to know," Cecilia admitted as she shifted her gaze back to Victoire, "It was hard enough admitting all of this to Baxter, and then to all of you. I don't think I could do it again, to people whose job it would be to try to find holes in my story or try to contradict everything I say. I–I just can't do that right now."

Victoire nodded her head supportively, "I understand Cecilia, I do. And I can promise you that everyone here will support your decision, and that no one will try to force you to do something you're not ready for. Because then we'd be just as bad as Martell."

Xavier, Oliver, and even Malcolm frowned at hearing Victoire's statement, but no one verbally disagreed with her.

There was a beat of silence before Victoire continued, "Cecilia, we are all so proud of you for being brave enough to tell us, and if you ever need anyone to talk to, you know that we're all here for you, right?"

Cecilia looked at each and every person in the room as they all slowly nodded at her. When she looked at her parents, they both had remorseful eyes. She knew without them speaking that they were apologizing for their actions. Oliver was apologetic for not believing her fully when she first told them about Eli, and Katie was apologetic for not warning her about Eli's penchant for forcing himself on women.

"I know that . . . I do, I'm sorry that I didn't tell you all sooner-"

Victoire interrupted Cecilia before she could start a shame spiral, "Listen Cecilia, none of us blame you for anything. What happened to you was awful and deeply personal, and you are the only person who gets to dictate when and how you tell people about it."

"But I shouldn't have left it so long-"

"You left it as long as you felt that you needed to. You needed time to come to your own terms with what happened. Gordic knows I would have preferred to take my time to tell people about Christopher Mullin trying to assault me in my seventh-year instead of having Kyle bloody Line spill the beans without my permission," Victoire told Cecilia, her voice turning into an irritated mutter near the end.

"What?" Oliver exclaimed in surprise, "What's this about Chris Mullin?"

Victoire's foot started tapping on the floor, "Chris Mullin tried to assault me during our seventh-year at Hogwarts. He didn't like that I refused his romantic advances."

Oliver turned his incredulous expression to Xavier, "Is this why you almost got into a fist-fight with Mullin when he was first hired onto the reserve team?"

"Yes."

"Then why didn't you tell me about it?"

Xavier glanced at Victoire, "Because it wasn't my secret to tell."

Victoire turned to Cecilia again, "If you ever need to talk to me, even about my own experience, you know that I'm here for you."

Cecilia nodded, her eyes starting to water, and she leaned into her father. Oliver wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tightly. He pressed his lips to the top of her head, and Cecilia could feel tears drop from his face onto her hair.

His voice was husky, and shaky with tears, "I am _so_ sorry Cee-Cee."

Katie attached herself to Cecilia's other side, and Xavier came up behind his mother and completed the group hug.

They slowly pulled apart, and Ally, Dom, Malcolm, Baxter, Teddy, and Victoire all stepped forward to give Cecilia soft hugs. After the crush of her family and friends, Cecilia found herself facing her boyfriend.

Louis didn't step up to give her a hug, instead he tentatively reached out for her hand. Cecilia took it without hesitation and gave him a timid smile.

"Can we talk?"

He nodded his head. Cecilia pulled Louis by the hand out of the living room, up the staircase, and to her bedroom.

She sat down on the edge of her bed, while Louis chose to give her some physical space and sit down on the chair at her desk. There was silence as they each waited for the other to start, but eventually Louis spoke first.

"I am _so_ sorry Cecilia. I should have-"

"Stop," She interrupted him, "Please don't Louis. This isn't your fault."

Louis swallowed thickly, "I should have realized that there was something going on that was really distressing you. I thought that you were just tired from work or busy whenever you were short with me on the phone or when you didn't answer my messages. I should have been able to tell that you were so obviously troubled and unhappy-"

Cecilia reached forward and put her finger against Louis's lips to stop his speech, "You couldn't know what was going on in my head-"

"But I _should_ have-"

"But you _couldn't_ have," Cecilia argued, "Unless you tried Legilimency, and let's face it, we both know you're not _that_ gifted at Charms."

Louis actually cracked a smile at that one, but it faded quickly and was replaced with horror, "Good Godric Gryffindor I tried to kiss you today and I had my paws all over you. I'm so sorry Cecilia, I can only imagine how hard that must have been for you, for me to be grabbing at you all day."

"It wasn't . . . easy. But that had nothing to do with you and it was all on me. If Eli hadn't–I would have welcomed all of your attentions plus more if Eli hadn't done what he did to me. I just–I'll just have to get used to you touching me again."

Louis squeezed Cecilia's hand, "Cee-Cee you don't need to 'get used to' anything. We can go at whatever pace you want until you know what you're ready for. Until you know what you want from me, from our relationship."

"Louis I love you. What happened with Eli hasn't changed that. I'm just unsure about where we're supposed to go from here. I wish everything could go back to how it was before, but I'm afraid that when you try to touch me romantically I won't be able to stay in the moment with you. I'm afraid that I'll go back to being in that hotel room with Eli, and back to that anxiety and self-loathing," Cecilia admitted, her voice starting to shake.

Her boyfriend's expression looked infuriatingly torn. He wanted to offer up some physical comfort, but he didn't want to push her too far.

"Can I hold you?" He eventually asked.

Cecilia nodded her head, and Louis slowly moved from the desk chair to sitting beside her on the bed. He slowly wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into his hard chest. She was so tiny, so physically unintimidating. She still fit perfectly in his arms, but he was hesitant about how tightly he should hold her. He didn't want to startle her or make her lash out.

Louis figured that the present tightness of his hold on her was alright, if he were to judge by the way she was curling herself into him and around him. He started to softly run his fingers through her long hair.

"I love you Cecilia Kathryn Wood, and I always will. I promise to be by your side right now and forever. Anything you need from me you can have," He told her softly as he slid his fingers through her soft locks.

Cecilia lifted her head up and found herself staring right into Louis's face. He was gazing at her with wide, earnest eyes, and if it had been the time before Eli, she would have already jumped him and been sucking his face off. As it was, just the thought of having Louis press his lips against hers, against her lips that had last been kissed by Eli, it made her noticeably flinch.

He rubbed her arm comfortingly, "Hey, where's your head going?"

"I don't think I can tell you. I don't want you to get mad at me."

Louis moved one hand to stroke her cheek, "When have I ever gotten mad at you?"

"Sixth-year when I told you that your Charms essay that you spent two and a half weeks on had a glaring error of theory right at the beginning making the rest of the essay invalid," Cecilia recalled readily.

"Okay, I was a little mad at you there for being the messenger, but you were right. I was madder at myself for making such a stupid mistake and then not noticing it," Louis reminded her.

Cecilia swallowed thickly but then thought 'What the heck?' the theme of the day had been honesty after all.

She looked down at her bedspread while she told him, "I was thinking–I just remembered that Eli was technically the last man I ever kissed."

Louis immediately started shaking his head, "No Cecilia. You didn't kiss him, _he_ kissed you. He forced himself on you. It doesn't count."

"My head and my heart thinks it does," she admitted.

He kissed her forehead platonically, "Well we will just have to put the time and effort into correcting your head and your heart of that misconception."

"How can you be so calm about all of this?" Cecilia finally inquired of him.

Louis sighed heavily and looked ashamed, "The secret is that I'm actually not calm. Not on the inside at least. I'm using all of the strength I have to put on a calm façade, when my insides are just an angry pit of boiling lava. I can count on one hand the number of times I've felt a full fiery veela rage like Vic and Dom describe when their emotions get too much to handle and fire starts flying unintentionally. But this feeling that I'm feeling right now, it surpasses each and every one of those other times. I honestly don't know how I haven't ran from this house yet and gone and given Martell what he deserves for what he tried to do to you –for what he _did_ do to you."

Oddly enough, his words didn't frighten her. If anything they gave her a –slightly twisted– sense of security.

"I know why you haven't done that yet."

"Why?"

Cecilia tucked her head under his chin, "Because you love me. Because you're my soulmate. And because you just _know_ that I need you here with me to keep me from falling apart even more."

Louis kissed the top of her head, "You're probably right. But for the record, the minute you feel safe enough to want me to leave I _will_ find that spell book of Victoire's and go castrate that _fils de pute_."

"You're kidding yourself if you actually think that Teddy won't take that book he confiscated directly to the Auror Department once they leave the house," She told him.

He chuckled into her hair, "That's alright. I don't doubt that Victoire _did_ memorize the spell."

She giggled a little, and Louis could feel her laughter through her body. He kissed the top of her head again and let out a sigh. They both knew that they still had a lot to talk about, a lot more issues to discuss, but at the moment they were both happy to just soak in the first moment of real peace they had been able to find.

Louis knew that there was more to Cecilia's story that she hadn't told everyone, even if it was just the details, but he was glad that she didn't seem too forthcoming with those at the moment. His anger at Eli Martell was still boiling below the surface, and hearing in detail what the man tried to do to the woman he loved would definitely be enough to push him over the edge. The only thing keeping him from finding Martell and hexing him into next week _was_ the fact that Cecilia needed him. She was already curling around him tightly despite the fact that she had been so hesitant to allow someone to touch her just a few hours before, so he tried his best to push down his anger so that she wouldn't feel it in his touch.

Cecilia needed him, so that's what he was focusing on.

Besides, he was rather certain that between the combined imaginations of his sisters, Xavier, and Malcolm, that they'd already hatched a plan about how they were going to deal with Martell.

* * *

 **A/N:** Okay, so before you all go on a tirade on how awful Oliver was when Cecilia told him about Eli, his reaction is a reaction that people have every day when discussing these issues. It's not that he didn't believe Cecilia and thought that she was lying to him, he just thought that maybe she was misreading the situation. He came over to her side quickly when he was given more evidence to the contrary, but I wrote him reacting this way because it's a common reaction that men (and women) have when they hear about situations like this.

Alright, that over with, how many of you were surprised when Cecilia actually told Baxter first? I thought that he was a good, somewhat neutral, character for her to tell first, and honestly, after the idea popped into my head I never really imagined her telling anyone else first after that. Everyone had really good guesses though.

Also, what do we think of everyone's reactions, and the bomb Katie dropped about Eli Martell's past behaviour?

Please let me know if I did this chapter justice, I worked hard on trying to figure out what characteristics Cecilia might show during this situation, and I figured that her temper might finally make an appearance after her being so morose in the previous ones.

 **Next Update:** I will do my best to update in two weeks, the chapter's pretty much finished, so it just depends on how busy life gets in between.

 **Next Chapter:** We are back to Hogwarts for a bit and we get to see James, Freddie, Selene, Melanie, Norah, Rose and Scorpius, so it will be a packed chapter.

Teaser for Next Chapter:

 **Selene was livid, "FREDERICK I DON'T KNOW YOUR MIDDLE NAME WEASLEY-"**

 **"Alastor," James supplied helpfully.**

 **"FREDERICK ALASTOR WEASLEY! GET YOUR BUTT BACK DOWN HERE NOW!"**

Thank you to everyone who has followed, favourited, read, and reviewed!

Big THANK YOUS to:

 **Lostinwords23, carbo21, Seher Syed, MuggleCreator, Ntlpurpolia, lumiere100, Gnool, Beckster384, Katia0203, TheProphetBVB, Gryffindork1307, rosesnlilies, no cure for crazy, jilyshippingforever, Guest (1), teddyvictoire'slovechild, Break This Spell626, Jennifer Jules, NicoleTheSmith,** and **Izzy**.

Okay everyone, I hope you enjoyed this chapter,

Please leave me any question or comments you have in a review or PM,

Try not to be too hard on Oliver, he doesn't always read situations really well,

Until next time, DFTBA!


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